See the message above, 'Well well, etc.'

Thanks for that.

Misty, How can you possibly say your roses don't do well, these photos are superb. Are they the ones you have in your current garden?

Yes, they are gorgeous roses and equally beautiful pictures, Misty.

'Dinner's ready', she who MUST be obeyted has called, 'Dinner's ready'. I must go dine. Excuse me.

Thanks Tricia, they don't do well here its only because the weather has turned so cold for us like an English Summer our days are very grey and not over 24 degrees and we have had plenty of rain this past month. Most years the temperature has been in the 30's for the past 6-7 weeks windy and very dry.

Because we were in the UK in June they also missed out on their Winter prune and did not get it till we got back in late August so a good feed a couple of week later and now six weeks on they are flowering their little heads off.. How I dearly wish our Spring climate was like this every year Tricia..

That is the reason we chose to live in Victoria, more like the English climate, on most days. Would much prefer Tasmania, but family won't let us go. Qld too hot for me. However your garden is, like you photography, super dooper.

Thanks Tricia I went out and cut enough DA roses to fill three vases late yesterday as the severe thunderstorm message came over, turns out we did not get that thunderstorm though we got 28mm of wonderful rain over the evening and early morning and of course most of the roses/petals left on the bushes and arch are on the ground now and I have many buds in the house opening slowly.

The English climate is, of course, more suitable to rose growing than most places in Aus. We too (wife and I), did a garden tour of Englaned, Ireland and Scotland way back in 1996. We only experienced one season but the thing that struck me the most was that the summer was just beginning when we got there - in mid to late May - and the roses were just beginning to bloom. When we left the mainland and headed for Ireland, 6 weeks later, the roses were shutting down, going into dormancy, summer was over. I loved England and the gardens but I'd be bored to tears waiting for the season's magnificent blossoms to make their brief yearly appearence: The roses; the 'dogwoods'; the prunus' and malus'; the bluebells; the blue poppy (mecanopsis (sooo beautiful)), the rhododendrums and so many others. Seems it's all over in a heartbeat and you gotta wait sooo long for it to recur. And the cold, brrrr. Nope, the winter wonderland is lovely, along with the changing seasons but I reckon where I now live - on the fringe of the Tweed Valley - is God's own land. I think I'm an all-year-round outdoors person but no further north than here and no further south than, say, Sydney suits me fine. Mind you, today I spotted in a favourite nursery haunt a Taiwan Cherry (Prunus campanulata) and I couldn't resist it. It should be ok here but if winter was just a slight bit chillier it would suit it better - I had one in Sydney and there was a gorgeous one in the Sydney Royal bot. Gdns. before they cut it down. Grows well just that bit further south. Hope it grows and flowers as well here.