I grew Crepuscule in the San Fernando Valley and in Newhall, just a few miles from where Aimee's garden is. The plant was good in both areas, other than mildew issues early in the season and more heavily on the immature plants. It does grow more horizontally, almost like a mounding ground cover, until it develops the roots it requires to promote and anchor the climbing canes. Once the heat hit, I seldom saw fresh flowers due to the extreme heat, aridity and intense sunlight crisping the flowers because of the papery petal substance. It IS a gorgeous rose and very aptly named. The bronzy new foliage is a perfect foil for the flower color. If partial sun can be provided, the flowers you expect to enjoy can be found. If not, there will be months of "enjoying" fried petals. The Santa Clarita Valley is a great place to live. The sun levels are often extreme and the heat can be oppressive at times. It's more mid desert than somewhere like Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs where the highs are ten to fifteen degrees greater at the extremes. The lows are warmer than the higher desert area of the Antelope Valley where it can not only get hotter, but quite a bit colder. Traditionally, the air is quite dry and there is often wind, frequently dry and hot, and at times, rather extreme. I lived just down the hill from where Aimee is for thirteen years, having relocated two years ago. I think you should be able to have enjoyable flowers on the north face of the plant where it will receive sun over the wall and reflected back from the inside of the yard. I don't think those toward the upper part of that face, nor the ones across the top of the plant, where most of them will appear, are going to last very long. In Valencia, again just a few miles away, Mme. Alfred Carriere, Malmaison, Souv. de St. Anne's, Malvern Hills, Lordly Oberon, Comte de Chambord, Penelope, White Pet, Abraham Darby and Mrs. F. W. Sanford flowers fry the day they open in the sun and heat. Those which don't crisp as quickly in both Valencia and Stevenson Ranch, based upon working with them over the past seven years have been Dortmund, Sally Holmes, Secret Garden, Royal Sunset, Rosarium Uetersen, Polka, Social Climber. Where Lordly Oberon receives full, direct sun, the petals crisp and flowers ball, refusing to open. Where it is sheltered and receives partial sun, they open properly. Neither receives sprinkler water so it isn't balling due to irrigation over spray. Malvern Hills fry as they open. Souv. de Mme. August Charles fries in temps over 85 degrees. Annie Laurie McDowell performs as I suggested might be expected from Crepuscule. Those which are cooked in full, direct sun all day, crisp. Those on the lower northern face, remain fresh and last. In both gardens, the plants are watered thoroughly, the burning being a function of heat absorption and high evaporation and the worst offenders are those with very soft, papery petals, more often with greater fragrance. Dortmund has very stiff, waxy petals and while they do fade with time, never crisp. Polka fades and takes days to crisp. Oddly, Royal Sunset took several days to crisp. Sally Holmes never crisps in either garden and receives the same sun, heat and wind as the other climbers mentioned, even more than Penelope. Golden Celebration lasted a few days before crisping where it was more sheltered by the house. Where it wasn't, they were burned in less than two days. What did perform quite well as far as bloom production and lasting qualities of the flowers were William Allen Richardson and Duchesse d'Auerstadt. Both had flowers which resisted crisping quickly and both, once established, flowered heavily. Reve d'Or has too few petals and blows quickly. Buff Beauty blew and dropped quickly. Graham Thomas blooms last fairly well, but aren't as reliable, with too much plant for the quantity of flowers and too great a rest between flushes. It is as stiff and unpleasant to work with as Polka. The Pilgrim blooms fairly well, but is too large for the bloom production and the flowers fall in a few days. It can be rather difficult finding something which has the right combination of heavier petal substance, lighter color, preferably smaller petal (less surface area to heat up) and more "form" to the petal, preventing flat surfaces to absorb more heat from direct sun causing it to crisp. Perhaps if the area had more humidity to the air like coastal California and areas of the South East, to reduce the plant's transpiration rate and filter some of the radiant heat, they'd last longer. They "sweat" and need to "drink" as much as we do when it gets hot and dry. Kim

chimaan - I sent you an email ... let me know if you didn't get it. springpaintings - I think Upland has beautiful plants, although as others have said, they can be pricey. However, everything's in bloom, and they have varieties that you won't see elsewhere. They only sell rooted plants on site (from small ones all the way up to huge trees!) - if you want cuttings, you have to order them online, or you can call in advance and pay over the phone, and then pick up in person the next day. I definitely think it's worth a trip to see so many plumeria in bloom, and to see some of their crazy grafts that have up to 5 different blooms on a single plant (!!), even if you don't buy anything. I don't know if they're still having a sale - you should probably call them. Other people here can probably recommend other nurseries in the LA area to you. I know that C-stars has a nursery in Gardena that's open to the public, although I haven't been there. Some of the other ones are open by appointment only, I think. Unfortunately, I'm not really an expert on all the local nurseries ... yet. (LOL)

Hi all, thanks so much for all the incredible advice! Having read way too late into the night on more than one occasion, I took a relatively short list down to a local nursery to see what they had in stock. Turns out they had quite a few from our list, so we looked at which ones looked the best and then picked out 3 to have delivered: Fruitless Mulberry, California Live Oak, and Ficus Nitida "Green Gem." Hooray! The order came today, and of course, there always has to be a hiccup... instead of the California Live Oak, it seems they brought a Holm Oak: Quercus Ilex. Needless to say, I'm bummed. Question for all those experienced folks here is, how bummed should I be? I've only just started reading up on this new species, and the fact that it's not really a CA native already has me quite disappointed, but it does look like as a Mediterranean tree it might do okay in our climate. Does anyone have any experience with it? Our landscaper is coming tomorrow to plant the trees and hook up dedicated irrigation to them to give them a good start. I'm not sure if we should try to get the nursery to correct their error before he comes, or if the Quercus Ilex might fit our needs. Thanks so much for any advice... and for helping us get this far!

@purilisaVA-zone7B you're welcome! Don't forget Renae, ALmD's parent. It is also wonderfully shade tolerant, continuous-flowering, remarkably well scented and a gorgeous thing. Renae was the sister of the man in Visalia who owned the drug store. She passed from cancer in the early forties. Mr. Moore named the rose to memorialize her. ALmD inherited her slow-to-start from Renae as well as her lack of prickles, tolerance for shade and delicious scent. Another of Mr. Moore's marvels without prickles is Climbing Yellow Sweetheart. It's also remarkably well scented and a gorgeous thing. Its remarkable story is presented on HMF, written by the late and continuously missed, Jim Delahanty (jimofshermanoaks) and me: "What Was Lost is Found". The rose can be found here. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.23069 Our article, documenting the resurrection of this desirable rose is here. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=66.587