Do you want these Teas to meet and form a wall? Or do you want spaces between them? Okay, I'll say it outright. "Second Street Tea" has been a complete dud for me, and I bought the #$*!@ thing under two different found rose names. It mildews and gets a leaf spot. Won't grow, either. I can't wait to hack up the second plant for making me look bad. So I doubt it will outgrow the space. :) Le Pactole is a huge thing. It will need every inch of 8 feet. It is trained as a climber over a wide arch in Sacramento. But Sacramento is Zone 9, not 7, so YMMV. Mrs. B. R. Can't may also be bigger than the others (except for Le Pactole). It grew about 8 feet wide within two years in the ground in Zone 9. It won't see another spring here because Mrs. B.R. simply can't open its blooms in my climate, even in this outstandingly dry spring, when there was not one single balled bloom on E. Veyrat Hermanos, the Queen of Balled Blooms. Sawyer Plot Tea/Mme. Lambard/Georgetown Tea will be fine in an 8 foot space. In Zone 9, the largest/widest I've seen was about 10 feet wide, at which time it handled pruning easily. Angel's Camp Tea and Mons. Tillier will also be fine. You'll need to be patient for Mons. T. to fill out because it can have bare knees as a young plant. I can't say where Souvenir d'Un Ami will end up. It isn't breaking any size records right now, although it grew nicely its first season in the ground. I grow Safrano, not Isabella Sprunt. Safrano is not nearly as large as the other Teas in my garden. Even with great age, around here the widest I've seen it was about 6 feet in a very very old plant that was quite vase-like in shape, naked at the base. My plant has foliage right to the ground, but it hasn't made it past 5 feet in....7 years or so. I'm not positive Isabella Sprunt is exactly like Safrano in growth habit. Don't know about the others.

I did. Thanks Diane. You should get this rose, you shall win every time at the show since not people knows about it. :-) Good luck to your shows!

I haven't had Teas for that long but they are definitely amongst my best roses. In my hot, humid climate (10b), my favourites so far are: 1. Rosette Delizy - I think this one is my best rose overall. I love the growth and sheer number of blooms. I don't have any problems with balling and they only burn a little on very hot days, which doesn't really matter to me as there are new blooms opening all the time. No disease and fast growing. The blooms don't nod and last ages in a vase for me. 2. General Gallieni - I don't think many people love this rose but it's imperfection is the key to its beauty for me. You never know what you will get! I love the look of the blooms on hot days, where they look like they have been painted with watercolours. Doesn't ball or burn at all for me. Took this pic not long after it arrived as a tiny spindly bare root a few months ago, now it's 5ft high and rising! 3. G Nabonnand - some days it's my favourite but the blooms aren't as tough as the others so it suffers a little in the heat. Beautiful leafy shrub though and always in bloom, like everyone says. I think it has nice perfume too. 4. Duchess de Brabant - I didn't like this one much to start with but it's growing on me! Love the perfume and the number of blooms. Gets a bit of black spot here but nothing serious. 5. Climbing Devoniensis - wow, what a climber! It's my most vigorous climber by far. Actually I'm a little scared of it. My favourite perfume from all the Teas. Also gets a little black spot here. 6. Anna Olivier - mine is still young but it's graceful and has soft full blooms. No disease, not as fast growing as others but it's slowly making a nice full shrub. 7. Baronne Henriette de Snoy - not 100% sure about the growth and how the bush will shape up, it's a bit branching and angular and sparsely foliated at the moment. I'm hoping it will improve. Love the full pretty blooms though. 8. Reve d'Or - I don't even own it yet but I love it! It's on order! I've admired the mature bushes at the rose garden for ages, I can't wait to find a spot for it. 9. Lady Mary Fitzwilliam - sneaking this early HT in as it grows like all my other Teas - vigorous, leafy and healthy. I guess I can't be sure the rose I have is Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, given the contention, but I think it could be. Never balls, never burns. 10. Mrs B R Cant - wasn't too impressed with this one until I fell in love with the reverse of the blooms! So pretty (and huge!) She is sprawling at the moment and may get too big for her spot. Not as floriferous as others for me but very good blooms for picking. 11. Souv de Pierre Notting - here this rose loves the heat. The hotter, the better. I don't have a problem with the brown ruff of outer petals unless it rains. Last very well in the vase and an interesting shape. Love the tinge of pink to the golden blooms. Healthy but a little less vigorous than others I have. 12. Marie van Houtte - I adore this rose but it's a monster! Beautiful blooms that I prefer to most other pink/yellow combinations. Nice tea perfume too but it's getting too big for its spot sadly. Should be higher up my list, I just forgot about it. Ones that haven't impressed are Monsieur Tillier (blooms fry instantly and are tiny, so disappointed with this one), Francis Dubreuil (likewise), the imposter Noella Nabonnand (floppy wet rag blooms here that don't last) and White Maman Cochet (balling a bit, slow growing for me, not many blooms so far). I've ordered loads for next year so I'm sure my list will change! I'll be adding Mrs Dudley Cross, Tipsy Imperial Concubine, La Vesuve, Comtesse Riza du Parc (whatever it really is - Dr Grill? Mme Charles?), Souv de Therese Lovet, Souv d'un Ami, Mme Jules Gravereaux, Triomphe du Luxembourg, Etoile de Lyon, Archduke Charles, Duchess d'Auerstadt, Marachal Niel, Octavius Weld and Lady Roberts. Now I just have to make more room! A Tea I'd love to add one day is David's Dilemma.

Comtesse -- Talking to Bob Martin, once, he opined that the reason we can't match some roses is that they ARE "one-off". He said, people may not realize that sometimes "roses happen." And I think that's true. Cass Bernstein, who found Tamalpais, has come to feel that it's not a Tea -- maybe an early HT? There are many things about it that are worthy of study. Malcolm Manners ... do you have it?