Good to know. I keep thinking that I need to set it back about a foot and a half from its present spot to give it more room to expand without swallowing the sidewalk. That will mean replacing the lilac behind it so it will be a bit of work. But I have been lazy in the garden recently, something that happens with me in the fall most years. Where I grew up years ago, fall was the time the garden work slowed down, and I seem to be still tied to that rhythm. I may do it this winter as part of the winter clean up. Your description of how big it is in Menlo Park confirms what I have been trying not to think about all along. Rosefolly This post was edited by rosefolly on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 13:20

Good! Cedemas, I've not grow Rev. Seidel, but I could see where it should do similarly. I wouldn't worry about no flowers yet. Though he can be trained as a shrub, he IS a climber. Remember? "The first year they sleep. second they creep and third year they leap"? He's growing roots which are required to support those 6' to 8' canes and you should expect MANY of them. That demands a large root system, something that can't be generated in less than six months. Once there is sufficient root mass, you will see scary looking basals start to push upward. Those indicate it's finally hit the maturity you're looking for.

When Jeri states "musk" fragrance, she means the sweet, soapy scent of Moschata, not the more skunky multiflora scent of the typical "Hybrid Musk", which is actually a hybrid multiflora. If you REALLY want to experience the scent. harvest a bunch of anthers and stamen from a handful of blooms, spread them on a sheet of paper in a still room and wait for them to drive you out of the house! Intense and delicious!

I tried it here as well, and as much as I wanted it to be beautiful, SGMC doesn't like the east coast. Our yoyo Winters kept fooling it into waking up too early, and the cold snaps did a lot of damage. Then during the growing season, it got a lot of blackspot. Interestingly, the true R. moschata stays really clean, so I wonder what else is in SGMC. Jeri, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities. I wonder if the same rose was grown in separate gardens, or if the "secret garden" was actually the Moser house. :-) ~Christopher