Ann - Your rose is breathtakingly beautiful! The arcing canes are just gorgeous! It is true that my rose does bloom all along the laterals. And this year I have paid particular attention to the bloom time. I actually still have some blooms opening up. I noticed that PSC does repeat bloom if deadheaded properly. Did you notice if yours ever repeats? Also, does yours have thorns? Most of what I've read claims PSC to be almost thornless, but my rose is thorny. In your opinion, could mine still be PSC with thorns? Thank you for all your help! It has really been exciting to get this information! Shelly

Much as I like the Massad roses, MPM gets no more than an OK rating from me. It has been root hardy, though not cane hardy, so mine is about 8 years old. It's not in an ideal spot, growing in dry shade, so if I liked it more I'd get a plant to put in a better spot. The blooms are loose and a kind of cream that goes scruffy and weather beaten fairly quickly. Here's a shot of what it looks like at its best - it can have a creamy yellow tone with hints of green in June like this shot: Most of the time it's wide open and a fairly nondescript cream for me. The bloom can vary from semidouble to loosely double, and can at times have very few petals. This is the best of those shots: Here's the scruffy look that I think is more typical of this rose. These blooms are more or less newly opened and will spend another 3-4 days hovering with these burnt-type edge blooms, even in part shade and relatively cool temperatures: As for health, here's a shot that has a bit of leaf from August, which is blackspot central season for us. You can see the foliage is clean as a whistle, which is a mark in its favor. No telling what it would do on the east coast, but it's considerably better than average for BS resistance. So I'm not planning to dig up a survivor like this and it's a small narrow rose in this spot so it doesn't take up much space anyway. I only get a few blooms a year on mine (no photos from the past two years, but I might have missed the blooms). That's probably related to the poor spot it's in, but other roses in that bed do better than this one. I agree with the previous posters that Paul Bocuse is a better Massad rose, but it's not a tremendously prolific bloomer either and gets those burnt tips too. It's also in part shade in a different bed though, and this one might merit replanting elsewhere. Cynthia

Edward: The height is right on target with the registration but I haven't checked this years bud count/branching. I also noted he lists it on the AHS as DOR but his website says SEV. I can't recall how it was over the winter so will have to make note this year.Odd eh? I have never been disappointed with what Paul sends. I love the Viola Vernetta one he also sent. But back to your question.... Have you checked out PINK DEBUTANTE? It is an older Stamile registration. I'm not sure if that meets your requirements for hybridizing but that one does great here. He sent me a huge clumps of it. Julia

The only reason thatch builds up in a lawn dep enough to cause problems is because there is not enough of the Soil Food Web to digest what thatch there is, and that is most often because of lack of organic matter in the soil as well as using "stuff" that poisons the soil, synthetic fertilziers, "weed" killers, and many of the turf pest controls. Our sandy soils need lots of organic matter, stuff that will help hold both moisture and nutrients in the soil instead of having them flow out with the water. "Topsoil" does not replace organic matter and for many of us any "topsoil" we get will simply be sand with some organic matter added, unless the seller scrapes it off some new development. Start making that lawn better by adding more organic matter which will get the Soil Food Web functioning which will then digest the thatch. Whether any Kentucky Blue Grass needs more water then any other grass depends on which cultivar, and there are about 100 now, you get, but most often you will find that a blend of Kentucky Blue Grass, Perennial Rye, and Fine Fescues is the predominant mix sold in Michigan. However, that mix does need a very good, healthy soil to grow, unless you want to spend a ton of money on fertilizers and pest and "weed" controls, because that lush green growth that is forced is simply unable to fight off those things and with little or no organic matter in the soil to hold both moisture and nutrients you will need to keep dumping them on, at great expense. Start your lawn rejuvination program by applying compost, about 1/2 inch at most at any one application. There are expensive products you can buy that will do the same thing, kind of, and "Ringers Lawn Restore" is one. Made from the waste of poultry production it will do wonders on sandy soil, at great expense (As I Recall it is around $25.00 per 2,500 square feet). Mow high, the more grass blade exposed to the sun the more nutrients those grass blades will manufacture to feed the grass crowns and roots which will cause the plant to send out more stolens, tillers, and roots to grow more grass plants. Mulch mow, this will supply organic matter to the soil as well as 1/2 the needed Nitrogen annually. Turfgrasses need about 2 pounds of Nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year to grow well. Water as needed, many "authorities" will tell you that lawns need an inch of water per week, but in sandy soils that can be, depending on the weather, twice that unless you live someplace with an extremely high water table with the water just below the soils surface.