They may be too close to the truth, but they're still funny, especially the ones about hearing loss. (Written by someone whose DH drives her CRAZY b/c he has a hearing problem but won't use a hearing aid. You'd be amazed at some of the things he thinks he hears me say! :>)

My Mom forgets who I am most of the time. But, I really enjoy visiting with her and taking her out to lunch and shopping. We almost always run into someone who knows her that stops to chat. (advantages to a small town) Gayle

I don't have the vast experience of the above rosarians but I do think that some of the newer cultivars are more vigorous with healthier leaves and denser bushes even in a climate like mine with very little disease pressure. The oldies like perfume delight, papa Meilland, double delight, Tiffany, devoniensis, angel face, duchesse de Brabant and Granada do seem to be susceptible to powdery mildew at the end of the season here. The new ones like Memorial Day, Beverly, Neptune, and firefighter don't seem to have any disease issues for the entire growing season. Of course some of the new ones are not disease resistant either but overall I do think that the best of the new ones outperform the older HTs, at least in my garden. Where I am roses are some of the easiest plants to grow and just about every garden has a few of them. Most people grow boring bulletproof varieties like iceberg or europeana etc which are covered with flowers all the time, but the flowers are not exquisite to my eyes. I like the full bodied HTs with the most swoon worthy fragrances. I also like fragrant shrub roses including Austins. Over the years I have shovel pruned most of my floribundas as I cannot salvage the flowers on hot days and they inevitably get burnt in summers and look awful and summers here are looooong. I think I know much better now what I want in a plant before I buy it so there are not too many regretful purchases recently.

I’m not an expert and have very limited experience rooting camellia cuttings, but here are the things I would do. I would remove the bottom 5 leaves, keeping only 3 top leaves. I would cover the pot (exposing only the bottom drainage holes) in a clear plastic bag to create a mini-greenhouse that traps humidity. Use a rubber band or something to make sure humidity does not escape. You don’t want to expose a camellia cutting to any direct sunlight before it has rooted. I would leave it at a bright spot inside the house until spring. Good luck!