I guess "hard cutback" is relative. ;-) It was 5 1/2 feet tall and I cut it back to 3 feet back in May. It looked pretty much like the first pic at the top of this thread and it has grown some since then. tj

Thank you so much for your professional help, Christ and paintguy. My general contractor works in somewhere else these two weeks, waiting for me to get all my bathrooms' materials ready. The doors' flat surface does feel semi-rough as said by paintguy. I called him early this morning, he said spraying cannot reach the smoothness I expect from brush painting. For the wrinkling paint in molding area, he said he would check again to see if they can be improved some, and that some doors came with molding with rough surface. Yesterday, I bought some 220 grit sandpaper, a roller for smooth and semi smooth surface, a good 1.5" brush. After reading paintguy's suggestion, I realize that these are not enough. I'll call a local professional painter recommended by Benjamin Moore salesmen to see how much he would charge to fix them. I was told he is very busy and might not have time. My contractor definitely does not want to spray again, I don't know if sanding then roller-painting can resolve the problem of some protruding small dots on the flat surface on some doors. By the way, it was sunny but not windy on the day the contractor painted the doors. Really appreciate your help. This post was edited by janesylvia on Fri, Mar 15, 13 at 2:33

Ha! Ha! Yes, Madame Plantier certainly becomes a substantial resident in the garden. I'm currently looking for a permanent placement for mine in my tiny city lot. The mature specimens I've seen are more like, pardon me MP, bulky fountains. I hope I can make her climb for me. Vertical is about the only direction that's left in my yard. I'm so sorry to hear about the demise of yours, Mad Gallica! The rose I saw was not MP, but I imagine she and MH are often confused. I am also not certain it was MH, but the bloom, foliage and canes sure looked like her. Quite thorny. The plant had obviously been growing on the wall for years. I wonder if I have a photo somewhere. It would be in my disorganized stack of old film photos, darn it. It sounds like a climbing MH in Buffalo might not be possible. Vesfl, please do post photos after you place your roses and as they grow. I'd love to see them mature. I'm learning as everyone shares their experiences. Mad Gallica, do you have a photo of your MH plant? If you have a chance to post it, I'd love to see its form. As Paul mentioned, in this area of the country, I've never seen MH as a smaller shrub. I grow Botzaris because I've found it to be more compact, easier to shoehorn into my back garden. Carol

Buehl, I think that if a thread or post gets flagged, it will stay visible to the person wo started the thread or posted the comment. But not to anybody else. I'm not 100% sure though. Following the link posted, leads me to a "page not found".