How pretty, Mine is new this year too. The bud (yes only one so far) looked just like your's when it started to open. My Tamora and Heritage also start to open like that one. Very pretty! I know it's z5 but hoping it makes the winter, if I baby it. I didn't get a picture of it, it started to open then I left for a few days and the rain did it in and never finished opening. :( Here is a picture of Tamora, Just starting to open. I thought the same thing the first time they started to bloom, I even went to the Austin web site to look for pictures of buds, there are some but they were hard to find. Karyn

Here in central Michigan, (zone 5 a-b), TG is one of the first roses that have thrived for me --rather than just survived. It took about three years to get going well, but it definitely is worth the time. I don't spray -- it has no blackspot. I don't winter protect -- it easily grows to 6-7 feet by the end of summer. I just pruned it back yesterday to 24-30 ". One huge flush in the spring, scattered summer blooms that the Japanese beetles love, and a grand finale. It is growing in an area that I raised up about 18" from our clay, and I supplemented its soil with plenty of peat, sand and manure. I like to cut the flowers -- they are pretty but rather weakly scented and not particularly long lasting when cut, but they are beautiful. It's a keeper for sure! Sunny

Sharsonterava If you are spade pruning 'teasing georgia', I would always be happy to give it a home as you are only 2 hours away from me. I love the look of that rose and have lots of sun, manure and 5 acres of soil and if things get watered (which is not always easy), I have not had any rose do poorly here. I can offer back a number of irises and daisies but as it is a new country garden, I do not yet have a lot that is multiplying hard. I drive up to Sydney occasionally. Can also offer a lovely country lunch in the garden if you want a day out.

Lily, thanks for the info on stainless steel. I had a transparent pink gazing globe but the reflective ones are far more magical. I like lots of whimsy in my garden. I have solar owls, penguins!, flowers and more plus hand blown glass bird baths, fairy and cherub statues, bunnies...just a menagerie. I also have a bird bath planter with a solar fairy house. When the light goes out I tell my granddaughter the fairies have gone to bed. The light doesn't work anymore so I told her I think the fairies have moved :-) She's nine so she's not buying any of it, just rolls her eyes! Vaporvac, How is your midge battle going? I don't seem to be having a huge problem this year. I think your method worked well for me. I do have a newspaper barrier between the mulch and soil this year, maybe that's helping too. Plus the mulch is only about 1/2 inch thick so maybe not deep enough to pupate in? Bowling ball gazing globe? That sounds interesting! I'd love to see how that turns out. I just bought three hydrangeas today. Tiny Tuff Stuff, Seaside Cape Cod and Double Delights Stargazer. It stays cool here pretty late in the year so I generally get only two flushes a season so there's a lot of time when nothing else is going on. I love irises but they don't do well here. They'll flower one year and never again. I like the idea of a "path" so I can have border plants and some "movement". I also want to break it up a bit to be able to get to the larger roses. I just think it looks odd to have all these roses lined up like soldiers. I think it's tougher to work with geometrics rather than a sinuous bed but I'm stuck with what we have since the beds are raised. And I get overwhelmed by, to me what seems like such a large space. The rest of my rose beds in this area are small and broken up with fountains, benches, fairies and such. The statues and such are more for winter interest since all the plants are deciduous so not much going on once the leaves have dropped. Moses, no offense but I think I'll pass on the T-Rex. I do like gargoyles though ;-) This is my Alice garden. There is also a little pig statue and at some point there will be a "teapot" garden feature. Probably not your "cup of tea" though, lol. sharon