Andreajp, these are lovely photos and a beautiful look to aspire to. It's a good idea to choose from the roses at the cemetery - pretty much an opportunity to find guaranteed winners for your garden. The photos really excited me because my front garden is finally getting mature enough that Souv de la Malmaison and Mme Lombard are looking like one bush because ML is reaching out wide. I don't mind (yet), because I've long been an admirer of the thicket look. I tried to plant 6' on center (but sometimes not) which pretty much guarantees that teas will be overlapping some, so plan accordingly and be patient with the blank spaces for a few years. Like Jeri said, fill in with annuals. One word of advise if you use Purple Coneflowers (which I recommend). They are thugs root-wise so don't plant them under or even near the canopy of the rose. Since my roses are fairly disease resistant, I don't worry about air circulation, but being able to get to the roses for maintenance is important. Give yourself room to get to each rose from the front and the back. Make an alley behind the roses if you're planting against a fence. Then squeezing in to reach the sides, if they touch at maturity, isn't too bad unless you have a bad back and can't reach awkwardly. There are definite consequences to planting too close. And remember in Zone 9 they will get big and probably even huge. If those photos were taken in the spring flush, those bushes will be a mess by the end of the season. Can't wait to hear which ones you choose. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Hm. So much for using Geocities. Not very reliable. Here are the URLS for the individual pictures (4 plants, 2 pics each): http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/Mystery_Flower.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/Mystery_Flower2.jpg http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/bunched_seedheads.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/bunched_seedheads_2.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/fuzzy_cluster.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/fuzzy_cluster2.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/shrimp-plant-like.JPG http://www.geocities.com/eden_maker/shrimp-plant-like2.JPG I hope this works. If it doesn't....um...well, please let me know and I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it. Sigh.

That's it! THANKS ltcollins1949! If anyone wants a copy of this, let me know; you can have for cost of postage/shipping and advice on how you want shipped. Obviously not a medicinal plant as I'd thought, from the research I've done, but used in certain food preparation plus attractive plant, period. Meantime, I'm going to take some of these to three little family-run Mexican food restaurants here and see if they'd like some. I am remembering that a garden helper a few years ago brought me some tamales, which she called "Guatamalan, not Mexican, tamales" and they were wrapped in a green leaf and steamed. Thank you for all your help, everyone. Ann

Your plant, one of my favorites) is Bush Ivy (Fatshedera lizei). It is important to understand how it grows to use it correctly. Unlike other ivies, it does not have little roots that cling. It must be supported (espalied) on a wall, fence or pergola. As it matures in your zone it will send out branches that could be 12' long and it becomes very heavy so needs a strong support. It can be pruned back and controlled any time of the year. I have grown it on a fence using tiers of grape wire supended through screw eyes and the branches afixed to the wire with single wrap velcro. Also, the entrance to my garden in a former home was a strong arch with Bush Ivy secured to it. In the late winter you will note quite a bit of yellowing and dropping leaves. Normal situation not to worry about. Hopefully you can find a growing situation for this plant. It is a beauty.