Beautiful! I'm finally starting to see tiny flower buds among my roses. As with last year, 'Marie Pavie' seems to be winning the race for the first to bloom. I spend a little time every morning pulling weed seedlings, and keep thinking "maybe I should take some pictures" but I think they might be boring right now. The only stuff blooming are the bulbs I put in last year, and they really need another year or two to spread and fill in before they're pic-worthy. But it looks like it's only a couple more weeks before things get going here. :-) ~Christopher

Gorgeous blooms and I still remember the fragrance. I have never seen a Pereire which did not have ungainly growth; yours looks better than most.

Thank you everyone! Jeri I love those found roses, especially De la Vina Mystery and Pulich Children--color is amazing! Wish they were cultivated for sale somewhere... Thank you for the encouragement Romogen, Boncrow and Virginia! I have been trying to be selective in the varieties I want to order. Asking questions on this forum and perusing great blogs like Hoovb's (a plus that her garden is near my zone) and other amazing blogs! BUT I do have zone envy. And being a beginner it's hard to gauge how bad all the negatives of a rose not-well-suited to my zone might be. I've never experienced rust, I have seen powdery mildew as tiny white smudges on a few leaves once this whole year, I DO know what black spot looks like on a HT that was planted by a previous owner of the house. But it only occurs on that one rose and doesn't cause defoliation. The roses I have chosen so far based on many positive reviews from this forum (Munstead Wood and Jubilee Celebration) have been great! Firefighter is just now starting to produce flowers that look as they should but the fragrance has been beautiful and last until the petals fall as Hoovb said. I think it's my inexperience that keeps me dreaming and wishing. And gosh darn it those blogs with amazingly beautiful photos of countless roses; especially some from Japan. I remember reading one of Ingrid's posts where she asked about a rose variety and after finding out it was not well-suited for her hot garden, she moved on (reminded me of a scene from Finding Nemo, when Marlin and Dory snap-out of the trance of the Anglerfish). At this point I am timid to try roses that may do poorly or eek out a few flowers annually. Though I am very very curious to try out roses on Romogen's list. I will have to ask at Roger's about Lavender Lady does well here... Thank you everyone for your guidance, advice, sharing and encouragement. It's really a wonderful experience to receive such help. Hopefully one day I can post some photos of my rose garden...and some advice from my own trials!

Thanks Sara. I'm looking forward to seeing all of your beauties as well. It seems like my first few buds are always deformed looking. Yours looks to be nice and healthy looking. Lilyfinch yours will be showing color soon. The dang hail we had a few weeks ago really damaged tons of my roses. I'm thinking after the spring flush I'm prob going to cut some super short.