Ok, that did it, Ben, I'm sold. I'd forgotten about Distant Drums being in it's bloodline. I remember seeing a photo of Rosie where it was very apparent that DD was in there. I might go ahead and get the own root while I search for a grafted one at the nurseries in town. There's a chance it won't like my winters. Northland is trialing it in their gardens this year. Grafted is probably the safer way to go. That second photo looks like a florist bouquet of a baker's dozen, at least. Such a pretty combination of pinks and yellows. Thanks for the extra photos! I would still like to have La Park and a stronger Crazy Love.

A previous post never appeared except on my device:( then after editing on a different iPad it still didn’t show but they say third times the charm so here it goes. i have grown a few of the Austin’s on your list and some others in Las Vegas but have not found them good desert roses. Carding Mill would have a beautiful flower open in the morning and by the evening it was faded and tired which has been typical of Austin’s here. An apricot that has impressed me with its nice bushy shape, good flower production and longevity of bloom is Jump for Joy with also good Love Song poking up behind it. A mauve rose that is mostly pink but very productive with wonderful fragrance and beautiful foliage is Barbara Streisand. A pink that was planted as an own root band but has been impressive so far is The Lady Rose. These are all Weeks Roses the Rodney Dangerfield of the gardenweb, they get no respect! They are so easy to find it’s easy to undervalue them but for our desert heat they have been more satisfactory in our yard than Austins, Kordes, Harkness or anything else we’ve had. All day sun is going to be very tough on any rose, the afternoon exposure is really damaging to non desert plants. If you have morning sun spots or under a light filtering tree you will have a lot more success. Good luck! maria

Summer romance is a beautiful rose with an incredible scent and perfect health here. It is not a rounded bush, it throws upright long canes. It is way taller than 4x4 in zone 7b. Amazing spring flush and sporadic blooms the rest after two years in the ground. It would be magnificent if it decided to rebloom well, but so far not. So far Fiji and Madame Anisette both have required over 3 years here before rebloom omg well. I will get give SR another year to see if rebloom improves before deciding if it deserves the space in the garden.

When I first started to grow roses, a small family owned nursery near me would order any roses I wanted from the various catalogs they had at hand. Now they don't even stock any roses at all. Up to 2 years ago they had hundreds of pots. So many places gone, I asked one place why and was told the land they were sitting on was now worth millions to developers so they're taking the money & retiring early. Getting so hard to find good nurseries nowadays...