Sherry, The clematis is about 4' from the base of the rose. The space between the shed and trellis is only about 2' to 2.5. The clematis is about halfway between the shed and trellis. Although, the plot is part of a larger bed, the area I'm referring to is about 10'x2' smaller than what looks like in your photo. I wouldn't worry about the shade. I'm far from an expert on clematis, i've killed a few PS is my only true success, but convential wisdom is the roots like to be in shade; the vine likes the sun, but eventually the vine will find sun. One of my vines gets very little sun at it's base. Polish Spirit is a heavy bloomer but is not for a normal shrub because it get's very large. I made that mistake and the reason I have 2 is that it split when I moved it. I wouldn't plant PS any closer than 3' from the base of the rose. I'd be inclined to try one at one end of your arbor like near where the liriope is now. PS is dark purple, it may look nice with the pink. If it doesn't work you can always remove like it did. Moving it for me was a little difficult because it was only about 1' foot from the original rose, but the vine itself reestablished without much ado. I think the risk is rather small. Other rose plantings I've successfully tried: I have two ferns (a japanese painted and an autumn fern) a couple feet near another large rose (Traviata) in filtered sun. Both seem to be happy, happier than alot of others under more conventional conditions. In another bed I have hardy plumbago growing around 2 azaleas, The Dark Lady, and Queen Elizabeth. The shrubs are all healthy and seem unaffected by the plumbago. Plumbago has a pretty loose root structure and I don't think either of the ferns I mentioned are particularly aggressive.

hmm, that's interesting, Hamp. So far they've been almost all pink. Sorry for the not so wonderful picture from last year- Mine came from Lisa at Countryside, if I remember right and I'm not sure where she got hers. But both descriptions of the ARE and AShdown clones describe a pink rose with a yellow base. So far I have only seen pink with a little cream. No bs or any problems so far and she still has all her leaves from last year. Interesting to read the comments on hmf about WRS; I guess there's some disagreement about its parentage: Maman Cochet x Mme Hoste white maman cochet x hermosa k. aug. viktoria x maman cochet Some on hmf describe it as a white rose with pink. Makes you think there's more than one of her around. Or maybe it's the location. Anyone else have thoughts?

There are several very old bushes of Maman Cochet in our neighborhood, surviving in the unkempt yards of old houses. I dug one out of a hedge (only the tip of one cane showing) at the house of some friends of mine, and convinced them to cut back/dig up that end of the hedge. After about 2 years, MC had grown 3 feet wide and 7 feet high, and was covered in gorgeous blooms. My friends were astonished, but I was not - the old roses which have survived decades of no care (and even survived being eaten by hedges!) are VERY hardy (as in tough, not as in temperature). I have a Niles Cochet (another color sport of Maman Cochet) which I got in the neglected (but full of old roses) back yard of a small cottage in our neighborhood. The elderly man who lived there and owned it knocked on our front door with his daughter one day about 20 years ago, and asked for "Lor". That was my FIL's name, and we now live in the house he grew up in. At that point he had been dead for several years. I invited the man in, and he told me that he had moved back into his childhood home (the cottage down the block from our house), and that he had been a childhood friend of my FIL, about 80 years before he knocked on our door! Anyway, he invited me to come look at the roses, and take cuttings of anything I wanted. Here is a bloom of 'Niles Cochet' I got from the bush I have that I rooted from a cutting from a very old bush growing behind that cottage. The Cochet family of roses obviously likes our neighborhood.

Patrick,I can only share my experience in MD. Hopefully it will be better for you mom. I never grew climbing form of WMC, but bush form was not so successful in my garden. First, the spring flush always got severe case of botritis and balled. Then it was a long pause before next flush, which was destroyed by JBs anyway. The third (fall)flush again got botritis. I had WMC in my garden for 4 years and, I am not kidding, I got 5-6 opened blooms on it altogether. Everything else was balled or chewed up. These blooms were lovely. I had very similar experience with regular MC and Niles Cochet. In addition, all three needed regular spraying to keep leaves on. They were more BS prone then other 20+ different teas I grow or used to grow. It is not a location in the garden or my cultural practice. I have Mme Joseph Schwartz, Georgetown Tea and Safrano in the same places where Cochet family used to grow and all three are happy. Sorry for being pessimistic. Olga