It will never be much of a climber here in zone 4 because it dies back to almost the ground each winter. It also isn't terribly healthy if you don't spray. I keep threatening to get rid of it every spring when I have to prune it down to a couple of inches of live cane, and at the end of the summer when its leaves are blackspot-ridden. But the deep purple color is amazing, so it is still in my garden. I have moved it a couple of times, hoping a new site will encourage better health, but it just doesn't amount to much. I do so love the intensity of the purple blooms, which in my soil are so dark they approach black-purple. (I have seen it grown elsewhere and the blooms were reddish-purple). I'm hoping 2010 will be its redeeming season because I've already given it 5 years....(yes, I am a 'softie' who hates to shovel-prune). Celeste

My first post on gardenweb. Bought one of these at Al's Garden Center. It looked like a pretty nice rose to have survived to be among roses nobody wanted selling at 50% off in November. it still had a couple flowers on it and their color matches the picture. Based on people's comments I won't be shocked if the color is a bit different in its new home. I got this to solve my "too much pink" problem. I had a Love Song Rose, a couple of Encore Autumn Royalty Azaleas, and a Chansonette Camellia all in the same general area. In November, the rose and azalea still had flowers and the Chansonette was already in bloom. This created a big blob of pink to lavender color in a contiguous area which I found unattractive. (I have concluded that a rather unaesthetic arrangement of flowers is to have similar but slightly different color flowers in close proximity, with it being even worse if they are different species. I planted this rose in place of one of the Azaleas and my hope is it will do a good job of breaking up that "big blob of pink-lavender" effect in that part of the garden, while still being a color that doesn't clash with those others. It might not have been much of an issue in future years because I suspect roses and azaleas don't typically still have flowers this late in the year, and the Chansonette is brand new and I think it is blooming prematurely due to being on an earlier blooming cycle at the nursery it was grown at than when it would normally bloom here (Some evidence for that is the fact that I planted one Marge Miller Camellia in spring, one just recently, and the one I just planted has almost completed blooming while the one I planted earlier, which I presume has had time to acclimatize to the blooming cycle where I live, is only beginning to bloom now). But in case all these flowers do overlap again in some future years then planting the Night Owl should address the pink blob problem. I knew nothing about the rose when I bought it, but I am pleased to learn that it is a rebloomer. I see that this rose is supposed to grow tall (8-10 foot) canes. It will be taller than the flowers around it, but I think that will add some appealing texture to the garden.

Photos of Carrie's fabulous calibrachoas are on the Texas Gallery along with some of her other flowers. Check them out. Here is a link that might be useful: Carrie's photos on Texas Gallery

Wow amazing, saved the site to faves, thanks for posting it.