The buds are truly exquisite--a word I don't often use--as they grow and begin to unfold. When the weather is warm--as it usually is in Southern California--the bud can open too quickly to a rather thin flower; but in cooler weather the flower is beautifully toned, beautifully formed, and on a bush which is "just right" for it in appearance. My first one died of a wretched die-back disease which carried off a big part of my rose collection. I was most pleased indeed when I received and planted its replacement--still a young plant, but happy--placed where I can see it every time I step out my back door, near other roses dear to my heart: 'Queen Christina', 'Leonie Lamesch', 'Climbing Chrysler Imperial', 'Joasine Hanet', and so on. If one lives where it's frequently hot, this is a rose to situate in a less sunny, less hot location. One old commentator in the literature rhapsodizes about it being a precious ever-blooming Camellia; and really it does give that Camellia feeling of cool aristocratic beauty.

Hi, Jo - Haven't heard from you for a while. Glad to see you posting here, but sorry that you're having a problem with one of my favorite roses. Some roses outgrow the balling problem. Only laziness kept me from taking out Souv de la Malmaison, which finally stopped balling after it was at least six years old. Definitely avoid the Cochet roses. Those big egg-shaped blooms will ball and rot for you, I'm afraid. I think it's likely that Mons Tillier would do ok for you. I share Jeri's thought that Lady Hillingdon might be good. Le Vesuve might be ok, too. Comtesse du Cayla, which sometimes seems like a tea to me, and sometimes like a china, would probably love your climate. Definitely avoid anything that mildews, like Duchesse de Brabant and Mme Lombard. You don't get hot enough to drive the mildew to dormancy. Anita

Peony time, oh yes. Here my first peony to bloom was 'Mollis', ephemeral but lovely, and now the tree peonies are in bloom to be followed later by the herbaceous peonies. I have a notion the Officinalis varieties precede the Lactiflora peonies. And P. peregrina is flaunting its lone fire red bloom at the moment. Our bloom times may be odd compared to a normal year, though: I know the tree peonies in town bloomed well before mine did. I suppose all my tree peonies are common kinds, they come from the big commercial nurseries, but they're wonderful. I just wish the nurseries would assign them their proper names--sometimes they do, sometimes they don't--so I can relate what I have growing in the garden to what I read in books. Paula, I do like you do, add one or two every year. And I'm interested in those intersectional peonies, too: who couldn't be? Suzy, is your P. delavayii luteus possibly what my book calls P. lutea var. ludlowii? It sounds like a wonderful plant. Both times rust has struck here has been during a prolonged wet period in middle-late spring when temperatures are warm. Our usual weather pattern is that as temperatures rise, precipitation diminishes (this is why we can live without a dryer), but there is the occasional anomalous weather. DH read in the paper yesterday that this has been the wettest spring ever recorded in Piacenza since they began keeping records back in the 1860s. The winter rainfall was triple that of an average year. I went and checked one of the rolled-up leaves: no larvae. I think it's fungal. Poor 'Vanity' has every single leaf rolled up. Yesterday was glorious and I looked up now and then from my work to admire the garden. DH has been mowing the last couple of days. He got most of the paths, and by the time he was done the garden looked like a garden. Corners of it were pretty lovely, too. The rain came back last night. My first roses to bloom are usually R. hugonis and 'Sanguinea', then a gaggle of Chinas and Teas get going along with the Banksiaes and R. foetida. 'Souv. de St. Anne's' has been blooming, too--facing the wrong way so I can't see it--and yesterday I cut the first flower of 'Gloire des Mousseuses'/'Mme. Louis Leveque'. The bloom was four inches across and full of folded petals. The flowers and plants of this variety always remind me of a tightly corseted Edwardian beauty, very robust, and beautiful. I like a lot of flowering weeds, too, and they make the bees and other pollinating insects very happy.

To their credit, I don't think the Earthkind people make any claims for the performance of their roses in climates different from their own. One of their earliest selections, Belinda's Dream, does abysmally here for me. But that is not their fault. It is a fine idea to have regional lists. I am pleased to learn about the Valley Stars program. I understand that there is a group working in Pennsylvania to figure out a similar list. I'm sorry to say that I forget who they are. No doubt there are others. It is unfortunate that here in the west climate is so variable over a just few miles that "region" is not as useful as it might be. I am a little over 100 miles from UC Davis in the Central Valley but my climate is quite different due to a mild marine influence and the presence of the foothills. The rose selections would not be the same. Good friends who garden about 60 miles from me report that different roses do well in their gardens than in mine. In fact, different roses do well in their two gardens, and they are only about 10 miles apart! This is not to deny that such programs are valuable, and useful as a good starting point in rose selection. I have been willing to audition a number of roses in my garden and select for keeping those that did well for me here (and also that I liked). The rest I gave away -- or if they were very bad, tossed. The average gardener would not be willing to do that. It has been a long and enjoyable experiment. I buy one or two or maybe three roses a year now, and sometimes none. (Lately I've been planting fruit trees.) Rosefolly