I can't detect any other smell than pine resin on my mosses, Capitaine John Ingram, Henri Martin, Nuits de Young, Alfred de Dalmas, Salet and Eugenie Guinoisseau. Either my nose can't separate the different scents or I've been unlucky in my varieties.

You're welcome. Actually, Phoebe, the warmer and more arid the climate, the healthier the mosses are likely to be. Fungal issues are more prevalent in humidity. If you get really HOT, you usually won't have black spot and rust as it actually can get too hot for them to germinate and if it's very arid when the temps are right, they still may not germinate. As for handling the plants, no ma'am, soft or hard makes very little difference because it's the "prickles" on the sepals and peduncles that vary, not those on the stems and canes. There, you won't see tremendous difference between. If you want to handle the mossy buds and peduncles to enjoy their scent, you might prefer a softer moss to a harder one. I honestly haven't either observed or read of either type being less susceptible to mildew on the prickles than the other. I have read the theory that it is as prevalent as it is because of the density of the prickles providing places for spores to become trapped, permitting them to germinate instead of falling or washing off. I would imagine the moss you encountered was stunted because of the lack of light. It might actually not even been a moss rose. At their bases, you really can't tell if it's "mossed" or not. That is a characteristic of the peduncles and sepals more than any other plant part. The "mossing factor" which causes expression of the mossing can affect other parts of the plant, but not usually the cane bases. Since you live where it gets hot and dry, I would suggest you research the newer, easily reblooming moss hybrids first as they are more likely to let you enjoy their flowers in your climate. Once flowering plants can often have their bloom interrupted or even halted by extreme, sudden heat. I had that problem here in my old garden in the mid desert. Just about the time the plant was loaded with flower and ready to explode, someone flipped the switch and it got HOT over night. Every bud either exploded into a spent flower or fried on the bush in a matter of a day or two, leaving me with a prickly, green "juniper" until the following year when similar things happened. There are fragrant, beautiful more modern, repeat flowering mosses as well as a few older, repeat flowering ones, so you do have a lot from which to choose. Kim

I was just thinking "what about the Ralph Moore mossed minis?" as possibilities for a "moss rose" getting to the Philippines when I opened this thread, but I see someone beat me to it. What's the difference between a Modern and OGR Moss? Well, the first Moss roses were sports on Centifolias, then on an Autumn Damask. Soon after, the moss-trait was bred into Portlands and some Hybrid Perpetuals, resulting in the repeat-blooming Moss OGRs. Mossing is just a trait (hardly enough of a characteristic for an entire class), and among the Moss OGRs, there are differences within the group resulting from the moss trait being bred into other OGRs. Some are clearly Centifolias-with-moss, others might be Portlands-with-moss or Hybrid Perpetuals-with-moss. But if you erase the moss, the plants are still clearly OGRs. Fast-forward to the 20th Century, and Ralph Moore's mini roses started being bred with the OGR Mosses. In doing so, he transferred the moss-trait into modern mini roses, and continued breeding to more modern mini roses to dilute the OGR influence. When you see one of his Mini-Mosses today, the plant will clearly be a modern-type rose, but with the moss characteristic. Thus, while "Moss Roses" are an OGR class, they really originally refer only to the mossy Centifolias, Damasks, and Portland-like roses. These are OGR plants with the moss characteristic. But if you have a modern rose with the moss characteristic, it's not an OGR Moss. In all honesty, I'd actually prefer the class was just eliminated, being as it's built upon one characteristic which can appear in (potentially) any other class. What if someone today bred mossed Hybrid Teas? How would those plants look when lumped together with 'William Lobb' into the same class? It'd be more accurate to put the Centifolia-mosses into the Centifolia class, and simply list all the Centifolias as either "mossed" or "un-mossed". Same for the repeat-blooming OGR mosses -- put them into either the Portland or Hybrid Perpetual classes, whichever fits them better, and have "mossed" or "un-mossed" Portlands and Hybrid Perpetuals. And for the modern Mosses, stick them into an appropriate category as you would if the plant was unmossed. But that's just me..... :-) ~Christopher

Hello Greenthumb - All of the varieties of annuals you have listed have self - sowed for me, It doesn't really matter what variety - they all will self sow, The Balsam tends to produce single flowers after several seasons of self sowing, and snaps will become less showy than their parents. I have a hillside that is covered with blue batchelor's buttons that have resown themselves for more than 10 years. There is Portulaca - moss rose that grows and flowers here beautifully in the gravel between patio stones that seeded themselves there from the garden. Bells of Ireland is at its best when it self sows. You have to give these self sowing annuals real good to ideal conditions (well drained fertile soil, little competition with weeds) and a full day of sun for them to return from self sown seeds. Good luck!