First, let me say that I'm in central Italy, not the USA. Normally, at the end of July we would expect that our temperatures should be at least 30 - 35 degrees C or more (85 - 95 F) from mid-June until the end of August with no rain since, at least, the beginning of June until the end of August. However, this year is like no other. Last winter wasn't cold, it rained constantly until mid-May and it's now raining three or four times a week at the end of July - absolutely unheard of - it's raining as I write this, and today our top temperature was 21 degrees! So, how has this affected my roses? Well, blackspot is the major problem. My rose garden is only two years old. The first two Austins I planted were a St. Swithun climbing rose against the south-facing stone wall of the house and a Golden Celebration planted in full sun. These were both 2 year old grafted plants. For me, 'full sun' means that in Summer sunrise is between 5:30 and 6:00 am and sunset is about 8:30 - 9:00 pm. There is no shade for any of my roses (apart from the one against the South-facing stone wall) - they're in 'full sun' all day. St. Swithun has almost reached the top of the 4 metre (13 feet) South facing stone wall of the house. It was planted in mid-May 2012. Despite its location the pale pink blooms are prolific from April until November. It really doesn't seem to stop blooming until very late November. The perfume of the blooms is wonderful (I like the myrrh fragrance) and it is a healthy plant, apart from some BS problems with our ridiculously humid weather this year. The flowers do not fade, even though they are a pale pink. However, it has the most hideous prickles of any of my roses. They really are vicious and I have to wear leather gauntlets when dealing with it. The other negative comment I have about St. Swithun is that the blooms don't fall off the plant when they've finished flowering - they stay there, dead, brown and ugly! I have to use a broom to knock them off. Because of the height of the rose I've had to spend a fortune on a ladder that's tall enough for me to take my life into my hands and prune it! Golden Celebration is, perhaps, my favourite DA rose. My grafted version is about 1.5 metres high with a diameter that is at least the same as its height. It is covered in blooms all Summer long and is normally disease free but, this year it has some BS. The fragrance of Golden Celebration is the most pleasing to me. Other DA roses I have - A hedge of Queen of Sweden roses (100 plants) - the most healthy of all my DA roses. Planted bare root in January 2013, they now form a hedge about 1.2 - 1.5 metres in height that flower constantly from the end of April until November. A delightful myrrh fragrance. I can't think of anything negative about the Queen of Sweden. An own-root Teasing Georgia bought in May 2013 in a 2.5 litre pot which is now over 1 metre tall and perhaps 1.5 metres in diameter. It has flowered constantly since mid April. At the moment it has some black spot, but it is smothered in blooms. I find its fragrance very elusive. An own-root Golden Celebration, also bought in May 2013 in a 2.5 litre pot which is not as vigorous as Teasing Georgia but is healthy and floriferous. A 2 year old grafted Lichfield Angel, planted in June 2013, mid-Summer (never a good idea - but it was a gift). It is already a 1.5 metre tall x 1.5 metre diameter plant covered in enormous blooms. For me the only negative about this plant is the lack of any fragrance - at least, I can't detect any. A grafted Wildeve - I love the bloom form - but I should have paid more attention to the catalogue where it said that it shared many characteristics of a ground-cover rose. Mine is much wider than it is tall but it, too, is covered in the most beautiful pale pink roses with a lovely perfume. A Shropshire Lad - a mistake. I didn't realise that I had bought the climbing version. This too, is a 2 year old grafted plant that I've spent all spring/summer trying to convince to become a shrub rose. I believe I'm fighting a losing battle. It's also a complete BS magnet. I've also noticed that my Shropshire Lad flowers don't seem to bear any resemblance to others I've seen. Don't quite know what went wrong here. I can't detect any fragrance. Sharifa Asma x 2 - bought as own-root plants in 2.5 litre pots in May 2014. Replanted into larger pots a month ago they've both doubled in size and are now covered in buds. I just wonder whether I can keep them small enough to grow in 50 cm pots? Very healthy foliage and delightful perfume. Evelyn - another gift - about a six weeks ago. I've replanted it into a larger pot until I can decide where it should be planted. At present, the foliage doesn't look great and it seems to have some fungal infection so I've sprayed with an anti-fungal spray to see if I can control it. Sorry for such a long post … I forgot to say that I have extremely alkaline, very heavy clay - pH 8 soil - which, in its natural state varies between yellow and blue/grey in colour. Truly hideous. I have amended it heavily with anything and everything I can find - kilos of coffee grounds from my local bar, dozens of plastic bags of oak leaves (which I collect in early Spring an let rot down for 12 months), truck loads of rotted horse manure. Something must be working because the roses are all growing like crazy. Cheers Tricia

