Thanks! :-) Yes Marlorena, a house eater indeed. :-) It's a Stephanotis, we also call it Bridal Jasmine here. I am glad you also have one Melodye. Mine is about 3-4 years old. I walked in a nursery one day looking for a night blooming jasmine, then I saw this huge bridal jasmine in a pot with a 6' tall trellis, looked wild reaching to the celling, it made me smile.......also have 3 Grand Duke of Tuecany jasmine trees, flowers look like mini roses, very fragrant; and star Jasmine, Arabian Jasmine......have killed 3 orange jasmine trees plus 1 plant, will see if I can find another one....... Melodye, do you have a photo of yours? :-) Sorry Jeri, went off the topic.......how did I run from SGMC to jasmine? :-)

Be still my heart!

I want to add a little something I've been noticing as I experiment with Chinas and Teas here in NJ -- they, too, seem OK with being cut back rather hard in early Winter to remove cold damage. Again, so long as they get ample sun, water, and food, they grow rather quickly here. I understand that our Californian friends find that Teas and Chinas will mope after being cut back too hard, but I notice two unsaid caveats about that. First is that these roses get much larger in CA, since they don't experience Winter damage, and so cutting back later means removing actively-growing canes which would be several years old. That I can understand would be rather shocking to the plant. Second, we get much more water here, which I think pushes more growth within our peak growing season than in the same amount of time in CA. Teas and Chinas seem to take a break in California Summers because it's so hot and dry, whereas here it's hot and wet -- and they grow like crazy. This seems to be enough to make up for what Winter takes away. My one Tea that died here -- 'Lady Hillingdon' -- did so (I think) because it was placed where it didn't get enough sun during the growing season to compensate for Winter loss. It would have been enough if I was growing it further south where Winters are milder, but not here. Just a few feet away from where she died, "Bermuda Spice" gets all-day full-sun, and recovered from being cut back to 12" or less in late Winter to hitting 5' x 5' by the end of the season. In that way, I'm finding that Teas and Chinas (and the aforementioned R. moschata) can almost be treated like what we do with Buddleia here -- cut back rather hard if necessary when removing Winter damage, then watered and fed and given full-sun. Dead-head and lightly trim if you wish, but otherwise let them grow wild through the season. They'll keep blooming through our Summers, and most seem barely fazed by blackspot. :-) ~Christopher

No. We were in the Ft. Bragg garden (I'm thinking you mean the rose garden in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, right?) in May, and I know there was nothing remotely like that, there. I know where Joyce's original plants of SGMC went, but not (other than Vintage) where SGN went -- and I've never seen it in her own garden, either. I will Ask Alice if she knows. And if she doesn't, I'll ask the MCBG. I'm going to be right across the road from it, in a couple of weeks.