Yes, my Laguna is almost hardy to the tip here in Northeast NJ, and needed little pruning after this harsh winter. It is extremely vigorous too. I got mine from Palatine, but I am sure that this one would do just fine on ownroot. The only complaint I have is that it is very, very thorny and the growth is a bit overly exuberant (as I have a very small garden). I have ordered many times from Roses Unlimited. Together with Chamblee's, they are my go-to nurseries for ownroot plants. If you decide to plant it, do not make the same mistake I made, and give it lots of space! Because it is armed with thorns and it get huge quickly, I only wanted to admire it from far apart.

Janie, It certainly doesn't look very attractive right now, that's for certain. It has completely taken over that whole bed. Poor Elsie May and Midus Touch are being crowded out and the Daylilies I planted out in front are now under it! Gad zooks! That bed was just gorgeous last year. Well, alrighty then! :) I will be out there with clippers in gloved hand whacking away tomorrow. Then I can stick some good healed cuttings in pots of dirt and grow lots more (Shhhhh...don't tell Tom I said that). I cut back all my teas in March. They had gotten unshapely and gangling looking. They look terrific now. I will be mixing up some Bayer 3-in-one to give them too. My antique roses seldom need anything other than compost and a little composted manure, but my prissy teas really benefit from a dose of Bayer three times during the season. They even rebloom for me now! Many Thanks to those of you on here who talked about using that great product. Bye bye Black Spot & powdery mildew and so long chewing, sucking bugs!! No more munched rose buds and half-eaten blooms. We got a good 2-3 inches of rain last night and then a cool front move in late this afternoon (Monday) from Colorado (where it snowed!). The temps dropped down some 20 degrees. Going from 80+ down to 60 feels a might chilly. So tomorrow should be perfect weather for giving "haircuts". :) Thanks everyone for your much needed and much appreciated advice. ~Annie

Your main concern is the installer contractor first. Who you believe will take care of you the best, who do you feel more comfortable complaining too? Remember when there is a problem, you want your system fixed fast and you want the contractor to be friendly and johnny on the spot with a smile. I like the carrier controls, and the system in quote is not the middle of the line. It is straight A/C and not hybrid heat like the tempstar quote was. I would call back or call another 3rd dealer and get a quote on a hybrid heat system from Carrier or Bryant. Next if you really like a contractor and he is higher priced than the rest, give him/her a call back to discuss pricing. Some contractors will negotiate price or at least give you a better apples to apples comparison to what company B offered. The last thing any pro on a forum will do is take away a job from a good contractor based on equipment. So remember good equipment installed by a garbage installer equals garbage. A good contractor who installs decent equipment will give peace of mind.

Everything happens for a good reason. You’d save a lot of money by living in PA. The housing price in Seattle is so high. :-) Good luck with your new build! How exciting! I love historical homes too, and I know they need a lot of work. I like to check out old house dreams site, learn about old houses. I will take more rose photos next spring. They didn’t look so hot this year due to rose midge, I treated them too late. I started an organic rose garden in PA at first, had almost no blooms for most of summer. The midge damage even showed up on the 38 rose trees that were on the 2nd floor decking. Midge can fly high! Hopefully you won’t have this problem. BS is much easier to deal with than midge. I also have midge problem in my NY garden. I have tried newspapers with straws on top to control the weeds......it didn’t work. You can see from this photo: