Alameda, your garden sounds so lovely! And, as someone who used to raise horses, and is also a daylily nut, I particularly admire what you do! I have most of the lavenders you mentioned, and don't know if you are interested in grandifloras, but Melody Parfumee and Fragrant Plum are quite nice and super fragrant. I also rescued Purple Passion from Lowe's the end of last year and it looks OK from what I have seen so far. I have a lavender floribunda that I like a lot, but it should be registered as a miniflora. J&P put it out the year before last, and, now it has disappeared. It is called Lavender Lace. I love the soft lavender color and it blooms with small, well-formed flowers in big sprays. I have lots of apricots, too. One that no one mentioned is Nancy Reagan. That is probably because people think it is a poor grower. I got it from MerryGro on fortuniana last year and am still waiting for it to grow. However, it's blooms are just a beautiful shade of apricot and were big and well-formed this fall. Now I am hoping the bush will grow this year. Another one that I think is a gorgeous apricot-coral color is Spellbound. The flowers have fantastic form. But, like Nancy, the plant needs to grow faster. And, Stan, you have really depressed me! I thought I was getting good at photgraphing roses! Now I see I have a long way to go! Even though I prefer the natural backgrounds, I see the beauty in the black backgrounds, too. So, tell me, how do you do your black backgrounds???

The bloom opened. Pretty flower: loosely quartered (similar to Comte de Chambord), lightly fragrant, and clear lilac*. Good, strong stem. The color and fragance was disappointing but this is a first year own root plant. I'll give it another year or two for the plant to mature before making a final judgment. The plant itself is still tiny, but bigger than four other own roots in the same pot ghetto. Only the Bourbon DUEL DE DR. REYNAUD is bigger, and it is a climber. It is also one of the few babies that has foliage. I don't spray the roses in my pot ghetto because I want to be able to accurately access their black spot resistance before planting. You'd be surprised at how many of the babies never make it into the beds. * I define lilac as lavender with a noticeable pink undertone.

Seaside - I hope it works! :) :) Kristine - I am so in love with your Lavender Crush. I hope I can find one next year! Beautiful Twilight zone color. :) :) I hate it when the camera won't take the right color from the rose...very frustrating. I'm so glad that you saved Sweet Madame Blue...she's a beauty...and the color is wonderful.

Kim, the big quake plus the fire—recovery from those makes for an absolutely life-changing experience! Your emotional survival, resilience and fresh perspective on the value of things are truly hard won pieces of an enlightened life after literal trial by fire. I hear in your words what I call full body knowledge, a kind of deep and pure understanding of life involving sharp edges, practical focus, expanded compassion and both joyful and wry humor. Looking back after crossing mountains like those, it becomes clear that the capacity for transformation is built into our genes and souls. Sometimes the only way through is just to go through it. Every day that my feet are standing on the PNW, I think about the precariousness of the ground below me. I am regularly stacking emergency water, juggling current supplies of medications, shuffling boxes of batteries, flashlights, canned food and blankets. I wonder how I’ll manage, our household organizer and family caretaker, to keep it all together when the supports of everyday life drop out from under me in one fell swoop. I’ll think of you and remember your Phoenix Ralph Moore rose and your own recovery and hold out hope that I will survive and get to that side of enlightenment with my family on my back. What you say about THINGS is 100% heart of the matter! They can for moments in time hold value, but only because living beings are associated with them. It is life itself that is inherently valuable—the ones we love, those in our communities and world, the planet itself which shelters and sustains all life as we know it. The day may come when I’ll need to leave anything or everything behind and experience the leanness that is just me with no frills or extras or immediate security. For the record, your roses bring great joy to this living being! For the time that Purple Buttons and Annie Laurie McDowell grow in my garden, they will give me immense pleasure and a boost when I need one even if the mountains I am currently climbing are less arduous than a quake or fire. I think I love pass along plants so much because they embrace both the temporal nature and continuity of all that is beautiful and gifted from one to another across a long chain of generations. The plants that you and other breeders create are inherently passalongs because you brought something wonderful and original into this world, and since it can be propagated, countless gardeners like me can share in the gift for years to come. Your roses are incredibly beautiful to my eyes and my nose. It is a delight to go outside during PB’s loooong bloom period and stop to smell the roses! Someday, I‘ll do the same with ALMcD, but right now I am conscientiously disbudding my young, own root plant so that she doesn’t exhaust herself before she is mature enough to support her own virtues. Thank you for your roses! Carol