Sure does. And so I'll say that I am in Sunset Z23-24 -- CA. HERE, we do best with "Warm-Climate" roses -- the Teas and Chinas, along with Noisettes, Poly-Teas and the like. I can grow Hybrid Perpetuals, but not (for the most part) very well. They tend to be troubled by powdery mildew, rust, and in some cases botrytis. Oh, heck -- really also downy mildew, anthracnose, and cercospora. The one exception would be "Grandmother's Hat," which is bulletproof here, but will blackspot where that is a problem (which it is not, here). I can grow Bourbons, but they have all the disease problems which plague HPs -- only to a greater degree. Ingrid, by contrast, does well with all of the things I can't grow. Jeri

Do yourself a favor, Bon, and stop anticipating the difficulties. Are you trying to take all the fun out of growing crops in our wind-prone, pest-riddled, often-rain-starved state? I'd rather pretend there will be no difficulties at all and then tackle each one individually if it even appears at all in any given year. I had no squash vine borers at all in 2011 and no squash bugs either. Did I spend the whole gardening season wondering when they would show up? Heck no! I spent the whole gardening season worrying about the incredible heat and drought and worrying about wildfire consuming our property and garden. I also enjoyed having yellow squash and zucchini all summer long, or at least until I stopped watering the garden in July. I didn't give the non-existent squash bugs or borers much, if any, thought. I was just glad they left us alone that year. So, wait and see what happens---you might be able to grow any melon you want this year with no squash bug or squash vine borer (or pickle worm or cucumber beetle) issues whatsoever. Why borrow trouble, as my grandmother used to say, worrying about things that may not happen? Seriously, I've been gardening for my whole life and grew up with a gardening family, including extended family that included a farmer and rancher or two, in a neighborhood full of veggie gardens, fruit trees, nut trees, chickens and even a few sheep in the 1960s/70s and never, ever once have I had squash bugs or squash vine borers attack cantaloupes, muskmelons or cucumbers in my garden or in the garden of anybody that I knew and cause significant damage. I'm not saying it doesn't happen because I've read and heard anecdotal reports from people who have had it happen to them. I'm just encouraging you to keep in mind that just because it does happen, that does not mean it will happen. You might be like me and never have the dreaded squash pests attack anything except squash, and occasionally maybe gourds. For what it is worth, every C. moschata variety I've ever grown has performed just like OTCP, and I've grown at least a couple dozen different C. moschata varieties. They're all strong growers with great pest tolerance and disease tolerance and can handle surprisingly difficult drought conditions as well. I think that the fact that C. moschatas originated in tropical regions is what makes them such strong survivors. I've even seen them seemingly die back to the ground in drought spells after I stopped watering them (2011 is a case in point) only to have them rebound and regrow strongly as soon as rainfall returned in autumn, making me realize they actually hadn't died but merely had gone dormant. In a year when the heat just demolishes everything else (even my okra stopped producing in the 2011 heat), the C. moschatas just keep on keeping on. That's one reason I grow so many of them and love them so much. As long as you grow C. moschatas you'll feel like you're a great gardener who can overcome anything. They won't hardly die at all (until frost gets them) and you can't kill them. Furthermore, they produce heavily, and their fruit is yummy and stores well for months. I'm going to dig through my seed box and plant every C. moschata variety I find in it in 2015 because just talking about them reminds me how much I love them. They'll keep our garden green in August even if everything else falters in the heat. A few of the C. argyrosperma varieties (formerly C. mixta) also seem able to overcome squash bug and squash vine borer attacks, so don't be afraid to try some of those (green-striped cushaw, Japanese pie pumpkin, white cushaw/Jonathan, Hopi cushaw, orange-striped cushaw). Most years they perform about as well as the C. moschatas, but occasionally they do not. Only fencing, and sturdy fencing with a gate that everybody always remembers to close and latch, will keep all the creatures out. Even then, you'll occasionally have something climb over or dig under the fence. It just happens. I try not to let it get to me when it happens. With all the time and money we have invested in fencing four separate garden plots, I do get aggravated that some creatures can circumvent the fences, but that's just real life in the real world. Hungry animals will spend their time 24/7 trying to get to your garden crops when they are hungry, and you cannot devote all your time 24/7 to keeping them out, so sometimes they win. That's just reality. One lesson I had to learn over and over again after moving here before I really and truly believed it is this: every living things eats something and every living thing is eaten by something. You don't have to be rural to have possums, coons, skunks, moles, voles, field mice, birds, and hordes of hungry insects devouring your gardens and the fruits thereof. We had foxes and possums in our Ft. Worth neighborhood in the 1980s, and it was a very urban neighborhood that was developed in the 1940s so you would have thought all the wild creatures were long gone. They weren't. It took me a long time to accept that I had to tolerate a certain amount of the garden being eaten and that there was nothing I could do about it. My compost pile gets raided several times daily by birds and beasts, particularly after dark. Sometimes I wonder how I get any compost at all since all the wild things come by daily and eat anything they find on the compost pile that they consider edible. I'd rather not have all the wild things lurking in the dark and eating things I really don't want them to eat, but I know that we live in an ecosystem that they are a part of and that they have to eat to survive. Fencing them out of the garden helps me stay calmer about all the hungry beasts, but it isn't practical to fence all my compost piles as it would make it harder for me to use them, so I just sigh and toss the food scraps on the compost pile knowing something will eat them during the night. When we first moved here, I thought that if I just used a trowel and buried fresh ingredients down deeper in the compost pile that the wild things wouldn't get them. Ha! They just dug down and found what I had buried and ate it. I just hope all those wild varmints are dropping their scat in our fields and forested area so at least they are putting some fertilizer back on the ground to make up for eating the ingredients from my compost pile. Sometimes the wild critters help you out by planting things in a place where you know you didn't plant them. Every now and then a pumpkin or cucumber or gourd plant will pop up 100 feet or 100 yards from where I grew them and I'll know that some animal had a good meal and then it planted some seeds afterwards. It's all good. Finally, if you've let those squash bugs and squash vine borers get inside you head and you cannot get them out of there, resolve to grow one of the Hubbard squash varieties as a trap crop. It doesn't really matter which Hubbard you grow. Plant them as early as possible and as far away as possible from your real cucurbit crops. Pests flock to Hubbards like crazy. So, if you have the Hubbards out growing first and out in a wide open area where the pests cannot miss them, your pests (especially SVBs) will head straight to them and that makes it easy for you to monitor the Hubbards and kill all the pests you find there. Sometimes all you need is a trap crop to get the pests to congregate in one area where you then can attack the pests with any and all means at your disposal. Expect the Hubbards to die, but that's okay because you only planted them to serve as a trap crop. If the squash pests ever start attacking my melons, you'll hear about it because I'll be screaming about it while immediately building a screened-in low tunnel to prevent that from ever happening again. As much as I love tomatoes and beans, potatoes and peppers, and everything else good that comes from the garden, there is something extra-special about home-grown watermelons, muskmelons, cantaloupes and other miscellaneous melons (Santa Claus, crenshaw, etc.). They have an undeniably sweet, rich, juicy flavor you never get from store-bought melons. If the pests ever declare open season on my melons, I'll fight back like a horde of angry hornets! Dawn

