I've never paid much attention to classic (or new) HTs at the box stores, of which they carried quite a few, but our local HD carried several OGRs when I still lived in the US. In my first rose growing year in the US, not knowing any better, I purchased one Reine des Violettes, two Rose de Rescht, two Comte de Chambord, one Sombreuil and one modern, Altissimo from them. All true to type except for Sombreuil which turned out to be Cl. Iceberg, certainly an intentional mislabeling. Only one, Altissimo, was clearly virused, as it turned out in its second year. While it performed very well, it couldn't hold a candle to the, I'm quite sure, non-virused Altissimo I bought the next year from DA and planted right next to it. In later years, I had the impression that Reine des Violettes might have been virused too, since some leaves on one, only one, of its lowest branches showed a pattern that could have been RMV, but it wasn't an entirely clear positive. I am not sure about the claim that an RMV infection may not even show at all, not even faintliest. To me such claims sound like "guilty by default (or association) without proof", and as a historian, I have problems with this kind of approach. However, I know that biology (which I've also studied way back then) is not politics or history, and I'd like to see some scientific literature on this. Jeri, do tou have anything at hand? Thanks, Andrea

I mistakenly planted honeysuckle my first year of gardening - it has spread to the point of killing out other plants, even monster shrubs, in the garden. Lucky for me it's in an area that I don't grow many plants in, but it DOES stop me from gardening in that area ever again until the day comes that I'm willing to drop enough Roundup in that area to kill out all of that honeysuckle which will also kill my mature shrubs I planted. I'm running out of space unless I want to clear some trees, so I've been eyeballing that area. I'm not willing to sacrifice my mature shrubs that took SOOOO long to get big. As to the other fragrant plants. Roses have a different kind of fragrance. You don't really smell them till your nose gets in the bloom, unless you are growing bunches and bunches. But even with lots of roses in a small area, the fragrance of something like sweet almond verbena will totally overwhelm it. Not in a bad way, but you'll smell the sweet almond verbena and forget about the trace of rose smell in the air. I've got it in my rose garden. As recently as a year ago I would have said that there is no such thing as too much fragrance in the garden. BUT Last fall when all of my sweet olives bloomed (I have tons of these- maybe 50? 60?) it was finally too much. I love the smell of apricots, but it was overwhelming. I have so many banana shrubs that they will probably end up doing the same thing one day! Night blooming jasmine will overwhelm anyone. I've actually moved one of these off of my porch because I felt sorry for my dogs!

Sherry - I think your words are appropriate for growers of modern roses as well. And please excuse my response here on the Antique Forum from someone who doesn't have any Antiques (do DA's or Romantica's count?) - but I like lurking here as often the posts are depthier. My oldest roses are 3 years (perhaps 5 as a few of the first roses I purchased were already 2). My gardening experience is still so young - but even this soon, each year, I see each rose iterate into new renditions of themselves. Most get stronger and more beautiful over time. For the few that are tending in the other direction, I try to pamper them more, and determine what they are missing. There have been a handful that I have thought about removing, but I have yet to do that to one rose (but don't ask me about the Gardenias - yanked my 2nd one today, ugh...) I'm still watching a few, and keeping a mental possible removal list, but my gut tells me to watch them and see how they do over time. Medallion, Europeana and Grand Masterpiece are watched with a skeptical eye, but all three this year have given me periods of time of complete surprise (and joy). So, I've been happy I haven't removed them. Then Proud Land has been moved, and still looks lousy, but this year I've had 2 blooms that have been stunning. So I'm glad I moved "less than Proud" Land to a background place where her overall homeliness isn't noticeable. I'm noticing the DA's are slower growing than my HT's and Floribundas. I really watch daily with a quiet excitement, as they change and mature before me. Young Lycidas whose first canes dragged the ground, has canes that are now trying to poke up into the air. Mary Rose who spent her first year napping exploded this year. There are roses like Purple Tiger and Barbara Streisand that are new this year, both with pretty poor reputations. PT has been doing really well for me, very small blooms, but with color combinations nothing short of brilliant. Roses like this embody hope for me, one of the most marvelous sensations of gardening. Bolero is in her 2nd year. Her few blooms in her first year were stunning, in her diminutive year end size of about 1' x 1'. She stayed quite humble this year until a few weeks ago, and now she has gone crazy in our first heat wave of the year - cane's leaping into the air, covered in the most magnificant blooms. I completely get the growing child analogy, as I look upon my rose children with such pride and glee. And those that are troubled bring parallel emotions to that experience as well - as I feel saddened, and exert extra effort to mend. I notice same with many of the companion plants in the garden. The Dahlias, Mums, Lilies and many more, get stronger and more beautiful over time. I yanked the 2 gardenias because it was clear they were dying and all my attempts to remedy their issues were failures. I can't help it - I see what I plant, as lives to be cherished. They are gifts of nature, and I feel unfit to be judge of their fate if their only issue is that they do not aesthetically please me.

That's a definite possibility, Christopher. MANY body bag, inexpensive producers supply roses of similar color to the name on the tag. Add the public's knowledge of the Sterling Silver name and it's a done deal. MANY years ago, I managed a jewelry department for a SoCal dept. store. I grew dozens of different lavender-lilac-mauve roses. I'd taken an enormous bouquet with many dozens of various blooms in those tones and set them on the counter. I can't tell you how many people passed by and exclaimed, "Look at all those Sterling Silvers!". Ironically, there were NO Sterling Silver blooms in the bunch. At that time, I had refused to grow it due to its demonstrated poor performance in my area. It wasn't until I obtained the florist stock of SS, the one I shared with Vintage that performed significantly better, I permitted it in my garden. Kim