I've been documenting the health of Old Roses grown in organic method gardens, or without spray, in our area, in the East Bay in the San Francisco Bay area in California, for several years, during each season of the year. This information will be of more help if your areas' usual temperature and humidity are similar to ours. These 3 are the healthiest cl. Tea type roses, when grown without spray in our area, and in my eyes, are very beautiful: Susan Louise" California "Lamarque" and "Crepescule" California "Lamarque" has larger blossoms than the southern form of "Lamarque". Bloom color in spring is a soft white, and for fewer weeks of the year the blossoms are a soft yellow. Foliage is very attractive and remains green and pretty for 10+ months of the year. "Crepescule" Rosebuds have a beautifully elegant shape, that open to be apricot with some red veining occasionally near the base. "Crepescule" is quite resistant to p.m. and blackspot here, when mature. If I desired a white remontant rose I'd choose California "Lamarque", for a pink climbing rose "Susan Louise" , and for an apricot climber; "Crepescule"" These 3 are resistant to foliage disease, here as mature plants and all 3 have a long bloom season and re-bloom quite rapidly. -"Susan Louise" would cover a large wall very nicely. Grows to be c. 25 feet tall. Eventually. Very large blooms for a Tea type rose. Rose blossoms appear mostly pink, but have a bit of cream in them. This is a rose I have longed for, for years, and wish I had the room for it. It's petals appear rather loosely arranged on the bloom giving it a carefree and relaxed sort of appearance. Vintagegardens.com is selling "Susan Louise" this month. I would snatch it up in an instance if I had a wall to grow it upon. All three re-bloom rapidly through 10+ months of the year here, and would be suitable, I believe, for a Northern wall in zone 8. White "Lady Banks" here is very healthy, and has lovely dark green foliage, and blooms well on a north wall on my neighbors house, but it only repeats bloom in Autumn at a rate of c. 15-20% of its' spring bloom cycle, here. I love it "truly, madly, deeply". Caveat Rosa: My newly rooted "Reve d"Or" needed to be sprayed with Cornell during spring, summer and eary autumn during its first 2 years in my garden, though when mature it became quite resistant to disease. -even more suseptible to p.m., where conditions favor that disease : "Mme. Alfred Carriere" I had to spray it with Cornell in my own garden nearly every month during the growing season, to keep it from defoliating, and I no longer grow it. Good luck in choosing a rose that will delight you for many years. Luxrosa

I bought two Alberic Barbier from RVR this year and didn't notice they are for z6. They aren't going to overwinter well here, I potted them up in gallon pots and they've put out a lot of new growth and bloomed, but I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with them. Many roses I have rated for z5 aren't very suitable. They die to the ground, need winter protection, wasn't told that by the vendor. All you can do is try (must be for somebody else, know you're not in z5) but the hardiest ones are unknowns I've rooted and the Explorer series (don't have those). All mine have some cane dieback except good old Harison Yellow, tips and all survive. The Austins die to the ground. Thomas Affleck does well. Lady down the street has albas & some others I don't know. They do well.

I'm okay that the flowers are pretty much finished (there's still some out there, they're just not good enough to cut and take to someone), and the leaves are continuing to fall. It's much easier now to see the structure of each rose. I can see exactly which canes to remove on the overgrown roses. Banshee and Shailer's Provence have each made a thicket of suckers that will soon threaten my path ... I can see exactly where they are and which ones to remove. Winter pruning will come later. The Gallicas and Hybrid Chinas will benefit from being shortened ... I'll wait till the deer have finished their part of the job, tho. The ramblers? Those few nice days in January are perfect for cleaning these up and reattaching them to their fence. I have also discovered camellias. I visited a garden earlier this month that had THE most lovely camellias. After that, I have started noticing them more and more. I have places in the gardens that are too shady for roses to thrive ... camellias fit the bill. I was in Richmond yesterday afternoon, and I just happened to go past a nursery that I know, and there's now 5 new camellias in the back of my Expedition. My husband calls them roses without thorns. :) When I am really pining for the garden, I work in the greenhouse. There is always at least one flower out there. Right now, off the top of my head, I know there's a flower on Dixieland Linda and Fresh Pink. York, one of my winter jobs is to add photos to HMF. There are a number of roses that I grow that have no photo on HMF at all ... I intend to fix this if I can. This is part of a goal for me to create an album of all of my roses (bush and portrait shots) to share. I'll get all organized with what I have so far as winter progresses, so I'll be ready to jump into action and photograph the once-bloomers when spring comes. and, if I have the time, I want to learn to weld. I have a lot of metal garden structures in my imagination, I just have to learn to weld so I can make them. Winter is a time to dream of spring. Connie Here is a link that might be useful: garden blog

Even if it's determined that a dead Palm trunk could safely support a climbing rose, there is one difficulty that must be addressed. Roses don't climb the way vines do, or something like an epiphyllum does. They don't cling to a vertical surface all on their own, but must be tied to it. If they're climbing on a "conventional" tree, they can lean against a trunk, or be tied to it, until they get far enough up to reach somewhat horizontal growth. THEN they can leap and drape on their own. But a palm trunk has no horizontal surface for the rose to cling to, so you would have to be able to go all the way up there to continue tying it. A "cherry picker" might be useful. -vbg- Jeri