Jeri, The first time was a fluke! I had accidentally broken off a flowering cluster, it was fall, so I brought it into the house, placed it on a paper plate and left it in a seldom used walkthrough in the house which was dark (had only an outside solid wooden door which was seldom opened). Happened to check a few weeks later and there they were, thoroughly dried out. Due to the drying, the color had intensified slightly, the size of the blooms had shrunk very slightly but were still perfectly shaped, and the fragrance was still there when one sniffed. It was extremely brittle. This cluster lasted for months until my sister moved it and of course it shattered. The following year I did it again to see if the previous year was just a fluke but had the same results. As I said the color deepened slightly but held, didn't turn brown and the petals never drooped but held their form. This was in Richmond, VA. Jeri, might suggest making a wreath of some sort, and dry it so it can then be later hung without touching the clusters. Never managed to try it. Jerome, mine grew in VA to about 6 feet. The branches grew up and then bent over forming a V shaped shrub. Visited the monastery once between 1998-2000 when I lived in Laguna Hills. Remember a few roses but it was in the preJerome days, unfortunately, LOL. Loved the pic of your Teasing Georgia, another one of my favorites (wish it were thornless though). For me EVS produced beautifully with no care. Jim

Thanks for the input. The trellis is a 4' tall and 8' wide wooden trellis... set on top of the back of a half wine barrel. (Secured, of course, with rebar poles that go into the planting mix). The orientation of the trellis is horizontal, so I can encourage maximum spread on this beautiful rose so I can cover up an ugly-as-sin grey stacking block retaining wall. :-) Yes, Jeri... it's a half wine barrel. (It's on concrete, raised above the ground, and it's on wheels (my own special contraption I build for all my half wine barrels.) I'm stubborn like that. This is all an experiment. If it ends up not working, so be it. I'll have room in front of the container for the shorter canes to come forward, and I am hoping the container restrains the growth a little. But I do expect to be pruning this at some point. I guess what I want to know is when to prune... and does EvS bloom on new wood or old wood? Thanks, -k

What we used wasn't rebar. It was the largest size of that rebar-like stuff that they sell at Home Depot and Lowe's for plants. Maybe close to 1/2-in diameter, and 8 ft. long. I was somewhat apprehensive, because I have seen EvS become pretty big in Southern CA. The "mother" from which this was taken was a massive thing, trained to a big, big archway over a gate, in Sandy Gaal's garden, in Ojai. The link below, this MAY be EvS -- it's not labelled, and didn't take the photos. But it's survived on that now for easily 6 years. Maybe 8 years? I haven't touched it to cut it back for 3-4 years now, and it's still a huge ball, so I must have done a surprisingly good job of tying it. Jeri Here is a link that might be useful:

I have found that deadheading the HM's keeps them looking good and reblooming all season long. They pretty much tell me where to cut: where the new growth has started, usually at the base of a leaflet set right back from where the flowers have died. Clip there and the energy doubles into that new growth and very soon you will have flowers again. Susan