Thanks claferg. You solved the mystery of where it came from, this is definitely the rose in my garden. Is it Laurette Messimy? Dunno. hmf's photos show most of LM are deeper color with just a few that look like mine (and notes that say some feel those are mislabelled LM). Will the real LMessimy please stand up, lol. The photos of ChampneysPC support that name more solidly. "What's in a name? A rose by any other name..." It matters to us doesn't it? Denise Here is a link that might be useful: Vintages Laurette M.

Climbing Mlle Cecile Brunner (despite claims to the contrary) has usually been a once bloomer (heavy in spring with minimal repeat later). However, there are several sports of this rose both in size and color; Spray Cecile Brunner, (up to nine foot and beyond in my garden) tends to be a repeat bloomer here in Southern California; EVerblooming Cecile Brunner (from Siskyou Rare Plants) via Heirloom is supposed to be a continuous or at least remontant bloomer. There is a another bush variety with little or no yellow in the center of the bloom that grows to six by six feet. There are a couple of white versions and there was in the late '20's a yellow sport of Cl. Cecile Brunner. The rose is rapidly becoming the landscaper's alternative to 'Iceberg' in southern California because of its floriferoussness and thornfree and disease-free characteristics. As an aside, the larger the plant, the more thorns: thus the bush form is virtually thornless, but the climbers and other sports carry thorns even as they grow. Mlle Cecile Brunner is arguably the second most popular polyantha in the world; and if you include all of the altnertaive sports, it may be the most popular. JD

Kippy, no rose is as good going up a post or pole as it can be when planted where it can be spread out horizontally. Not that some can't be forced to do the job, but none will provide the foliage and flower performance and cover they would if trained horizontally. Unfortunately, when any is grown vertically up a post like that, you end up with bare wood, which gets thick and old with time, and little to no foliage or flowers until the grow spreads out on the upper portions of the structure. A fence or wall would be much more conducive to getting an explosion of flowers from any rose than a pole, but it can be done. The best idea is to wrap the canes around the post as you train them upward. At least by wrapping them around it, you're interrupting the sap flow, stimulating more basal breaks than you're likely to see from canes growing straight up. Kim

Bayer 3 in 1 contains systemic insecticide and systemic fungicide as well as fertilizer. In Victorville, I seriously doubt you are going to have many, if any, disease issues. I lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for 14 years and never saw any disease issues on Cecile Brunner. The only insects I would expect you to have would be Chili Thrips (eventually, if not already and that because of the heat there) and perhaps aphids in spring and late fall. The Chili Thrips Bayer 3 in 1 probably won't do much for from what I read. Aphids go away when it gets too hot and dry or too cold and wet. So, the suggestions for fertilizers which don't contain the other chemicals are probably much better. My concern would be drainage and how much of these "salts" flush from the soil. My guess is, your home is relatively newer, isn't it? Something built at least since the early 1980's or newer? That matters because of state seismic stability requirements. After the Sylmar earthquake in 1971 then the later ones, including the 1994 Northridge quake, the state enacted soil stability requirements to prevent quake damage. Soft soil slows down the shaking, making it worse and causing greater damage. Harder, more compacted soil allows them to pass quickly, with significantly less shaking and damage. Starting in the early 1980's, builders were required by the state standards to take core samples to insure the soil was uniform, stable and compacted. They must physically dig it out, mix it up and then mechanically compact it to specific density. That squeezes all the air space from the soil, leaving more like bed rock. That means the water can't percolate through it and drainage slows and eventually stops. The roots can't work their way deeply into the soil because there are no air spaces into which they can grow because the soil is squeezed solid, like rock. I dealt with that for many years in the detail gardening business I owned and operated as well as in nurseries I worked and than managed. The soil is so hard, you can't easily dig holes with a shovel and when it gets wet, it's only in the top two to three inches of "top soil" the builder or landscaper spread out over the compacted soil so you could grow sod. What happens is you put the plant in a hole which has slow to no drainage. Eventually that hole fills with water and the plants suffocate and rot. You apply fertilizers which are salts then water them in with water which contains more salts and the desert south west soil already contains salts because it's all ancient sea floor. Those salts build up over time like a soup which boils all day with the water evaporating and the saltiness building by the minute. In soil which drains well, rain and irrigation dissolve those salts and flush them deeper and deeper into the soil, out of the plant root zones. In the compaction scenario, that doesn't happen, so you really have to be aware and not continue putting salts on the ground. If you feel you MUST fertilize, and you are on compacted soil in newer construction, I would only use mild organics which will take longer to digest, break down into their salt forms. It's only the salt form which can move through the root tissues and into the plant. How many times have you fertilized that plant since it was planted? You MIGHT already have more salt in that soil than you want.