Thanks Dan for the info, unfortunatly, blaze and new dawn both bloom on old wood. Golden Showers looks like a nice hardy climber though, and it blooms on new and old wood. Not sure if I would want yellow though- If anyone else has a few more suggestions for a new wood blooming climbing rose? I have been seeing "Shade Tolerant" in the descriptions of some roses (including the Golden Showers) and I figured that would mean they can withstand part shade. I was hoping this meant it could still do well with 3/4 hours of direct sun a day- can anyone clear this up for me? How tolerant is "shade tolerant" when it comes to roses? And of course, if anyone is growing a rose bush/climber/polyantha in part sun, I would love to know which kind it is. Thanks!

I have Paul's Himalayan Musk Climber on his way up a mulberry tree at the end of the driveway by the garage. He shows the ability to have this tree completely swallowed in a few years ... it's the look I'm after, fortunately. American Pillar is planted on the fence by the Rose Field, and I intend to encourage it to take over a cedar tree. I haven't been too successful, yet, because the canes keep getting blown out of the tree. This rose is WAY to vigorous for a crabapple tree, IMO. How about Gardenia? It blooms once, but it lives to climb trees. It will scale your tree and spill out the other side, with pale yellow-fading-to-white flowers in clusters. Beautiful. Some opinions of the others that have already been mentioned, since I'm in your area: Madame Alfred Carriere tends to grow straight up around here, then form an 'afro' on top. May be a possibility, but it doesn't 'hang' very well. Susan Louise probably won't survive here. I want this rose very, very badly ... but it's probably too tender. Mermaid? Way, way too vigorous once it gets going. Alberic Barbier, though once blooming, is a wonderful rose. The canes are very flexible, so it would hang nicely off a tree. It will go 15' in a season, easy. A possible deterrant ... the wichuriana ramblers make lots of basal canes, which would need to be trained up the tree every year. My AB made at least 12 new canes this year ... no lie. The multiflora ramblers may be a better choice, if you are considering once-blooming roses. Veilchenblau is my favorite of these. I don't grow it, yet, but it will stop traffic at Robert's house when it's in bloom in his holly tree. or Tausenschoen? For re-bloomers, maybe one of the hardier tea-noisettes ... Reve d'Or or Lamarque, perhaps? Photos? You asked. Alberic Barbier Leontine Gervais (another beautiful, stringy Wichuriana rambler) Paul Transon (wichuriana) Gardenia Veilchenblau That should be enough for this morning. As you can see, depending on the effect you're after, the choices are practically endless. Just avoid the really tender ones. HTH, Connie

You have my sympathies with RRD! Been there. (Actually, more accurately: being there right now...) #1. I recently had to find the answer to question #1 for myself. The answer I received indicated that 99.99% of the time, one year is long enough to wait for replanting in the same spot as far as coming down with RRD again goes, because if the infected rose is going to regenerate from its infected roots, it will almost surely do so within a year. If it does regenerate from its infected roots, of course, any mites in the area would have the capability of passing the infection to the newly planted rose. You don't necessarily have to wait a year, but you are taking a greater risk if you don't wait that long. I'm going to wait a year. #2. I'm not sure about the answer to #2, except that I know the answer is unrelated to Rose Rosette Disease. The potential reason to avoid using the same hole would be a concern for Rose Replant Disease, which sometimes (or maybe even frequently) does occur in England. I don't know whether it happens on this continent or not, or if it does happen whether it happens frequently enough to worry about. If it were actually sometimes a problem here too, two years would be long enough to wait on replanting in the very same hole. But along a fence, you probably could just easily move the new hole over a bit anyway, right? #3. My Cornelia Hybrid Musk, before succumbing to RRD, liked to throw out extremly long canes that were beautifully flexible and had a zillion little stems with buds on them. So I think Cornelia would be nice on a fence, and it's as beautiful a rose as you can imagine. It's also likely to have fewer disease issues than Golden Showers for most people. (However, it appears that you were quite lucky with Golden Showers there, so maybe you might want to think "Don't fix what ain't broke!") Lots of Hybrid Musks might work. Some: Wilhelm, Prosperity, Bubble Bath, Lavender Lassie. Some other possibilities (that I don't have experience with, but have seen recommended by others): Felix Leclerc, Soaring Spirits, Goldfinch, Rosarium Uetersen (Seminole Wind), Abraham Darby. I do have (a new) Climbing Iceberg and that might work well for you, even though it can get blackspot. New Dawn is supposed to be easy to grow, though it does have more thorns than some other choices. Mortimer Sackler ought to work well, as long as you don't count on too much distance (lovely, fragrant, low thorns, healthy). I'll enclose the link to Help Me Find's website so you can search on whatever varieties you might be interested in. Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: HelpMeFind rose search

Hi Laura, I live maybe 15 minutes from you, in Washington, MI. I would be interested in your rose hybrid tea roses and shrub roses. I have hostas, though unnamed but you could always stop by and visit my gardens and see what you like. I have lots of perennials. I could possibly even get you some blood grass. Let me know. Debbie