Here's an e-mail I just recieved from Carpet Roses: ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for your email Our Flower Carpet Roses, including the latest release, Flower Carpet Amber are typically available at Home Depot, LoweÂs and Walmart stores. You can also search for Independent Garden Centers by logging on to one of our Licensed Wholesale GrowerÂs sites  www.Monrovia.com where you can enter your zip code to find retailers near you Flower Carpet is also available on line at www.WillowCreekGardens.com or www.CottageFarmsDirect.com We hope youÂll give Flower Carpet care free roses a try Anthony Tesselaar USA

Your parterre sounds so lovely! I have a suggestion for the roses that you can find in Europe but not so well here any more. They are the Poulsen groundcover series that was called Towne & Country roses. I have grown two of them for years (Pebble Beach and Natchez), and they are very special groundcovers, imho. You can definitely cut them shorter and they will still bloom profusely. The foliage is miniature and perfect! They bloom in a ton of shade for anyone who needs that, which I do. The flowers aren't as big as the ones you are considering, though. They are very charming and just great roses, so I thought I'd mention them. The effect is like a miniature version of The Fairy. The names used vary, so check them out on Help Me Find. I'd probably check for Poulsen groundcover roses at any nursery you are considering and look them up to see if they are part of this series, because the marketing on these seems all over the map. More in the series whose names I remember: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.3840.4 http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.24749.3 They spread sideways but no so much up. Groundcovers like to get very tall here, so the low growth is nice. They are just the best roses! Here is a link that might be useful: Pebble Beach (Poulen Towne & Country series)

I have no roses that I regret acquiring, but I do have roses that I regret putting where I did. Everything seems to grow larger than expected here, and it took me some time to learn that. I now have monster roses that really need to be relocated. Crepuscule finally got a haircut of about half her growth in January. I hope she doesn't get too pissy with me. She loves her location just a bit too much. Alberic Barbier has canes that end up about 15 feet beyond the plant on the ground UNDER THE FALLEN OAK LEAVES. Ouch !!! I do a fair amount of barefoot gardening. And finally, Silver Moon (aka The Kraken) is going to smother Ghislaine de Feligonde (not exactly a small rose herself). I just had to trim Ghislaine from a pathway. These monsters need to be shuffled around and I am not looking forward to it. The Kraken is staying put - I am not dealing with those fish hooks. It almost ate me when I tried to "scratch in" some fertilizer. Wow, she gets thrown some 10-10-10 from now on. It's funny, though. These are all great roses and have won their places in my garden. I just didn't leave them near enough room and now I have to try to move giant briar patches. Gardening is definitely about location.

Lol! I have pink drift, that came from a grower, but pulled out the coral drift because it was competing with roses I liked better. I am practical about my garden. If it works, I keep it, I really don't care about its "common-ness." I have a Prosperity "tree" that I have espaliered to the north side my wall, and I wanted a tiered effect, so I have Pink Drift, Golden Buddha, International Herald tribune, and Natchitoches Noisette under the tree for filler. It works. I suspect you are in good company Sheri. In the heat of summer Drift keeps going. It is like an Ever-ready bunny! My pink drift is quite short and is three years old about 18" x 24" But I know what you mean about its lack of perceived value. I feel that way about a lot of my roses. Many of my roses are earthkind OGRs, which makes them the common roses of the OGR world. But they are beautiful and reliable. Like Pink drift. Only more special.