Interesting Entling. I would have thought you in that zone would not have to worry about things regrowing in December. Curious that I can get away with it here in NC and you can't in IL. I have found that once the clematis in my garden get hit with a cold spell, a minor warm up causes no issues with any of them thinking about resprouting or growing new foliage. In fact, I am more concerned with stimulating growth by pruning too early in the spring. I believe that day length may also play a factor in whether pruning will cause regrowth as well as temperature. I also like pruning then since I am usually overwhelmed with gardening chores in late winter/early spring. Guess we all have to find out what works best in our own gardens and growing zones!

ingrid_vc -- I, too, noticed that 'Honorine de Brabant' seems focused more on growing than blooming if left to itself. Last year, I pruned it in late Winter, and it was glorious for its first flush in late Spring. Then it grew and grew, since I let it "go wild", and I got only the occasional bloom here and there, the last sometime around Halloween. This year, I'm trying an experiment of sorts -- the roses which are "stingy" with rebloom were just lightly tidied up in Spring, but otherwise left rather big. After the first flush, I'm going to prune them as "the books" say to do in late Winter, and see if that gets a better rebloom. It worked with 'Rose du Roi -- original' which I cut back hard on half its canes after the first flush because it wasn't self-supporting. The result was a bit scary for a couple of weeks, since that one leafs out only in the top few inches, which made it top-heavy and caused it to flop. After cutting it back hard, I was left with leafless canes maxing at about 24" tall. But they soon branched lower down and leafed out again, and had a second flush soon after. Once I saw that what I did didn't kill the canes on which I did it, I went back and did it to the others I left untouched. They did the same thing, but behind the first set by a few weeks. What I'm going to do with 'Honorine de Brabant' is first look to see if there are canes or laterals which had few or no blooms, and remove them entirely -- I figure they're "spent". Then I'll cut back canes which did bloom well by about a third. I've noticed that reblooming OGRs like Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals don't "rebloom" the way Chinas and Teas and Polyanthas do. The former groups bloom after new growth has reached a certain size, their first flush being on what grew the previous year. The latter groups just leaf out what remained after Winter, then send out bloom sprays on that, which later become new growth. In other words, my Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals want to leaf out, grow, then bloom. My Chinas, Teas, and Polyanthas want to leaf out, bloom, then grow. So I'm thinking that to get the Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals to rebloom better, they need a kick in the pants to send forth new growth, rather than just extending what they already put out before the first flush. haku84 -- 'Mme de Sevigne' does not disappoint in the fragrance department. Everyone talks about 'Mme Isaac Pereire' as being the most fragrant Bourbon, but I've smelled quite a few, and I think that generally this "family" of long-caned Bourbons with kinda similar blooms are mostly very fragrant. This would include 'Mme de Sevigne', as well as the rose sold as 'Souvenir du President Lincoln', 'Deuil de Dr. Reynaud', 'Mme d'Enfert', etc. If you have an old Vintage Gardens catalog, they'd be the Bourbons of growth habit #3, or in some cases #4 -- as is my 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau', which is also quite fragrant. :-) ~Christopher

Molie and defrost, your rock encircled gardens are both very beautiful! Jane, that Salix integra was worth all the effort you put into caring for it. It looks so light and fluffy! Claire, your impressive rugosa rose bush is what I hope mine will become! I love your other roses, but my luck with growing roses of any other kind has not gone well. I think it is just too cold here for most of them. We visited the Calvin Coolidge homestead last year. It is not far from where we live, and at a slightly higher elevation than our house, so I have to figure that if the massive rugosa rose bush next to their preserved house can thrive, so can the same type of rose on our own property. Molie, you are quite right that the wading birds would dine on goldfish at your home! "Blue heron attack" is a recurring theme on the koi pond forums! I think our pool placed right next to our house and surrounded by open land is a deterrent, but there are many creatures always on the lookout for a free fish dinner. I haven't noticed birds drinking from the pool, but many insects find that the artificial lily pads and plants provide safe footing to land and drink. Of course any unfortunate enough to fall into the water will become fish food! We do also have our brook, surrounded by pussywillow bushes, so I imagine most birds find that a safer place to drink and/or bathe.

Try your local nurseries first. They generally have a good selection of the common varieties and larger plants than one gets ordering by mail. Fall sales are starting in our area. Best selection seems to be in the spring. I bought many of mine from Donahue's though as it is located in our area I didn't buy them by mail. They also supply many nurseries and big box stores with clematis. They sent me a replacement plant (for a mislabeled one I bought the spring before) through the mail which arrived in excellent condition. Donahue's Mail Order description Another mail order that I have used is Brushwood Nursery. Brushwood Nursery Here is my single variety which forms a "wall of flowers" 'Betty Corning'. It also blooms earlier and longer than 'Etoile Violet' and while I have not noticed any fragrance some say theirs is fragrant.