Wow, it must be hard to make rose decisions in a place where it's hard for a rose to die, Suzy. Sometimes i'm secretly glad when a rose that really doesn't thrive in my yard has the good grace to die over the winter, so I don't have to be a rose murderer. As for the rate of failure, it's definitely a product of being a zone pusher and wanting to try something different. Plenty of people in my zone have never lost a rose because they're smart enough to only plant roses suited for their climate- imagine that! I'm more like Ingrid, in sandandsun's timely quote, that I prefer to look at winter survival as a challenge rather than the roses of a particular type (or breeder) having a specific death wish in my garden. You're all absolutely right that knowing the breeder isn't enough to judge health, survival, or any other qualities in your yard. I absolutely do the kind of trial and error experimentation that Lyn was talking about in my own yard, it's just that I haven't really come up with particular patterns for what thrives in my yard, except for the obvious ones like "lavenders and russets are usually weak" (understatement of the year) or "roses with teas in their heritage are a long shot". Rick, I admire you for checking the breeding history of the roses, and it certainly would be a more logical approach with fewer failures. I'm afraid I don't follow the breeding history or even keep track of which parents do well for me, though I have noticed that climbers with New Dawn as a parent are likely to be a good match for my yard. Wow, Nastarana, I hadn't been familiar with Jacobus as a breeder but I looked up Dream Girl, and - wowza zowie is she ever! I love those fat blooms with swirled packed petals, and it's great to hear it thrives in zone 5. Might be a nice counterpart to Nahema on my fence. You ought to share your observations with Helpmefind, since there was very limited personal information on this rose. Where did you get yours? Cynthia

i seem truly inept. my pictures are on my computer but i can't figure out how to load them into a post like you did. My only success was to load one to their test gallery and point to it but it doesn't show up in the post and it won't let me add to my post to respond to your question... sorry for the hassle

You did a great job!!! We live way off the road and don't get anyone. I use to really decorate and loved dressing the part. I'll bet you scared some kids off LOL Diana

Nasty! Glad I watched it though not surprised. Yes, we're germaphobes but better careful than not. My DH, DD and I went recently to High Point, NC for her soccer tournament. Stayed at a very nice Radisson. In our room, we found pubic hair on our sheets the first night and when we returned from the tournament the 2nd day around 4 pm, we found a condom (unused) in our bathroom sitting on the counter. Definitely not ours! Who the heck knows what went on in our room while we were gone. When we told the manager, he smiled and said, "Oh well, come with me...", took us downstairs and proceeded to credit our card $45 dollars for the trouble! Why $45? Did he think we needed the money? We weren't trying to get a discount! He didn't seem surprised. At another hotel last year, our comforter had a small, silver-dollar sized, almost unnoticeable fresh blood stain on it. Almost missed it because of the flower print on the comforter. It was still wet! I make it a point to inspect the room prior to use. This is how I find these things. Yes, I'm sure there's a lot of junk out there on a daily basis that we are exposed to, but if I can avoid some of them then that's better for me and my family. Just because these things are out there or, because as kids we did worse things than this, doesn't mean I have to let my guard down. Also, on airplanes. I had a couple of flight attendants as patients once. They filled me in on all kinds of stuff. From the blankets to the food. The blankets are used by some very dirty travelers who wrap themselves up in them from head to dirty, smelly, shoeless feet. She said they just re-fold the blankets and set them out again. I think the airlines may be doing things differently now. Someone can set me straight if this has changed.