I live in zone 5 and gave up on climbers and hybrid teas. They just aren't reliably hardy here. Of course, I am too lazy to do a lot of winter protection. I plan on putting in a few climbers next year, but I am going to choose canadian explorer types, like John Davis, or Henry Kelsey. WIth regular climbers in cold areas, the recommended protection is to take the canes off the support, and cover them. Too much work for me, but I am the original lazy gardener. Aside from climbers, I switched to canadian roses and rugosas and I never do any winter protection. The only other non-canadian types I grow are the polyantha fairy roses. They are my favorites, covered in bloom, no winter protecting, and they grow like crazy. They are also easy to propagate. If they had fragrance, they'd be perfect. Living in the colder, northern states makes growing some roses more challenging. I envy those southern rose gardens, but then again, here in the north, we have lilacs and tulips, which need colder temps and don't do too well down south. I guess each area has its advantages.

Kate, thank you. Sadly, think you are right. I don't have the heart to dump it just yet, but I really don't see how I can keep it if it is that vigorous. And although I've never seen blackspot on any of the roses that are already here in the ground, we do have a Climbing Peace that gets mildew (pretty ugly). Spraying is not a possibility for me, as I have multiple allergies. The book that I have on OGRs was written by the man who has charge of the Huntington Gardens in Southern California (beaucoup roses), and he does list some roses as "clean" and also their liking or disliking for hot weather (I live in Central California - hot and dry). I have fallen for a number of the roses in his book, but only a few are small enough for a container, and it has to be a container - digging up other plants here is not an option. I have looked at my book again, and he lists 6 roses as being clean and OK for containers: Cecile Brunner, Eugene de Beauharnais, Felicite Parmentier, Francis Dubreuil, Marie Pavie, and Perle d'Or. I guess if I'm going to go to the trouble of keeping an old rose in a container, I should do it right and not set myself up for problems and failure! I think that next Spring I will swallow my antihistamines and drive over to Sebastopol (I think it is) to Vintage Gardens. Thank you for the advice...Laura

arghyagardengirl, I was going through some old posts again. Your photo is so lovely. I have a question. You said, "only about three weeks between flushes when the weather cooperates." What is the weather like when it cooperates? Are you referring to no freezes? Rain? Sun? Something else? Thanks! Carol This post was edited by love_the_yard on Fri, May 3, 13 at 21:11

Whoo-Hoo! Thanks for the enabling Diane. I ordered Brown Velvet this morning, and since there's a two rose minimum, I got Buff Beauty too. I think they are going to look so pretty near Chianti. Thanks so much for referring me to Sequoia.