I'm sorry for assuming. I went by your username, you never signed your real name. I would imagine it might be best to take advantage of local opportunities. Is there any way you can go on a car trip around town in FLorida to see if there are ANY instances of THE actual rose you are looking for still in town or in the surrounding counties at older homes and or abandoned homesites/former farms? That way you can ask the owners of that property if there is a house nearby if you can take cuttings yourself? Or if there is plain no one in sight, go up and take a cutting yourself? That's called 'rose rustling" by some, when they find old abandoned roses and either find permission to move them, take care of them or take cuttings. That way it's FREE, and completely up to you AND it gets you exactly the rose you want. I'm still unclear about what you actually want, most of the signs you are saying point either to pink pet/caldwell pink Old blush Dorthoy Perkins. But it seems I've either read incorrectly, someone is suggesting your rose does not repeat while I'm remembering the rose you are looking for that you've seen has been described as flowering year round. Can you please confirm if the bush blooms only once for a few weeks to a month or throughout the season in flushes? If you're worried about not finding it, I'm sure it's around if you say it's as common as it was. Even I see old bulbs still poking up in certain spots in woods as I drive by where there might have been a house or path around here, plants are terribly resilient! In fact I know where there is a giant stand of r.virginiana or carolina by the road where these days you'd usually see the invasive multiflora. I repeat I think you are probably looking for 'Old Blush' and it can be considered an old Florida heirloom. Best wishes, I hope you find your rose. Max

Jim knows of what he speaks! He is the gentleman responsible for amassing such incredible selections for the Ventura County Rose Society Auctions for many years. Their actions have done more to spread rare, old and unusual roses throughout Southern California than just about any other venue. Attending and purchasing from these auctions is needed, but propagating the old, rare and unusual roses and donating them to your local auction is vital, also. Support your specialty growers to the fullest of your ability, but learn to propagate and support those who actively work to preserve "orphaned roses". Don't concern yourself with the latest offerings of commercial sources as they have much more push and pull surrounding them than the ones no longer offered in the glossy catalogs. They don't have to be Old Garden Roses, either. Older moderns from past decades which do well in your area are often much more endangered than OGR classes. They are, after all, tomorrow's OGRs. Kim

Seil I use Facebook a lot, but I think there could be better pages/groups for rose lovers. There was a really neat one for antique roses which seems to have disappeared.... However, I do have a suggestion. Might the admins at HMF create a Help Me Find Roses page (or group) on Facebook? We could get together there on FB. I find it is much easier and quicker to post pictures on Facebook than here. I find that HMF is pretty indispensible--I'm hooked!!! My garden is called Tessie's garden, and for those of you who don't know, Tessie isn't me. She was one of my dogs. She liked gardening, in her own way, mainly by digging and chewing, but I loved her in spite of her quirks. My garden has 4 new additions which arrived in the mail from Pickering late yesterday. I'm about to go outside and plant them. Yep, they are already listed on HMF (R. primula, William's Double Yellow, Rene D'Anjou, and Soupert et Notting)--changing the date is still awkward and I can't find a way to make it appear at the top of my "Plants Grown" page like others have done. Melissa Here is a link that might be useful: Tessie's garden on HMF

I find Cass to be very experienced & honest .. she grew 373 roses and offered excellent insights. That's why I love FlowerCarpet, no matter how heavy a blooming is, it never loses its leaves .. plus FlowerCarpet holds on to its blooms so long, and it's always in bloom. Cass wrote in her website: http://www.rosefog.us/Resources/Horrors.html "What makes a disease resistant rose? Roses go through cycles of new leaf growth and flowering, followed by petal dropping. Almost all roses drop leaves where a new flower stem emerges. My definition of good roses means they hold onto their leaves with good color and health after they flower and only start aging the lower foliage after new growth emerges -- and even then, they don't kill off much foliage. Not-so-good roses anticipate new growth: they prepare to drop leaves below the flowers even before the flowers drop. As those leaves age and die, they begin to show fungal disease. Experiment for yourself: cut off a perfectly healthy stem off a healthy rose and stick it in the ground. It will blackspot, rust, and/or mildew before it dries up and turns crispy brown. Growth patterns are thus a factor is disease resistance. A fastidious rosarian can anticipate some problems by careful dead-heading that includes the removal of enough leaves below the spent flowers. That means knowing beforehand which roses need to have the entire stem removed! Other roses go through an unavoidable cycle of fungal disease after flowering before new clean growth emerges. These are not so good roses. To me, disease-resistant means disease resistant during and after flowering. After all, everything looks great in the early spring when the new growth is just emerging." Cass http://www.rosefog.us/Resources/Horrors.html