Hi Carol: I challenge you and others to finish our internationally acclaimed novel, using roses' name, entitled "When we are bad, and roses are good". See the below: â¢Posted by dove_song WA State Z 6b (My Page) on Wed, Aug 1, 12 at 8:09 ...some MOONLIGHT PASSIONATE KISSES. ST. PATRICK's HEART 'N' SOUL was ALL ABLAZE with anger at THE KNIGHT's and the MERMAID's MONKEY BUSINESS. CHANTILLY LACE had believed she had found TRUE LOVE with THE KNIGHT, But his FLAGRANT, OUTRAGEOUS behaviour with THE MERMAID would break her HOPEFUL HEART. :( â¢Posted by Strawberryhill 5a (My Page) on ST PATRICK invoked the help of king NEPTUNE, who sent a BLASTOFF of cold water jet into the BLUE OCEAN. This froze the knight's ass, so he had to jumped on his boat to continue with the journey. â¢Posted by dove_song WA State Z 6b (My Page) on Unfortunately for him, THE KNIGHT's boat ran into an ICEBERG thus thwarting his journey. In the meantime ST. PATRICK's sailboat was heading out into the BLUE OCEAN FULL SAIL... ST. PATRICK had a HEART O' GOLD, but he was weary of life's hard knocks to him and to those he loved. Therefore he decided to sail to FAIREST CAPE which was well known for it's EASY GOING lifestyle. Upon his arrival at FAIREST CAPE he was greeted by ... â¢Posted by WinterCat z10 (My Page) on ... a BLONDE BOMBSHELL with a BLACK HEART and a penchant for the use of BLACK MAGIC. "Oh! a HELPING HAND just at the right MOMENT IN TIME!" cried the TEMPTRESS. "The CHOCOLATE PRINCE is after me! He wants my HOT CHOCOLATE SECRET RECIPE! Quick! Please let me into your MERCEDES! He's CLOSE UP behind us!" "So much for EASY GOING lifestyle," mumbled ST. PATRICK, but how could he abandon a BLUSHING DAMSEL in distress to her fate? "Hop in LADY! Let's go!" "You're a saint!" sighed the BLONDE BOMBSHELL. "Don't BUTTER ME UP" replied St. Patrick. "What I need is a break from it all. Besides I'm thirsty. You wouldn't have any of that famous HOT CHOCOLATE left, have you? Even some MILKY TEA would do". "I've got SOMETHING ELSE that's much better. A real SURPRISE! Close your eyes", whispered she. ST. PATRICK closed his eyes and ... â¢Posted by Strawberryhill 5a Chicagoland (My Page) on Sun, Aug 5, 12 at 9:45 The BLONDE BOMBSHELL stuffed a GOLDEN DELIGHT into ST. PATRICK's mouth. It tastes so GOLDEN DELICIOUS to him, that he kept eating until he exploded into GOLDEN BUDDHA. Thank God that his entourage of the 7 dwarfs came to the rescue, running on their CUTIE PIE little legs. They are: BASHFUL, DOC, DOPEY, HAPPY, SLEEPY, SNEEZY, and GRUMPY. The dwarfs carried the bloated ST. PATRICK onto his boat. The 7 heroic dwarfs steered the boat toward the ICEBERG to rescue THE KNIGHT, whose YELLOW SUBMARINE got jammed. Here is a link that might be useful: Our novel using Roses' names This post was...

