Annie Laurie McDowell as a gracious, vivacious (and terribly funny!) lady who came to Los Angeles in the mid to late 1940s from Colorado to "become an actress". She studied and performed at The Pasadena Playhouse, was "discovered" and became the nightly personality on KTLA Channel 5, our oldest, earliest television station. It was her job to introduce the nightly guests and present the commercials. The station felt her name was too 'stilted', so they changed it to Candy McDowell. She and her producer fell in love and eventually married, with Candy 'retiring' to raise their family. She had quite a few fun, interesting stories about her years at Channel 5, with Dean filling in from his forty years at NBC. After retiring, they moved to Chatsworth, buying a condo adjacent to Chatsworth Park South and discovered The Homestead Acre there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Hill_Palmer_House She, and her wonderful husband, Dean, joined the Historical Society and took on the restoration of the gardens at "The Acre", as their retirement project. It was there, I met them in 1983 at one of their open gardens, which were held monthly. Rather quickly, they had me joining them, volunteering at The Huntington Library in their rose gardens. My earliest 'funny colored roses' came through Candy, primarily from Peter Schneider (American Rose Rambler editor) who imported many and dedicated his rose, Eden Ellen, in remembrance of their daughter who was killed by a drunk driver. John MacGregor, Clair Martin's predecessor at The Huntington, donated a number of old and rare roses to help jump start the garden restoration. Several were already growing in the garden when Candy and Dean began their efforts. The Acre hosted an annual Rose Festival, featuring old, rare and unusual roses Annie Laurie propagated. It wasn't long until their festivals also included roses which had passed through my Newhall garden which were decent roses, but not exactly what I had thought, or hoped they would be, with cutting grown and seedling roses added to the mix. They spent "winter" here in the San Fernando Valley, escaping the summer heat at her grandfather's "cabin" in Beulah, Colorado. Each return brought something new and exciting for the garden from their summer exploits. The rose, 'Pike's Peak' was one find. The Pike's Peak seedling, 'Beulah Belle' was my 'thank you' to the member of The Belles who supplied the cuttings. The Beulah Belles was their ladies civic organization, though the self proclaimed purpose was to "get together monthly to celebrate birthdays and get sloshed". R. Arkansana "Peppermint", the stippled Arkansana, was another. Many came from Denver Botanical and most still grace my garden. There were many shared dinners, garden tours and visits and much local exploration over the years. Roses and a lot of laughter were the main themes. I'll let the entry in Comments section I posted to Help Me Find pick it up here. A number of years ago, Mel Hulse, of the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, along with others from that garden, visited my garden in Southern California to obtain cuttings of my collection for their garden. One rose Mel was particularly struck by was Annie Laurie McDowell. At that time, it was simply referred to as Renae Seedling. Mel and others in San Jose began referring to it as "Super Renae" and Mel continued singing its praises. Along the way, I lost the original seedling to flat head apple borers. Mel maintained Annie Laurie McDowell and two or three other Renae seedlings he had collected from my garden. I wanted to name a rose for a very dear friend who was responsible for introducing me to The Huntington Gardens and Library and encouraging me to become a volunteer there. Super Renae was the obvious choice. I emailed Mel and asked if he could bring me as many cuttings and bloom spires as possible as we were to meet in Visalia at Sequoia Nursery to film a documentary about Ralph Moore. Being the kind gentleman he was and the loyal friend I'd grown to love, he not only brought me cuttings, but a large, foam ice chest FULL of blooming material! All were carefully wrapped and placed in ice to maintain them for the four days it would require before they could be taken to their potential namesake. We spent the time at Sequoia and accomplished our mission. I brought the ice chest home and called my dear friend, who invited me to join her for breakfast the following morning. I brought the ice chest and spent well over an hour cleaning and recutting the stems under water while she prepared our breakfast. When all stems were finished, I'd filled a large antique water pitcher with many dozens of bloom clusters in prime condition. The pitcher was her grandfather's, and we placed it on her grandfather's secretary desk. He was a doctor and the case was full of his instruments and medical books. We enjoyed our breakfast while admiring the pitcher full of Annie Laurie McDowell sitting on her grandfather's desk. At that time, Annie Laurie was about 71, so you have an idea of the age of the desk, equipment, books and pitcher and water bowl. Annie Laurie had sought the old Hybrid Tea, Annie Laurie, for years. It was an early Twentieth Century sport of Ophelia. The rose is extinct. Had it not been for the keen eye, dedication and kindness of this fine gentleman and loyal friend, Annie Laurie McDowell would have become extinct years before finally accepting the name of my dear friend. And, Annie Laurie wouldn't have had a rose she loved bear her name in her last years of life. I sincerely miss them both.

