I went around to the alley side with a tape measure and my camera. I know it's hard to see through the fence, and with Mme. Plantier scrambling through her as well, but the plant is actually 5.5' to 6' tall and 8' wide, with a fairly narrow base - no broad suckering that I can see, well-mannered so far. I do not have it tied to the fence or trained. The canes are quite stiff. The bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the plant is bare, the flowers are all at the top (ideal sniffing height - I'm 5'8"). It began blooming mid-May and is still going strong - the first blooms are fading now. Really long-lasting flowers, long bloom period. I looked up Bella Donna at Vintage Gardens and it does conform to their description. They don't offer Reine des Centfeuilles, so I can't compare. Google seaches lead me to believe that Reine des Centfeuilles is narrower and more upright in habit - Beales list it as a 5' x 3' shrub and others seem to agree. Google search results for Bella Donna do conform to this rose quite well. To quote Woodlandrosegarden.com,, which has what appears to be the identical rose: "In May of 2001 I took cuttings of this rose to the annual Open House at Tufton Farms of Monticello where it was identified by the Rev. Douglas Seidel, very quickly I might add, as the Damask rose 'Bella Donna' . He shared that it was a very commonly planted rose in the Pennsylvania area, and its flat-topped buds are a distinguishing feature." Here's a closeup of a bud from my plant: Could we have a winner?

I have many pepper storys, here is one of them. Put a carribean restaurant together several years back, bottles of different types of sauces on the tables, jalapeno cornbread muffins with spicy mango/pepper dipping sauce in liew of bread & butter, many island receipes on the menu etc. was at the bar explaining the virtues of the scotch bonnet to some guys doing a little tasting/testing with them, a tiny slice of habenero, a smidge of daves insanity, a drop of endorphin rush and so on, all being washed down with copious ammounts of Red Stripe, when I remembered I'd received a package from Mo hotta Mo betta that morning, so I brought it out to the bar, opened it and was showing off the contents when a small bottle caught my eye, we were all sweating profusly by then and having a general good time. The bottle was called I think 'I'm on fire ready to die' powder, well let me tell you, after dipping in a tooth pick and scraping it on my tongue, the look on the guys faces, I turned the color of puirple lost my voice and almost coughed my head off, I new then that I'd reached my limit and was ready to die. It was an out of mind and almost body experiance.

Hummm... yes and yes :) I am really an old garden rose kinda girl... was a HT girl, but found out (the hard way) I can not have an HT garden, unless I move :) If the HT survives, it never get's very big and if it does get big, it's because it is now Dr. Huey, not the beautiful Blue Girl... I had planted. I really like the more purple roses, lavender is my fav... but they hate me :) I would say HFH is a good red, it is a little different, with dark shading and the velvet look. Not so on the same ole', same ole' red color, in my opinion. She is a good rose if you like red roses :) Ohhhhhh, BDC... I LOVE her, she is one of my favorite babies, however she is a one time bloomer... the rest of the year she is a colorless bush :) But waiting for Spring and watching her put on a show, WOW, worth it :) Mostly, HFH was available in my area and so, I ended up with 3 of her. I like to buy locally first and then sprout out a little via the internet. Roses are so expensive, when you lose one it hurts the heart and the pocket book. If you like/love red roses, I would say you can't go wrong with HFH. I think you must get a Belle :) She is a zone 3 rose... her blooms are really more on the purple side, my camera should be placed on the extinct list, it picked up the pink in her. Not her true color. A good red climber in my area is Ramblin' Red, also zone 3. Have 3 of her too :) Hardy and full of blooms. This year I am trying out Super Hero (2 of em'), so far so good, said to be a zone 4, it too is a red. well, hope that helped with the HFH questions... and probably a little more info than you had bargained for :) ROSES ROSES ROSES! Lioness

I have heard that in China (?) people prefer the vegetables with signs of insect damage over the ones without. Because if the insects won't even eat it, why should we? Perhaps a beautiful rose that shows signs of the life stressed it had to over come to be with us should be more valued than one who waltzes in next day delivery with all the privileges birth, wealth, perfect South American greenhouse environment computer monitored, or rank can buy. Maybe a rose stem in a mason jar is more valuable than one in a vase of Waterford. Or I could just be messin wid ya. Vermicompost tea spray away that black spot and mildew to your hearts content. Either way, what ever you call it, somebody, somewhere, at one time, said something about it all at some point in history. ~ Your Friend, William