that's unreal! truly that is like heaven (Seattle-ish...close to it when it comes to conifers, eh? lol)!!!! your backyard...the view from the lower yard - WOW!!!!!!!! and you look happy as can be :) That is a masterpiece - such a natural looking incredible canvas!!!!! Can you tell me when your various columnar conifers are that are prominent/more in the foreground in the pic above? I think that the gold one is maybe some sort of monster Cham. obtusa 'Aurea'.....? i'm lost after that lol

Ellie - It looks like your MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD put on a good show this year. Mine did well compared to the previous two years I had it. It's still not as tall as it should be here. Lyle - That's a magnificent photo of MORT MORSS! Mine has always had splotchy sepals, and it didn't even bloom this year. It must really love your climate. My favorite M this year was MOONLIGHT SAIL. It's a terrific pod parent and rebloomer! Here are a couple of views of it. MEE YING MASK AND METAPHOR MANDALAY BAY MUSIC MARY LIGHTFINE MUSICAL MEDLEY MISSISSIPPI MAGISTRATE MEDUSA'S GLANCE MAYAN POPPY Debra

There are no other large clumps in the area but there are colonies of 3-5 plants scattered about. The leaves are large but they are not as easy to spot as I would think. There was an absolute riot of vegetation in the surrounding area , a protected humid hillside facing NE. There were also Showy Orchis blooming, Trout Lilies by the thousands (long done blooming), Mayapples, the white and the red Buckeyes, and too many other wild blooming plants to list. In nearby pine woods, the Pink Lady Slippers are going to town, with large blossoms, despite the severe drought we had last summer. Lots of colonies of them, if you where to look!! Glad ya'll enjoyed the photos! And it was hard to leave; I kept looking back! Brenda B

Nik.... I think if you leave it where it is, as a freestanding shrub, you are going to have to support its canes with something, I don't know what... I wouldn't want to grow it that way, if it is FEL, and let's assume it is for now... my plant was grown on a partition fence within my garden, not on a boundary, and it grew to about 10-12 feet width before I moved on... it develops thick strong canes, thorny too, and made a heavy plant... at one time I thought it would bring the fence down, so I had to reinforce it...think of it as a mini Kiftsgate... and as you can see from my photos earlier, it's growing on a wall in that garden - best place for it... I was disappointed in that I couldn't detect a great scent either, as I had been led to believe it possessed... ...looking at your rose again, its habit does remind me of it too, canes flying out everywhere, rambler type... they need tying in... ..best of luck with your 6 foot cane approach, but rather you than me...