I love standards - I have had lots but have diminished through many reasons, frost in the early days, deer devistation in later years and in between three whole heavey heads snapped off in heavey snow. I still have in the front, high standards as you are describing 5'. Two Flower CArpet and two Pearl Mediland(sp) I had four flower carpet - (one left) it was the weight of the snow that got them. Had four Crysler Imperial, frost got them and four double delight, deer saw them off, one is hanging in - should have moved it to the deerfenced back and it would have stood a chance. I find the higher standards, 5'0" as opposed to 3'6" are just about out of deer reach, so I actually can have them in the front as long as I start taking better care of them. Harrumph! When you first talked of weeping standards Jacqueline, I thought you were talking about the older ones where rambling roses are budded on to them, like Dorothy Perkins then there is a white one similar. I craved for years for these, but since having Dorothy Perkins as a rambler over a rose arch, I do not think I could ever entetain her again. It has been the worst blackspotter in my whole rose life. So that put me off having those standars with the great height of 6'0" - but they look gorgeous in photgraphs. Have fun picking out your new standards and success in ordering them. I know I want some more badly which will be happily planted in our deer-free back garden! Pauline - Vancouver Island

The heat gained in that location will not be a benefit for producing fruit on an apricot. It might allow a tree to survive a harsh winter but it will cause it to bloom earlier. If we lived somewhere that the wind didn't blow then maybe the heat could radiate from the garage all night and protect the blooms. The wind will blow the cold air in and it will still freeze just as hard in that location as it will on any side of the house. I am actually playing with the idea of planting my early blooming fruit in "winter only" shade so they MIGHT come out of dormancy a week later or so. You would benefit from a west side planting because the MT adds shade in the afternoon. I did plant one of the Tlor-Tsiran black apricots last spring, we will see how that works out. Fruitnut has a point about those 2 apricot varieties made for Montrose CO. Montrose and Denver are quite different climates, but those may still stand a better chance than other varieties. I wouldn't worry about the planting site being too close, but I would probably go dwarf or prune hard.

No idea but that's usually what the problem is if you don't see the plant. You can get tons of info on the cold hardiness but on heat? Ha! And then someone from Michigan or one of the other frozen northland states will chime in that it's hot there and the plant does fine. Yea, for the 4 days of heat in Michigan. Tally HO!

You could well be correct Nadia. 90 cms does not make a weeper. If you want a feature, get a Std.Seduction, but don't let anything grow taller, else it will no longer be a feature. Go to 1.2M Iceberg for a good result. Weepers were meant to be on 1.8M understock. GENUINE weepers will grow maybe 30 cms higher than that, and trail long tendrils to the ground. The Wichuriana hybrids were used for this purpose, not repeat bloomers. The demand for repeat bloomers has caused some growers to put what are really shrubs on 1.5/1.8M stock. In the case of Iceberg, these end up looking like pins. Extending to the likes of Sea Foam, Crepuscule, is a partial remedy, but these are really shrubs, so what I have described as the "weeping" effect is lost. These cultivars want to grow up, not hang down. They are not as naturally lax as the Wichurianas. It's a bit like calling the procumbent shrubs "groundcovers". For genuine groundcovers, we need again the Wichurianas. Renae makes a good groundcover as does any rambling rose, such as Immensee, Weisse Immensee, Repandia, Heidekonigen, otherwise known as Partridge, Grouse, Pheasaant, and some forgotten name of a game bird. I have tried Heideschnee and Heidesommer on standard. Not vigorous enough. Don't know Diamant. I regularly use Hybrid Musks on 1.5M sticks. Kathleen, Cornelia, Penelope, Buff Beauty. Still not weepers, but fragrant reliable repeaters. Renae makes a good weeper on 1.5M stocks. A problem for the public is that they see what is being mass produced and sold in the market place. Roses that sell themselves, like Iceberg, and Crepuscule. I never try and match these growers. With a little imagination, and dare I say experience, one can offer excellent alternatives, if the public only see our list. Hard to compete with the price-takers and the mass exposure of the chains. But we get by on quality and innovation.