Definately HERITAGE and PRETTY JESSICA. They get blasted for poor disease resistance, which hasn't been my experience. I can think of other English Roses, which get heaped with praise, that are a lot more susceptible to black spot. Both are also dependable bloomers here in the Mid-Atlantic. My biggest problem with the English Roses is the sketchy repeat, but I can always count on Heritage and Pretty Jessica to be generous bloomers. Then there is all the griping about shatter-syndrome with Heritage. Well last year, as an experiment, I cut a spray of blooms from my Heritage while the flowers were still in tight bud. Every other day I recut the stems and changed the vase water. In the end I got 5 whole days of beauty before tossing the spray. The petals were still attached. The only reason I tossed it was because the blooms had started to decompose and rot. Heritage & Pretty Jessica are GREAT roses. Another English Rose that gets dumped on by a certain California rosarian is THE PILGRIM. I have two specimens being grown espalier-like in partial shade and each is a gorgous performer. I can't stress enough the difference that own root makes with the Jolly Green Giants. It is simply the only way to go with the more vigorous Austins. Patrick

Nik, I know that Americans farther South than my zone 6a do plant in the Fall but I have had no personal experience with warmer zones. However, from my zone North (and that's a lot of territory), Fall planting is not a viable option. In August it is too hot to plant, getting in the high 80s and then the first frosts come about the first or second week in October. Four to five weeks is not enough time for the roses to get established and prepare for the hard frosts soon to come. Our last frost date is May 15, so that is about 7 months. Usually we have snow cover then it melts, then more snow cover and on and on through the winter. This is especially bad because repeated freezing and thawing cycles heave plants out of the ground. A constant snow cover, which we do not have, would prevent that and in addition would be protective insulation, keeping the plants near 32 F instead of the -10F air temperatures normal for this zone. It may be difficult for most Europeans to sense the degree and duration of cold that we experience, Scandinavian countries and Scotland excepted. When I read English gardening books that say a plant is cold hardy, I have to remember they mean that it will survive in a zone much warmer than mine. Most of England is zone 8! Compare the Hardiness Zone maps on Garden Web of Europe versus The United States. The color of the zones give a more intuitive feel for the difference in climate. Cath

There isn't a lot you can do about the new growth. It happens. By the time the buds have grown out that far inside, the growth won't harden off. 45F is too warm, as you have found out. Unlike hardy roses, most roses you are going to want to keep garaged aren't very smart when it comes to temperatures. They respond much better to a lack of water, but that has its own issues in a container. In the northeast, where I live, we tend to have wet falls, and getting zone 6 roses to go dormant can be a challenge if you can't turn off the water. However, that is a story for another time. The roses have to be essentially hit over the head with cold enough temperatures that they have no choice but to understand winter is real, winter is coming. Almost by definition, these are sub-freezing temperatures. Then to keep them dormant, temperatures should be close to freezing. I assume you have some temperature control over this garage. For the roses, 35F is probably cold enough. I have an attached, unheated, uninsulated garage, and things definitely freeze out there. 28F is not an issue. The bigger issue is when things start warming up in the spring, and the roses have to be brought out on sunny days, and back in for cold snaps.

I’ve been wondering if I should have gotten Darcey Bussel instead of Munstead Wood. MW is said to be much more fragrant, but in my garden it is only fragrant when conditions are just right. It’s an okay bloomer, but flowers lose their form, size and color in the heat of summer. The flowers crisp quickly in our dry summer heat. The spring and fall flowers are wonderful though. Sheila, do you have a MW? If so, how does it compare to DB? Stephanie? Bishop’s Castle would happily grow to 6 feet in my garden if well irrigated. I keep mine rather dry and the flowers are smaller, but it mostly stays about 4 feet and bushy. When the late summer monsoons come and the weather cools down, it shoots up taller basals that get pruned down in the winter.