Here are some pictures of mine from about a month ago. Jacques Cartier (this one is already reblooming in July after deadheading. I love it). Below, two pictures of Rose de Rescht -- this one gets the damask crud really badly later in the season. I think it might have a virus (yellow markings) but am too tenderhearted to get rid of it. The iris, Paltec -- first to bloom, last to finish -- is an absolute treasure in the garden, though rain sodden in the picture. Above and below: Yolande d'Aragon. I really don't have room for this marvelous giant. In front of it is a bud of Mirandy, which I put in for my husband, who likes red roses. I like it, too, but it is not a vigorous grower. Being all jammed together is no help, probably. Finally, a blown up glamour shot of Pergolèse which I cut for my daughter's birthday dinner. I have a sentimental attachment to this rose because of its composer namesake. This is the first year it produced decent looking blooms - they are usually a washy dark pink without much shape. It is supposed to be a reblooming damask but looks and behaves like a Gallica. Below P. with Yolande and my late Italian stepfather's Venetian inkwell, which he actually used.

Oh My!! I think my heart skipped a beat today while looking and the last sets of images. Yolande d' Aragon...Eramus...!! All I have to say is that YdA had better grow and be healthy in W. PA! It is now on my list. Anna de Diesbach was horrible in the desert. It had that damask crud more often than not. Good to see it looking lovely. Mrs. John Laing was the first rose ever to catch my eye, and yet I have never grown it. I think it is going on my list too. I have to give it a try. Thank you, Paul:) Jo- Pyweed, I would second the opinion regarding Portland of Glendora's growth habit. I was always trying to trim it to create a decent shaped bush. The color of the blooms really stand out in the garden, and the fragrance is lovely. Your La Reine is so pretty, Sheilah. I too like the pink set off by the turquoise pot. La Reine is such a vigorous grower, and I hope to always be able to grow it. However, I must admit that there was something about Barbara's Pasture Rose that I preferred. I never figured out why...