harmonyp, I can't speak for Mme. Isaac Pereire, one of the large Bourbons, but SdlM should do well for you. It's not the least fazed by dry heat. I should mention though that I have two and the one that has mostly morning shade and then hot afternoon sun can't in any way be compared with the gorgeous one that has sun for most of the day but for a good part of the year has early evening shade. I did have Souv. de Dr. Reynaud, a large Bourbon with very fragrant flowers, but I didn't keep it very long because of its lanky growth habit and more sporadic bloom, and mostly because the blooms fried very quickly. If you can plant Mme. Isaac in a place with afternoon shade that would probably be optimal for you. The SdlM sport, Kronprinzessin Viktoria von Preussen, and another, Mme. Cornelissen, also do very well for me, but again they usually don't get the blazing early evening sun. Ingrid

I'm looking for roses to give away so I can add new ones. :) Quietness is pretty and healthy but I don't feel compelled to keep it because I have so many light pink Austin roses that are my favorites so no other light pinks can compete. Lady Ashe is another I don't love, not sure why. Nothing wrong with it, very healthy in fact. Mrs. B.R. Cant became HUGE very quickly and flowered often which I liked, but vicious thorns and because of the size of the bush, can be problematic with kids playing nearby. I cut it completely down thinking I'd get rid of it. Apparently, she has no desire to leave because I see new basal canes coming up! Crepuscule is planted on a privacy screen and hasn't really bloomed which is disappointing. I'm giving it another year or so to get going before removing it. However, the Buff Beauty I planted at the same time has been INCREDIBLE! I love it. Yves Saint Laurent is a healthy plant with pretty blooms, but almost looks plastic it's so perfect and the color is hard to blend with my other plants. Heritage hasn't done very well for me so I'm giving it another year to show her stuff before letting her try in someone else's garden. It may be the location near a dogwood tree she doesn't like. I prefer Sceptre D'Isle and Sharifa Asma over Heritage.

Ah I didn't realise that the Australian zones were different to the 'International' chart on the Gardenweb homepage. It's certainly a lot warmer than Mudgee here! We are in Drummoyne and our yard is pretty warm, sunny and protected. Yes I've bought all my potted roses from Green E, in fact over 40 roses in the last 12 months and I'm very happy with all of them. I really enjoy visiting the nursery, the owners are lovely to chat with and provide great advice. It makes for a happy, peaceful afternoon browsing all the potted (and planted) roses! Yesterday I bought Mr Tillier after seeing some blooms for the first time and also Duchess de Brabant. Couldn't resist a Mme Isaac Pereire either - an unnecessary and irrational purchase but oh well! A large General Schablikine still had loads of beautiful blooms at the nursery but no fragrance at all that I could detect. I think I'll probably get a G Nabonnand next. I still can't find anyone else who has Octavius Weld either...

Hi Nik, mine came from 'Vivaio S'Orrosa' here in Italy - Vivaio S'Orrosa The website is in Italian only but if you click on 'Il Cuore della Collezione' and then on 'Rosa Te' and then 'Le Nostre Te' you will find three pages of photos of his tea roses (drool). Apart from Dr. Grill, I've also bought from him Octavus Weld, Anna Olivier, Mlle. de Sombreuil (Roseraie de l'Hay) and, last year, Lady Roberts. All the roses are incredibly healthy and strong growers. I checked back through my photos of Dr. Grill and can only say that the flower colour is extremely variable and, obviously, my plant is still very young. I apologise if I've posted these photos before but here is a rose from my Dr. Grill photographed at 12:22 on 18th October - looking very pink - And here is the same flower two hours later - A day later it looked like this - These colours are quite different from the colours in July/August (when it was very hot). It's getting quite a few buds at the moment and I'm interested to see how they develop. However, after a glorious Indian summer for the past few weeks it looks as if we're due for some much colder weather next week so the buds may never turn into flowers :-(