Hi Elemire, I've noticed the shrubby element to most of the Noisettes. In most ways in most places, that's good. Here, given that I've decided that I need a few extra canes to pull down to the ground, I think it will work out fine. But if I wanted only a few leggy canes to climb that narrow area between the windows, then shrubby might be a negative. I looked some more this morning at the narrow spot, and 4.5 feet across is probably stretching it. It's probably just about exactly 4 feet wide... meaning that in order to get the canes traveling upwards at 45 degree angles in such a narrow opening, I'll be really, really glad that Crepuscle is _flexible_. >Crepuscule. I think I might be pairing her with Ghislaine de Feligonde on the arbor, the orange gradient might be nice. That sounds like a wonderful pairing to me, Elemire. Crepscule will like every one of the shades of Ghislaine's coloring that she runs into, and both plants will look even better next to the other than they would alone. I don't know about mildew problems with oak trees, Elemire. If ours have it, then they manage to grow just fine in spite of it. Much of the yard here is covered in all sorts of deciduous trees, and they all do okay without any care at all, except for the dogwoods. Dogwoods are prone to succumb to really bad droughts, so during a drought we water the few dogwoods that are within the reach of our hoses. Other than that, we don't pay attention to the trees. Once in awhile, a large tree dies, and at that point we always speculate that it had had enough of all the droughts here in recent years. I'd read that Mac likes a lot of water, and have thought some about the competition of tree roots. I've actually thought some about trying out putting a huge pot with some drainage holes into the ground there, and may end up going that way with it. Not this year, though we might get a small MAC started here as soon as this fall if I ever get the total scheme straight in mind for this section of the yard. We just redid a raised planter (near the potential MAC spot but slightly downhill), and I want to see how those planter roses are doing in terms of the pergola that sits between the two (potentially two) rose sites. Assuming the Renae I cut one cane of RRD out of starts the spring growth with no signs of RRD, then it's going into the planter along with Madame Plantier to climb up the pergola. There's also a Eutin there to wander around the planter floor with some hellebores and spice up the closeup view of the planter from the pergola. If the climbers do reasonably well in their too-shady spot, then we won't need MAC to try to climb up from the other end, and she could then scoot into the nearby oak tree. We cut off the lowest limbs of that oak tree to give some sun to the top of the pergola, and I just hope the amount of direct sunlight there will be sufficient. If not, then I suppose we can put camellias into the planter. (I adore camellias too! It's just that I couldn't quickly get a camellia to do the scented pergola-covering tricks a rose can easily do within a few years.) Well, I'm off to more rose planning/imagining... Thanks again for your comments! Best wishes, Mary

Eight years! Ain't nobody got time for that! I'm not sure I will be alive in eight years. Well, that explains a lot. Mine had an exquisitely perfumed, huge bloom when I got it. But it hasn't done anything (well, unless you count negative growth) since I put it in the ground about six weeks ago except to truly resent all the heavy rain and lack of sunlight since then. Madame Lombard, Madame Rebe, and Blush Noisette are within 3 m of her and they are all happy as clams. I would not have gotten it had I known. I foolishly believed that any tea would be bulletproof here in NC Florida. Live and learn.

Yours for the digging

Hope it was good!