Thanks for your opinion, Rick! If that's what The Reeve looks like, this one definitely is not it. Evelyn is a possibility, but it looks different from the Evelyn in the other Austin bed that is labelled, and smells different. This one did have a nice fragrance, but not like peaches which is what Evelyn smells like to me. Then again, cultural differences can make all kinds of things different, and this is an old planting bed, that needs mulch, whereas the other one was just planted. Symphony sure could be the yellow one. I don't generally like yellow, but this one is so soft and creamy and more golden then screaming yellow. Too bad there isn't much fragrance on it. Whatever it is, it's a lovely thing, and I hope someone is preserving it in another garden somewhere! My newly planted Evelyn looked like this when the flower first opened - more orange and not cupped at all. But it is the right time period for when those roses were planted. Thanks for your thoughts!

Our Pilgrim came from Hortico, and I suspect it was not virused. Sadly, after the first year or so, it, too, began to grow 14-ft. canes, and bloom out on the ends. Tried self-pegging ... It grew vine-line canes that hid in the grass and wrapped itself around your ankles . . . The third time it did that to DH, it was GONE. But the blooms were breathtakingly lovely. If it behaves for you, you'll love it. And your Baronne Prevost makes me more certain that "Historic Powell House" is that:

Austin Please message me your address so I can check with UPS website as to how fast it takes to ship. I hope to send Evelyn rooting tomorrow Thursday Nov. 16, so it will reach you this Sat. Nov. 19. The planting hole enables success more than the size of the plant. In acidic rain climate, I use chunky pelletized lime to break up dense clay at bottom for fast drainage. For less rain climate, folks use acidic gypsum to speed up drainage AT BOTTOM of planting hole. The best potting soil for water-hog English roses is Pro-Mix Moisture (red bag sold at Walmart). MG-moisture control potting soil changes to mostly saw dust, and it breaks down faster than Pro-Mix (mostly peatmoss that can hold water 10 times its weight). For the root level, I use 1 cup of dolomitic lime (Espoma Garden Lime) per 3 gallons of potting soil plus 1 cup of Espoma Tomato Tone NPK 3-4-6. Mix them well while using a face mask to prevent breathing. I once had pneumonia & coughing up blood from breathing in peatmoss. It's recommended to use SOLUBLE fertilizer for the 1st year, but that has zero calcium. That's the logic of mixing in dolomitic lime (Garden lime) into potting soil in high rain months. For less rain months, I mix in 1 cup of acidic gypsum (calcium sulfate) into 3 gallon of potting soil. This is best for no-rain climate with alkaline tap water. NOT good to put a wad of granular fertilizer right smack on the crown, but safe to mix 1 cup of Espoma Tomato Tone with 3 gallons of potting soil (it's diluted by mixing well into soil). Flowering is much better when the soil has POWDER organic fertilizer mixed in advance. The chunky granular fertilizer is NOT safe, but Espoma products (Rose Tone NPK 4:3:2, Tomato Tone NPK 3:4:6) is fine like powder and it's well diluted by mixing in and won't burn roots. I prefer Tomato Tone since it's higher in phosphorus and potassium. NO to mixing in alfalfa meal (too acidic and killed my roses before). Yes to alfalfa tea (2 TBS. soaked overnight with 1 gallon of tap-water, plus 1/2 TBS of sulfate of potash) done 3 times per week. Nitrogen is NOT recommended for winter months, but potassium is still needed for root growth. Root doesn't stop growing unless the temp. is below 50 F. Calcium and potassium help with fast root growth. Phosphorus and trace elements are from mixing in Tomato Tone (that really helps with flowering later on). A box cutter is handy to buy from Walmart. A box cutter can cut off the bottom of big plastic pot to invert that over a rooting to protect it from being eaten by animals. Chipmunks climb up to my pot this April and ate thornless Red Yves seedling to the crown. It took me 10 years before I could root that rose, and the chipmunks destroyed that in a few minutes. Stinky spices (garlic, basil or curry powder) can be mixed with petroleum jelly & smeared on below plastic pot to keep animals from eating small rootings: