'Hippolyte' shows its China ancestry with long, arching canes that tend to make it work as more of a small climber than a shrub. It can get untidy quickly, and like many China/Gallica hybrids, it makes the most presentable shrub when pruned into a tidy rounded plant in late winter. (I take hedge shears to mine, shortening the last season's growth by about half, never allowing the shrub's outline to expand by more than 6" each year. That way it is not only self-supporting, it makes a very attractive globe of large blooms on well-spaced panicles.) Otherwise, be prepared to train its canes onto a low rail fence or something similar. 'Hippolyte' is a wonderful rose; its luscious purple medium sized blooms are produced with generosity, have a decent fragrance and the plant is, more than many China/Gallica hybrids, quite disease free. (in my garden, YMMV)

Congratulations on your first OGR's! I hope you know that they are addicting....! 'Belle Amour' was one of the very first old roses I grew, and I have 4 of them. Mine are grafted and grow very upright and TALL; to over 6 feet even here in zone 4. The fragrance is strong and what folks call scented of myrhh. Some people don't care for the myrhh scent but I love it! I think this rose smells delicious. The color is a medium pink mixed with salmon tones and the petals have a lovely transluscent quality in the sunlight. Mine have some dieback after a harsh winter but still retain at least 5 feet of cane, so this is a tall rose. I haven't had any disease issues. My Belle Doria is also grafted, and like my other grafted gallicas has never suckered. My ownroot gallicas, on the other hand, sucker everywhere...to my delight, since I made a bed just for gallicas to go where they please. I love the pretty striping on this rose but to be honest, it is the least vigorous of my gallicas. It blooms ok, but the bush never has that 'lush' appearance that most OGRs have....its a bit sparse. But since its sandwiched in between other gallicas, its skimpy foliage isn't too noticable. For some reason the leaves are a pale green, almost appearing washed out in comparison to the other gallicas. But the blooms are works of art and I am forever fascinated by them. Enjoy your new roses.....I know you will be 'hooked'. Celeste BELLE AMOUR BELLE DORIA

Albas and gallicas do great here, and I'm in a very hot and dry summer area. Low annual rainfall. Damasks do well here too (not surprising as they come from a very hot and dry part of the world). Very little winter chill. I don't know exactly how important this is (among various other contributing factors), but my elevation is higher than some who don't do well with these classes in Southern California and who actually have more winter chill than I do. Elevation being something to consider came to my attention after reading about it in a scientific paper written about damasks in the middle east. Another issue that I've been pondering for a while, is how much cultural practices in rose keeping in hot, dry locations, negatively affect the performance of particularly the albas, gallicas, and damasks. One thought that has occurred to me is that the "baseline" of care that is assumed for most roses in the majority of rose pr that has been given to the public over the years, has used the hybrid tea as the example to follow. So from years of information saturation, what the hybrid tea likes best appears to be the standard of care assumed to be ideal for all classes of roses, pretty much everywhere. Well, it ain't necessarily so that all roses like what hybrid teas do--which is lots of fertilizer and water, frequently applied. Think of other garden plants and consider how much variation there is in what the different ones prefer. For example, salvias. Many of the California native salvias are very drought tolerant and may die or just barely survive much summer water. They also don't care for being fertilized. Others however want a rich, moist soil. My albas, damasks, gallicas (and rugosas) are among my most drought tolerant of roses. Since I started with old garden roses, I never got into the "hybrid tea" mentality, and thus my roses have always been grown with only very light and infrequent feedings (sometimes no fertilizer for *years*), and low water. I didn't know until I started reading these and other forums in the last several years that I couldn't grow these roses! The roses recommended, mainly teas and chinas, have been disasters here. They stand out for wanting much more food and water than I'm accustomed to giving my other roses. Guess over the years I've been doing my own Earthkind trials.;) Josh, I don't know how closely your conditions resemble mine which is a mediterranean climate, but if it were me, and I was considering growing a new class or classes of roses, I'd look at where those roses come from and are happy, and how similar those conditions would be in my garden. Actually I would expect albas and gallicas to do well for me, and if they didn't I'd want to look into what I was doing to change the natural environment here into one they didn't like. I think such changes haven't happened because I'm basically a lazy gardener who just isn't into the effort and expense that would entail. Melissa

Your roses are beautiful! They were bare root and they've grown that big in one summer? Wow, you must have the magic touch. I got two Fantin Latours (potted) from Heirloom Roses this spring and they've grown about two feet tall, but they're branching out pretty well. I like the way you've put your roses out so that they will be easy to see and smell when they start blooming. You picked roses that should stand up to some tough winters. Even with all the snow, they should be fine (we get two to three feet a year lately) but I have read that in the first year, Gallicas, Albas and most old-fashioned roses could use some winter protection. You might want to check the Heirloom Roses website. They have an e-mail where you can send questions. They've always been good about answering my questions, even before I purchased any of their roses. Good luck with the winter!