Catsrose, I got interested in ALM after reading some post here on HMF about her. Then I read her HMF description and member comments. There were a lot of comments about how her fragrance wafts and is the strongest someone's ever smelled, and how much she's willing to bloom. Here in the summer we're hot and most rose scents burn off to nonexistence, so I got visions of a wafting rose by my front door, always in bloom. Then there's the reported disease resistance, low thorns, and easy care. Something about this rose just seemed almost too good to be true, but I was hoping it's just a treasure that I have yet to experience, I guess. So is it not all of those qualities? By the way, I love cats and roses too, and my dog, so I guess I could have been Catsdogrose. Seil and Catsrose, I was intrigued to see that you're both in Zone 6, but ALM was not hardy for Seil, yet grows to 15X15 for Catsrose. That's a huge difference. Am I missing something? I was hoping that our Zone 5b cold winters would limit ALM to a more manageable size, like 6 X 6, or even 8 X 8. Is that not the correct thinking? I have considered weeping China Doll and other roses recommended, but they're only mild for fragrance on HMF, and I'd like to get something very fragrant that wafts in the front, if possible. I first considered ALM for growing on several arbors that I newly installed. But the lack of hardiness was what made me reconsider. Even though the front of my house is not protected, it's probably the warmest place on this property due to all the concrete and rocks absorbing heat and then reflecting it back during the night. Last winter, my Heritage rose never even lost its leaves, and it's planted in the front. That's unheard of in my zone, though granted last winter was freakishly warm. Thanks for looking at my picture and considering this problem with me.

Thank you for the advice. It doesn't sound like it would be IMpossible at least, but I do see what you mean about those long canes. If it doesn't work out in the end, then I can always find something to drape it over. I was also thinking, as suggested, that I would simply let it bloom as much as it wanted in order to delay the climbing habit and encourage it to become a bit more stout and self-supporting. But, again, if it feels like I'm trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, then I'll probably give up and find a fence or wall for it.

@Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal no ma'am, ALmD is NOT difficult to root! It is slower growing own root and demands rigorous deadheading to limit its flowering to force it to grow instead of flowering and that is the complaint. Climbers are traditionally slower to establish into the blooming machines we expect. ALmD is slower to get there because she FLOWERS A LOT! She wants to flower at the expense of growing. Remember the "first year they sleep, second the creep and third they leap"? ALmD remains in year #1 for YEARS if she's allowed to continue flowering a LOT, which she will do unless you pick off the flower buds to force her to mature through years two and three. Once she achieves the larger size, she will explode and pave' herself in blooms. If you don't mind treating it like an infant; keeping it potted and pinching off flower buds for several seasons until it puts out climbing growth and the required root system under it to support the plant, own root can work. So far, none of the nurseries who have attempted offering it own root have grown large enough plants to take decent cuttings from. People have received small cuttings because they have been taken from small potted plants. To make good own root plants, it requires thick, strong cuttings and those only occur on mature, large plants. Those require either budding and culturing or years longer growing in the ground and allowing it to build into the plant you need. EVERY source there has ever been for this rose has been repeatedly advised of this fact, because I told them. If you receive (or received) thin, small rooted pieces, it's because they were snipped from thin, small potted plants instead of what SHOULD have been grown and used to propagate it.