Thank you, everybody! Elemire, the changeability of color is a characteristic of many Teas. Some people think this is what makes them so lovely. It is sometimes possible that different roses are sold under the same name because sometimes old roses are not ID-d correctly right away. Actually, speaking about IDs, that Mme Desiree Giraud is probably Baronne Prevost. There is a discussion about it on HMF. Apparently the thinking is that all so far known cultivars of Mme Desiree sported back to the parent:-(. I forgot about it when I was posting... Masha

Joanna, My tolerance for BS and leaf loss may be higher than yours, but, I'll say what I've seen so far... The wichuriannas are near perfect...Paul Transon repeats a little. Blush Noisette is not looking good...spotty and leafloss, but, I believe it will take time to get going. Lamarque- some mildew, slow to get going, no bs MAC-some bs, some leafloss (30%) Crepuscule - succumbed to the goats...will get another Reve D'Or- may be mislabled, no diseases on what i've got Mme. G. Staechlin- no diseases, vigorous, once bloomer Blush Noisette- yucky so far Celine Forrestier- slow to get going, no problems yet Ghislaine de Feligonde-near perfect...heavy first flush and flowers the rest of the year off an on.. Aimee Vibert-don't have Gloire de Dijon-some spots, 50% leaf loss, succombed to goats, it has been replaced Souvenir de Mme. Leonie Viennot (not sure about this one)died after being moved...no problems when I had it SDLM (worried this may ball in my humid/hot climate)- so far so good, no major problems William A. Richardson -just starting to take off, no sign of disease Desprez a Fleurs Jaunes-just starting out, too soon to comment Duchesse D'Auerstadt-same as Jaune Desprez Sombreuil-some spots, 30% leaf loss Lady Hillingdon, cl- don't have it yet Paul Lede (disease?) don't have it yet Cramoisi Superieur, cl -no disease yet plus: Clair Matin some spots, 10% leaf loss, blooms constantly...a must have rose I hope this helps some. I'm really finding out that you've got to try the roses for yourself and see what you're willing to tolerate and what you're unwilling to tolerate. If a rose is vigorous and blooms and loses some leaves, I'm thrilled. I'm growing clematis through all these roses, so if they lose 50% of the leaves, and it doesn't slow the rose down, I'm fine with it. I will NOT spray. Robert

Hi all, your photos are so inspiring, both for the skill with growing and the skill with photography. Alot of my regulars seem to be lagging behind for some reason, especially my plumeria -- and yes I did fertilize them. Maybe that was my problem. But they do have buds coming out at least. My favorites right now are my combined flower pots. Always great for quick floral gratification. Miscellaneous flower pots incredibly adorable lantana "tree" gazanias, bromeliads, california daisies, firecracker close-up of jatropha podagrica in above flower bed white geiger nun's orchid Hope that's not too many photos -- I left out a lot! Julie

Comtesse thanks for your thoughts. A nursery bed is not a bad idea although it will need some initial investment. Also it won't help so much with giving roses an advantage since roses will need to be uprooted to be planted in their final spots. May be pots embedded in a nursery bed? Have to give this more thought. Can anybody join in with ideas? I don't know if lemons can have any long term acidifying effect in a compost. I suspect no. They should be a good source of potassium though. I have been known to dump rotting citrus in my compost pile. I would never add uncomposted lemons directly in the mulch. <Start O/T > We go wayyyyy back with the Germans at least back to 1832 when the powers the be installed a Bavarian prince as the King of Greece after Greece gaining independence from the Ottomans because they couldn't trust the Greeks to rule themselves... Well to be honest, many Greeks wouldn't trust other Greeks to rule them but that is another long story. The below link makes interesting reading.. King Otto of Greece (Btw, of sociological and cultural interest is the below pic depicting a 'greek revival' monument constructed in Munich in 1862 commemorating some of this stuff. Please compare the essence and psyche, not the superficial form of the architecture with the original Parthenon.... To me this pic carrries lot of significant connotations) Propylaeen in Munich <End O/T> Summers, I only buy bare-roots since I have to import most of the roses (as it stands now I cannot import anything bar the ones already paid for...). Great roses you're getting, I think some of them are not easily available in Europe. Yes, Daisy lives in Crete, although I suspect she may be facing half the problems since their income may be coming from the UK. That's only a guess though. I tend to feel very positive towards people who have volantarily adopted my country to live in, regardless where their income comes from and who learn to appreciate the good and bad things of life over here and have a good thing to say about the country and its people. I wish I could live in Crete btw.