Catspa, It sounds like tea noisettes really like it here. I was at the SanJo Heritage Rose Garden last weekend. I checked out a huge Crepuscule on a row end there. This rose was occupying a space roughly the same size as the arbor I'm planning to build, but it looked like someone was fighting with it to keep it in bounds. It had scars on it from where someone had pruned out 3" diameter canes. I don't mind the rose sending canes down over the window during the growing season, but this was more than I am prepared to deal with. Are all tea noisettes as vigorous as this? Are Alister Stella Grey's canes a bit more pliable? Also, do your tea noisettes go deciduous, or do they keep their foliage all winter? Ingrid, I'm sorry to hear that your Reve d'Or got cooked. I'm planning to tear out the sidewalk in the picture and build the arbor roughly 12' high, 10' wide and 4' deep, so the arbor and bed around it will be bigger than the existing bed and won't get reflected heat from the sidewalk. Also, the rose will be planted right on our graywater line, so it will get plenty of water. I realize that it is still a gamble growing a rose in a situation like this, but I'm hard headed, and want to give it a try. I can live with the singed blossoms during the dog days of summer; after all, they look how I feel at that point in the year. I think that wall would be vastly improved by being covered with a rose. I have to try it before I give up and start fighting with a wisteria

Most climbing sports of modern roses do not perform as well as the bushes. At least that's been my experience. Perhaps it just a result of my growing zone where winter dieback forces us to start with a severely pruned plant each year? Except for a few, the concensus seems to be the same from most growers. I believe there are many other good climbers that meet your color needs and perform much better.

Blind growth. Angel Face HATES hard pruning. Hates, hates, hates it. But blind growth like that -- I'd cut those laterals way back down low, and see if they can produce bloom. Angel Face as a bush is a halting grower in most cases, and a less-than-generous bloomer. (Yes, I am sure there are some good Angel Faces, somewhere, but they are the minority.) Climbing sports of bush roses are (generalizing here) poor bloomers, in comparison to the bush forms. If you want climbers which will bloom well and often, you're always money-ahead if you go for a Large-Flowered Climber -- a rose that was bred and introduced as a Climber. Jeri

ANGEL FACE is the very essence of femininity. Sadly, she puts everything she has into blooming. This rose is very capable of blooming itself to death. I learned this lesson the hard way. I flat out killed it the first time by treating it like a garden shrub. ANGEL FACE must be sprayed, watered and fed in regular cycles to support its furious bloom habit. The foliage is very prone to black spot. If clean leaves are a goal then she will need to be sprayed every week with a fungicide designed specifically for black spot (I used Mancozeb). Water weekly unless it rains. She also benefits greatly from organic treatments. I've never been able to grow the rose as tall as those in Rosebud's pic because frankly I'm forgetful/lazy about putting down the Mills Magic Mix (alfalfa). Mine hovered at between two and three feet tall, which is not really a bad thing. Short roses have their uses. For example, she is stunning in the front of the flower border, cultivated in a big fancy pot, or grown as a standard (tree rose). If you grow this rose own root make sure to get a virus free clone, and at least for the first year remove all buds to divert the plant's energy into growing rather than blooming itself into oblivion. Is she worth the extra effort? Absolutely. I haven't grown this rose for about five years and I miss her dearly. The dusky lavender color doesn't gray out like so many other mauve roses. The ruffled petals are especially charming and the flower form looks good from bud to fully open bloom. In fact I like the mature flowers most of all because the ruffled mauve petals open up into a gorgous frame for the golden yellow stamens in the center. The contrast is striking. Then there is the fragrance. ANGEL FACE is a Gamble winner and trust me, she deserved that honor. The Damask base note has great depth while the fresh citrusy top note dances on the olfactory nerves like a prima ballerina. A virus indexed ANGEL FACE is available at VINTAGE GARDENS (http://vintagegardens.com). There is also a climbing sport. Image of Angel Face by Teka2rjleffel at The Rose Gallery.