Thanks for the ideas. I could go crazy with orange roses apparently! I think I'll have to rule out Amber Queen which does look right but I think this plant has been in the ground longer than the 80s. The previous owner thought it had been in since the greenhouse was installed in the late 50s or early 60s. The classy fence post is newer. :) What makes a climber a climber instead of something that was pruned funny? Aside from the obvious trunks, this one doesn't put out any long branches. But it's had so much "shaping" I can't tell.

Get a spigot timer and hook it up to the sprinkler. Have the spinkler go over the flats once a day for about an hour. Easy.

rust comments from the past: Posted by tdogdad Zone 9 (My Page) on Mon, May 28, 07 at 13:43 Here is the post from November- I talked to both Bud G. and Chris Roy. Here is the general scoop on rust. Lay down plastic around the infected plant and clip off the infected leaves by clipping about a half inch from the main stem. Put leaves in a bag and dispose of. Clean up any mulch and remove from around the plant. In a few days remove the clipped stem pieces when they turn yellow. You can get a product called Fungaway and use as directed. Next year clip off the old leaves after new ones grow leaving only a half dozen leaves. This helps with air circulation which cuts down on the conditions that cause the rust (damp with low air circ.). There are some products that are very expensive but it appears that the above practice works in most cases. Bill Also there was a discussion on cleaning up the top layer of the soil as you would with roses because the spores drop on the leaves and soil and are splashed up onto the plant.

I just want to say, I didn't intend for THEIR appraisal to serve as YOURS. Just that they may need to have someone (who is not you) tell them what the market is doing, bcs they may be unrealistic about what prices are right now (esp. given that you mentioned "top dollar"). They would probably have to take a loss, and they may not be willing to do that. Since they don't have a real-estate agent, an appraiser might be the "expert on the real estate market" who can tell them. And they might not trust you or your appraiser. And having them hear the bad news about lower prices BEFORE you make an offer might be good. Of course, they might decide not to even set an asking price at all, once they realize the timing is going to cost them $60k. (also, if they do set a price, or you get an appraisal, you might help soften the blow by offering them slightly above the appraisal, if you can swing it)