Okay, it's not growing so fast now -- I moved it from indoors under lights, to out in the cold over a month ago -- but the possibility of taking a cutting shouldn't be too far off. And you're right, it could still have that sort of vigor and be tetraploid. As it gets older, I hope for more clues. Of planned crosses with Saint Nicholas, 11 are now little plants, having survived infancy without sickness. I used mixed pollens, so I can't tell which are which yet, except for the mossy-looking ones (Salet, or *maybe* Chapeau de Napoleon). Most of the others look varying degrees of Damask, and most are probably from Pickering FS, but some may have to bloom before I can be sure which pollens took. There are also at least 5 Autumn Damask seedlings which look like they'll make it, and so much OP Single Musk that the culling process is ongoing. About thirty OP Grandma's Hat also germinated, but over 90% were sickly and/or misshapen. I don't know whether they're sickly because GH selfs badly, or whether GH makes sick babies regardless of the pollen used, but its promising start has definitely tarnished. One seedling of Tuscany Superb looks like it will make it. About thirty plants, all told. Others mostly haven't felt like germinating yet, if at all. No thanks to the squirrels, my dinky Saint Nicholas pretty much saved the year. I wish I had more of it! Since none of those seedlings can be expected to bloom this year, I'm now planning a bunch more F1s. And I have to say, the closer spring gets, the more I'm tempted to try an alternative direction, which I think aligns with yours. Although I absolutely will keep working on Damask Perpetuals, I realize that the odds of getting one to rebloom are low, and that even having a fine seed parent for them, might not be enough to make future breeders want to risk trying it. Chinensis rebloom is just SO much more within reach. So this year I'm hedging my bet, and will also try my hand at (gasp!) Hybrid Perpetuals. Breeders will include, to be sure, Alfred Colomb, Ardoisee de Lyon, "Barbara's Pasture Rose," Eugene de Beauharnais, Gloire des Rosomanes, Jacques Cartier, Reine des Violettes, Rose du Roi (of commerce), Salet (again), and Sydonie. It *may* include too modern Hugh Dickson, too sickly La Reine, or too sterile "Glendora." The basic idea will be the same -- boost female fertility in old roses -- but I would want to keep up the outcross-backcross process indefinitely, with the goal of bringing successive generations closer to the ancient European classes, and farther away from HPs. Early on, they might still be useful for breeding Bourbons, HPs, Austin types, or species crosses. So expect the next batch to include things like: Saint Nicholas x Reine des Violettes Gloire des Rosomanes x Saint Nicholas Tuscany Superb x Alfred Colomb Hebe's Lip x Jacques Cartier (When looking for some other information, I came across and re-read a Paul Barden blog from 10 years ago, in which he wished for something virtually identical to Indigo, which had just enough chinensis in it to ease the breeding of (at least slightly) remontant offspring. Although he intended to try it using Modern Shrubs and a different breeding methodology, the basic idea is the same. I'm using old roses for that job in an effort to restrict how modern descendants can look and smell, since glossy foliage and some other modern traits are dominant. While either approach could work, I'm hoping mine will quickly produce some useful results, since I don't feel quite young enough to try Paul's method for this particular job, and don't have the acreage to rush it.) Last year's Damask Perpetuals will be going on as before -- Pickering, Pink Leda, Autumn Damask, Duchess of Portland -- with Indigo and another Pickering plant joining the effort. Hebe's Lip will be getting a lot of pollen, as I suspect it's where SN got its female fertility from. Every year I try a few long shots, using tiny amounts of pollen from functionally sterile roses on my best seed parents, and will continue doing so. (Though it's way too early to be sure, one of my SN seedlings looks like it could be from Duchesse de Rohan pollen I put on it; it has foliage as oval as any of my Autumn Damask seedlings, but far less thorns. After years of failing with roses like that, this gives me hope!) My Single Musk is much happier lately, so it can expect a bunch of pollens, mainly directed at the moschata x gallica needed for a Damask do-over. If you like, I'll put some Gloire des Rosomanes pollen on it too, and send you any hips which result. If there's anything you'd love to see tried with things which I grow, and I've mentioned no intention of doing such crosses, let me know. Some of my roses, like Gloire des Rosomanes, will have a lot more flowers than I will have plans for.

Not hiding, Diane, but I'm afraid you'd have a long wait for MY Spring flush :-D I might cheat and show a few Autumn rose pictures though. Many thanks for introducing this funny and educational thread. What a great idea, Jasmine; I'm looking forward to all the garden tours, which should get me through my 'winter blues', although I'm ashamed to admit to those, considering my mild climate. Baby Austin is so lovely, and just the size rose I've room left for, after this year's roses arrive. Jim, the rose motels,as Patty called them, look great....still working on a way to hibernate my remaining herbaceous peony :) Melodye. ps. all ideas gratefully received re peony. M

Thanks Cindi for the info. I have 2 Nahema on Hortico waiting list along with 6-8 other roses for next year. I didn't know they had it all these time. When I placed my 1st order, there was none. I will wait for next year since it's getting late for rare boot roses. Good luck with yours. I got a Nehema from Ludwigs 5-6 weeks ago. I think my zone 6a garden is too cold for it after hearing one of my friends in NC zone 7 lost hers this spring, I am growing mine in a pot now. Good luck with your Nahema, it's a beautiful rose indeed. :-)