That Altissimo is gorgeous isn't it?... and I like Happenstance too... ..my favourite singles would be Mutabilis, Mrs Oakley Fisher and Complicata, I've also grown Fruhlingsmorgen and Marguerite Hilling as well as Nevada and moyesii 'Geranium'.... all lovely in their own ways... but some just a bit too big for me now in this smaller garden. ..so here is the less than sumptuous 'Kew Gardens'... nothing special about it... perhaps rather bland...but it is totally thornless and permanently flowering... my plant still has masses of buds in mid December after some frost... I grow it with Eugenia 'Etna Fire' as the foliage lights it up a bit..

Thank you all. An invaluable source of information. I just hope that I will someday get to the point where I will have enough knowledge to help others too. I did look this rose up on HMF and noted that it was considered tender. Oddly enough it is in a book I purchased called Roses for Ontario. Also, it is sold at Pickering Nurseries. In the comments at the Pickering site, one person says it needs winter protection and another one in zone5 states that it wintered well with only snow for protection? Out of all this conflicting info I get that it is probably marginal in my area in a very sheltered spot and probably won't give the display I was looking for anyway in my zone. I was wanting a nice big graceful bush of dainty flowers. Seil, I notice that you winter pots over in a small greenhouse that you have leaning against your house. I hope you will keep us up to date on their condition after this terribly cold winter and I am wishing you luck. I too would like to try a few containers but am at a loss as to where to keep them over winter. We have unheated outbuildings but I think they would get way too cold and in the basement is probably not cold enough. Anyway, thank you for your input. Sue

Maternut, I just did my usual process. I do have to say that I stuck about 10 or 12 and only 3 rooted. I use seed starter soil in a clear plastic cup with holes in the bottom, scrap the sides of the cutting a little with a sharp knife to expose the white pith, dip the cuttings in rooting hormone, stick a pencil in the soil and put the cutting in and firm up the soil around it and put it out in the sun. Then it's just a matter of keeping the soil constantly damp but not soggy and waiting. In about 6 weeks I start to check for roots inside the cup. That's why I like the clear cups, you can see the roots! Once I can see that there is a good looking root system in the cup I pot them up into 1 gallon pots. It doesn't work all the time but it's been the most successful method I've tried. I only do mine outside so I have to do them early in the season, June is best but I have done some in early July. Otherwise they're not big enough by the end of the season to winter even in the little greenhouse. And I never try to grow roses inside the house. Well, I do start my seeds inside in January in trays but they go out by April because I'll kill them in the house for sure.

It grows well in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, or did for years (we haven't been there in a while since we let our membership lapse). The rose sold as "Bermuda Kathleen" was also featured prominently at the BBG; it is apparently a Mutabilis seedling and may be more restrained in its habit. It has the changing colors but more on the pink spectrum than the yellow,. There was also a "Yellow Mutabilis" sold by Vintage which looked exquisite -- at least in their picture. That one had me drooling, as I am a pushover for pale yellow. I have the real Kathleen, BTW -- definitely a climber -- couldn't be happier with it. It is a hybrid musk and not a china like Mutabilis.