I ordered three GCs a couple weeks ago and can't wait to get them in the ground. I've been growing a few other Austins here in Michigan. Jude the Obscure, Pat Austin, Bishop's Castle, and William Shakespeare 2000. I'm quite a novice, but have had success in Michigan planting bare root with either Austin's Rootgrow that contains mycorrhizal fungi or Espoma's Bio-tone® Starter Plus which is an all natural plant food enhanced with biostimulants, beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae. These must be in direct contact with the root to maximize effectiveness at planting. So planting bare root is a great way to go when using this approach. The theory is the fungi tap back into the soil to draw massive quantities of minerals and nutrients, mainly phosphorus, which a Rose desperately requires to bloom. I follow a regular schedule of Bayer All-in-One (3x per season), Rose Tone(3x per season), and Alaska® Fish Emulsion(4x per year). I know I contradict my otherwise organic approach by using the All-in-One, but I'm not a sprayer kind of guy. Someone told me that the Mycorrhizae improve plant growth and help the root system be more resistant to soil borne diseases. The roots give the Mycorrhizae sugars in exchange. They supposedly help improve performance for less-than-perfect soil, watering, and fertilizing. Again, I'm a novice. Very much so, but so far, this has worked for me.

It is more than likely fine to harvest. Golden Showers usually germinates rather easily. I'd snag it before the critters do. Good luck!

This has got to be one of the weirdest posts I've ever read! Why would anyone in their right mind, offer a good price for a machine that isn't running? Especially for the 700 series, since they're really not worth that much to begin with, expecially a broken one. They have plastic parts, which is most of the problem. I'd probably recommend to sell it for parts.

Janet, I've heard back from Cliff. The hopeful news is, he laboriously made a master database of where all the roses from Euro Desert went when he closed. He isn't sure if Golden State was still there at that time. He has just found homes for an additional 400 roses to reduce his garden to make it more manageable, and he created another database for that downsizing. He has a trip to take this next week, for a week and promised to search for that file when he returns. It isn't on his current computer, so it must be on one of the other hard drives, under a name he isn't recalling at the moment. But, he is aware of the request and willing to make the effort to see if there is any information about possible resulting plants. Yes ma'am, I thanked him profusely! And, I heard back from the one American garden still listed as containing Golden State. It's in Texas. The gentleman said he had obtained Golden State from Vintage and lost it during their drought, with MANY others. He wasn't able to water anything and lost many plants. He lamented one he lost and really enjoyed was my Lynnie. I have thanked him and offered him cuttings if he wishes them. Lots of "strikes out", with one hopeful "maybe".