Thank you! Yes, I pretty much am addicted! I spent the summer obsessing about roses and it has not been any different this winter. One of my fathers rose cuttings is the one currently blooming. I took pictures today. I have a couple that only have two leaves, but they seem to have great roots going. I got them from the head gardener/landscaper for one of the bigger property owners in town here. He takes care of multiple business properties and rentals and happened to be pruning some roses at a local tea house at the time. He offered me the cuttings. I don't know what rose it is so I just tagged it "tea house climber". They seem okay, despite the lack of top growth. They had pretty good root systems when I removed them from their baggies and potted them up into their individual greenhouses. I'm hoping for the best. The ones I am most thrilled about are a couple from the local library. It is a single petaled pink with a white eye and it is so sweet. They are always in bloom all season and are vigorous and healthy. I took many pictures this summer intending on posting them to see if anyone could identify it but haven't yet. They look somewhat like Ballerina, if I recall the name correctly. I don't think it is carefree beauty because I think the bushes have been there far too long to be that. Either way it is a sweetie and now I have two of them, too! Again, JOY!! And, yes, soon I will have roses for all!!

Hi Densiemill, This is a wonderful place to look at so many beautiful roses and gardens and as you said, learn! I started planting roses last year around the bird bath to discourage my outdoor "rescue" cat, Oscar, from sitting under the birdbath as if it were an entertainment/buffet...ugh. I saw the bare root roses at Sam's Club, they weren't expensive so I thought I would try planting a few. I bought six with a lot of greenery on them thinking that was good but, 15 minutes after I got them watered, they were wilted about to the ground. I thought I killed them in record time but, came on the board and the knowledgeable, kind people here told me to cut the greenery back and they would be fine, with watering, etc. and, they did well! This year, I waited for Sam's Club to get the roses in and practically ran down the isle when I saw them. This was one of the first ones I bought, they had another shipment that I got the rest from and now, I am waiting on more blooms of beauty and fragrance. And, Oscar still sits under the bird bath at times but has learned, when he does, it is possible he will get watered along with the roses ;) Thank you for the kind words and I am happy you enjoyed this beautiful rose :)

Oh how exciting!!! They look beautiful!! I've had no luck hybridizing HTs. I don't think our season is long enough in zone 3. I have hybridized some hardy roses though. I can't wait to see your roses as they develop! wow!! Carol

Thank you, David! It's a big flower (check), great smell (check), not a huge plant so far (check), nice petal shape (check), good contrast on the colors (check)--yes, keeper! Dave, the outer stripe color seems a bit more intense than the original, though the petals are lacking that charming point and inner ruffling so far. Hard to tell until more blooms open up. The tree is just a hair under 4 feet tall, not fat or thin, and the growth has been steady each year. All my VCR seedlings exhibited strong growth that first year, but the leaf nodes on this are pretty evenly spaced. The foliage is nothing special and kinda sparse, unlike the one other VCR seedling I kept. But I think it may grow a bit less gigantic. The new branches off this inflo are not even starting yet, so it will probably always grow slowly.