Oh Wow! I want to party with you guys! you are non-stop! Seriously - thanks to all who have responded. I feel better that there seems to be 'just different ways' not necessarily 'the best, the worst' of tending to toms....so I'll pick one and move on. Since I have 2 of each - indeterminate and determinate - I should receive some good lessons from nature this planting season. Right now all the plants have blossoms. I'll keep my fingers off the determinates - they are caged; and I'll prune the suckers on the indet. - best that I can keep up - these are trellised. My garden is small enough that I hope to check them daily. Thanks again to all for your responses - and if there's more to share - bring it on!

Sheila, last year I planted walkers low and catmint and I remember liking one more than the other, but I was a gardening newbie and didn't think to label them so I would remember what they were. I'm going to try both again and go from there! I have irises along my foundation that have bloomed faithfully for years without any help from me. I plan on dividing them later this year so they will definitely make it into this bed. Jim I broke my ankle so severely (gardening!) that I was wheelchair bound for over a year. Designing this helped me pass the time. There's a very real possibility it was all Percocet induced, lol. boncrow I think we're the same age, lol. OMG Bolero, it's beautiful! I wonder how it would do in zone 5b? I have a feeling I'm about to find out. Luckily for me I called the nursery this morning before making that long drive and was told that most of the roses wouldn't be ready to go for another couple of weeks, but I did reserve them, so there's that.

Darren, I agree with Marlorena about Bonica. It is an easy going rose that just keeps performing. Give it a little room to grow sideways as well as up. Given where you are, near the Irish Sea with nothing between you and The Isle of Man, I would go for roses that are resistant to black spot. I grew roses both in the drier south east of England in Surrey and in the much wetter south west, in Cornwall. I found that black spot was a lot more prevalent in Cornwall and that some roses were very unhappy there. Lady Emma Hamilton, Spirit of Freedom, William Morris, The Pilgrim, Leander and Abraham Darby from David Austin, all did well in Cornwall. So did some of the hybrid musk roses, such as Felicia, Danae, Cornelia. However without knowing how tall, tall is, it's difficult to be sure what to recommend. For example Lady Emma was between 4 and 5 feet in Cornwall, but Spirit of Freedom, William Morris and the Pilgrim were twice that height. Let us know a bit more. Thanks Daisy Just found a photo of Spirit of Freedom in my old garden in Cornwall. It is the rose on the right of the photo, against the pergola. This should give you an idea of size.

Down here by the cities, it seems very localized the damage (frost pockets). What I have seen damage too is Smoketree, Red Oak, American linden, Korean/Japanese maples and their hybrids. Thats all that's obvious at moment. I think those coldest spots got 26-28 degrees Saturday morning and 28-30 degrees this morning. Shrub perennial damage seems more widespread in those same spots. The first couple of feet above the ground must have gotten quite cold. There are shrubs toasted around the base but fine on top.