Ah! Just lost a super long post! Anyway, last winter was mild but the one before was brutal. Multiple days - 50. They had to extend the school year due to so many days off! Roses don’t get very big here as they usually die back to the crown and come up from the roots. I’m just happy to be able to grow them at all! One positive with them staying small is that I have room to try out a lot more! I don’t know how I would choose if they got to a decent size! I am going to try a couple more once bloomers as I would like a few more reliable ones. Love all the pics! I suppose I should get ready for work though, sigh.... it’s finally starting to warm up here!!

Hi Jeannie, I've been thinking about MAC for a long, long time. It might work in that spot if we were younger here and more able to stay after the rose all the time and if we were willing to let it work on the obelisk without too many horizontal turns requiring much bending. The problem is that MAC isn't very flexible once a cain gets some age on it, and will do its own thing, sort of set in concrete, if you don't keep at it. We'd have to train it frequently to avoid the walk path beside the camellias as well as to keep it from totally taking over the obelisk and choking out the Mortimer Sackler. We're probably not up to that much rose work nowadays, though I do love the rose and want it somewhere where it wouldn't have to share a limited amount of supported climbing space with another rose. I've thought about it more strongly for one or two other spots where its own growth ideas might line up better with ours and not take too much work on our part. The same considerations apply to Lamarque, but the difference in flexibility might be a real difference. Once or twice a year of pulling the rose away from the camellias would probably work for Lamarque, but might come too late for MAC. Both roses are such vigorous growers that they'd be expected to outgrow the obelisk and start to claim other areas by year three. With Lamarque a discreet peg here and there when you get around to doing it might work? With MAC, my thinking is that perhaps you'd better get around to doing it now, or perhaps get handy with a saw later. That said, I still do keep thinking about MAC. What a wonderful rose it is! Thanks for thinking about this, Jeannie. Best wishes, Mary

We have grown Tranquillity for 2 years and find it to be a decent rose. It has reached 4 feet in a single year, so I expect it will be a 6 footer or more in another year and around 4 feet or so across. The flowers are mostly white but the younger flowers have light yellow centers; they are 3-4.5 inches across. Disease resistant is good most of the time, with a touch of foliar problems in the fall. Fragrance is a little light. This rose holds on to its petals better than Claire Austin, another relatively recently released white Austin rose. We don't grow The Albrighton Rambler, as another rose that we grow, Climbing Clothilde Soupert (climbing polyantha) is similar and likely superior. The Albrighton Rambler is listed as a "semi double to double" while CCS has an exceptionally high petal count. CCS is nearly thornless; I don't know about AR's thorns. The flowers on CCL here are usually 2-2.5 inches across; those of AR appear to be smaller. You may want to take a look at CCS: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1230.4 I DO grow 2 other Austin climbers, Spirit of Freedom and The Wedgewood Rose and would recommend both of these highly, for their vigorous plants, very fragrant flowers, and high petal count.

The repeat is not great so far, bought it last year from DA in TX. I think it bloomed only 3 times this year. It's facing north, maybe need more sun.......it was cane hardy last winter in zone 6a.