No, I haven't made any decisions. I don't know how anyone makes a decision about these things - there are just soooooo many varieties to choose from, it's sort of overwhelming. I have, however, been having a good look around my suburb at what my neighbours are up to in terms of rose growing, trying to see what does well and what does not so well. So within a few streets of my house Crepuscule, Renae, Pinkie and Ballerina are all doing exceptionally well. There are a couple of Pierre de Ronsard's doing ok, the blooms are looking lovely but they're not growing very much and they have very little foliage, so I guess they're not exactly vigorous. All of the hybrid tea varieties, however, and not doing too well - they have a few scattered blooms but the bushes are looking very leggy. I don't think they get enough sun up here to become bushy and healthy.

hey deb, did you get your Datura cutting? Re the Sydney Gardens, it also has some unnusual tennants that always freak out the tourists. In the palm grove there's a colony of 'flying foxes', fruitbats with a wingspan of 6 feet! If you visit, they're quite harmless, just noisy and smelly. Watching peoples reaction when they look up and realise there's over 2oo bats squabbling overhead is priceless. The garden runs down to the harbour and around to the opera house, making it a lovely walk.

I grew one in a greenhouse for several years. It was in a 5 gallon pot but eventually rooted into the ground. After 3-4 years it put out several racemes of flowers and they were amazing! Probably my favorite vine grown for flowers, the color is like those blue-green neoprene gloves you see in hardware stores! The vine always seemed to suffer through the summer, the greenhouse regularly reached over 100 degrees and the vine, of course, was close to the ceiling of the greenhouse. Eventually it died and although I was given some cuttings from a Botanic Garden, they were difficult to root without mist and they all dropped their leaves and died as well. So finally broke down and order one on line. It came in a tiny 4" pot but was healthy with good roots. It was transplanted to a one gallon and it put on a burst of growth in December and then pretty much stopped. As soon as the weather is warm enough, it will go into a 3 gallon and be put outside in semi-shade. The greenhouse is too hot and sadly our outside climate is too cold. Plant to make some kind of structure that will fit in a pot, allow the vine to climb and allow the flowers to hang freely, then keep the plant sheared to about 6-7 feet to keep it manageable. Can't wait to see it flower again!

Great ideas, thank you :) I like the look of the Devoniensis, Reve d'Or and Lady Hillingdon, I'll ask about those at the nursery. In regards to the colour on the house, it is washed out in the strong sunlight. It is actually more like this but a bit lighter: Sorry for the huge colour swatch lol! So I do think white could work as well as pick. Apricot I'm actually less sure about but given that a lot of the colour on the house will be covered by foliage I think it could be ok. Sounds like Kiftsgate and Mermaid are out - I don't want the house to be eaten alive! And definitely no staff here to do the hard work! Thornless would make life easier - I did like how limber and thornless Renae was - but it's not an area that receives any traffic, it's really just seen from the nearby path. So thorns aren't really a make-or-break for me. Swane's used to be one of the biggest rose specialists and I think they still have a great modern selection but I would generally go with Green E Roses for potted plants or Mistydowns for bare rooted. Both have a great selection of OGRs, Austins etc. I went to Swane's recently and didn't find much except for a very spotty Buff Beauty and a few sad Austins that I rescued from the bargain section. I like the climbing Austins but from what I've seen I think they would be too high maintenance for what I'm looking for - all my Austins here need spraying regularly unfortunately and are fairly temperamental (but lovely) creatures. Of course I only have a small selection of Austins and I'm far from an expert but that's just my gut instinct! Anyway perhaps it's been narrowed down to a Noisette or a climbing Tea? Does anyone know if Blush Noisette would get fried?