What fun to see this thread pop up again. Kristine, your Julia in the photo above looks wonderful. My own root Julia, which was one year old (a bit above in the photos) is a lot bigger, but nowhere near as large as the two grafted Julias in front (I've grown them since 2006 or so--the year they were first sold). What I've noticed with the own root is that it does not bloom nearly as much as the grafted roses, and the blooms are somewhat smaller. The growth habit is beautiful and own root Julia requires little pruning. But my gardening friend, and superb grower of roses, will probably take own root Julia for her garden. I need the space for my only plant of Rouge Royale, currently growing out in the middle of nowhere, and I want to see RR in a flower bed. It's always in bloom. So, it may be byebye to own root Julia. As for the two old grafted Julias, they are bigger than even and totally healthy. They are at least 7 feet tall and very wide--in spite of lots of pruning in spring, which takes forever because of the number of canes. These Julias have more canes than any other rose in my garden. Here are some pics from 2021. Diane

Since this thread has been hijacked I'm going along for the ride. This is an Abies cilicica, planted two years ago as a #5. It's about 4' tall. My Abies nordmannia 'Tortifolia' has coned every year since it was planted, Cedrus libani 'Blue Angel' ditto (all seed cones). There are countless others. Then there is the hybrid Pinus x schwerinii 'Wiethorst' whose claim to fame is sumptuous coning at an early age. Just stay away from the bonsai maniacs. They want to remove every cone!

Isn't 40cm ,16 inches?? If so that is huge.I have some huge red ones as well,bigger than a baseball,but i've never measured them.They bloom like crazy every year.These pictures were in 2018,they are much taller and fuller now.

Hi Seaside! In my sunny inland Southern CA garden, I have two Julia Childs—one own root that’s 2.5’x2.5’ and one on Dr. Huey that’s 4’x4’. I’ve only had them for about 3 years, and the own-root will be 4’x4’ and the Dr. Huey will be 8’x8’ if they follow Diane’s magical rules! Like Diane, my own-root blooms are a bit smaller than those on the grafted plant. The fragrance of the own root is sweeter, and the grafted is more “anise-y.” They probably have an equal number of blooms and an equally quick (and amazingly quick) repeat. Heat tolerance is second to none: I’ve seen jt blooming away in my garden during a 114 degree heatwave without a single petal wilting. IMHO, it’s a perfect rose with an ideal habit. Even grafted, I doubt it would attempt to grow to 8’x8’ in a pot (and kind of hope it doesn’t attempt this feat in my garden)! I don’t personally grow Yves Piaget, but I think it’s taller and lankier than Julia, and I’ve heard those luscious blooms don’t love super high heat. They sure are beautiful, though!