Thank you Kim. I was thinking of it when I saw her post. Blessings to you, and God bless Dawn.

Not sure, maybe it was back in the day when Vintage Roses had an on-line catalogue, but somewhere I remember the description of this rose that made me really want it. It was something about how the rose, when in bloom, earned it's name so well, giving off a feeling of cool freshness...makes me sigh with desire in the 100 degree heat.

Hi Moses! I noticed the rust in August and we had a very weird summer with tremendous heat punctuated with huge rainstorms every week or so dropping 1-2”. I just used a Bonine fungicide that I had and sprayed maybe 3x since discovery (twice in summer and once in fall) and probably not enough. I’ve since read that they should be sprayed when leafing out. The leaves didn’t really fall but the rust did keep spreading and are on nearly all the leaves of both plants even though it is mid January now! Here is a photo from Sept - it was still quite leafy and green then but will orange spots. I noticed the black spots only recently and am not sure if its actual black spot or just the rust turning black

The important thing with New Dawn is to see if you can get it virus-indexed. This was one of the things about Pickering - they took virus seriously. I had virused New Dawns that did great for a few years, then they petered out. That is typical of virused roses in colder climates. Grafted vs. own-root isn't a big deal in this case. You only need grafted plants if the rose isn't vigorous on its own roots. As for the rest of your wants, it is very rare for own-root roses to be sold as bareroots. They are usually sold as relatively small, potted plants. This wouldn't worry me with a vigorous rose like New Dawn, so long as they were scheduled for spring delivery. Unfortunately, for most growers that means June, since they apparently aren't aware that roses are hardy plants that are planted around here in early May. For New Dawn, that isn't a big deal, just be aware of it. Reputable rose growers aren't organic. It's just too difficult, like growing apples around here. What you are looking for is IPM. So if an organic solution works, that's what they do, but chemicals aren't ruled out if they are necessary. Losing Pickering has left an enormous hole. I honestly don't know where roses come from currently, and it seems that nobody else does either.