It was raining earlier today and things just seemed to 'glow'. Sumac is losing leaves helped by wind and rain. We had 5" last Sat/Sun. More than we had all total during summer. Great for going into winter. To left of sumac is ballon flower whose leaves turn redish gold. The Autumn Joy sedum has turned bronze and flopped. In front of that is a sedge and right front is Japanese blood grass.

I don't know what kind of soil you have in Plumas County. When I gardened in the SF area the two limiting factors for transplanting were cold waterlogged clay soil, and summer dry heat. You are nowhere near too cold to transplant roses now, even at 38 degrees - that's nothing. But if you have heavy adobe clay soil, it gets too cold and waterlogged pretty quickly and it kills the roots. I'm guessing up where you are the soil is not so heavy and drains better. Now I live in zone 7 western WA. and I can actually plant all winter long where I could not in SF! The soil is gravelly sandy loam instead of adobe clay. It is NEVER waterlogged! not even after 4" rain in one day. The only limits now are if the soil is frozen or covered in snow. Zone 7 is not so cold that you couldn't transplant roses all winter long with proper soil conditions (not frozen or waterlogged). This is critical though: IF YOU HAVE CLAY you do NOT want the soil to be sopping wet!!!!! working wet clay will ruin its structure, collapsing what little pore space it has, and water will not drain and air will not flow. I have killed plants by transplanting them in wet clay - the roots drown or smother or both, and when the weather warms the plant dies. Working in heavy clay requires finesse. You water the soil a few days before digging, to let it drain. Where sandy soil drains right away, clay can take days. You want it damp but not sopping wet. Sandy or loamy soil can be wet but it's neither necessary nor ideal. You want the plant to have picked up all the water it wants before you sever its roots, and you want just enough water in the soil that it does not fall apart when you pick up the root ball. Beyond that, more water actually reduces the soil's structural integrity so it is more likely to collapse on you when you pull the plant out. Moist to the touch! but not sopping wet.

Soooo glad you found us!!!! Those flowers are gorgeous!!!! Oh my goodness!!! My favs are WS200, Paradise Found, Perfume Delight and Abraham Darby. Those pictures could hold their own anyware. Well done!! Carol

Diane - Thank you for nice comments - especially from such a great gardener! Just wanted to say a bit more about Leander's size. I often refer to the book below by Clair G. Martin who was the curator of the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA as a helpful guide to many of the older Austins. Martin has been very accurate in his descriptions of the size and character of roses like Brother Cadfael, Happy Child, The Prince, and Prospero to name a few. His guide distinguishes between warm and cool climates, and offered a more realistic idea of what a warm climate grower of Austin roses could expect given how different the climate of most of England is compared to most of California. Here's what he says about Leander's size: Stature and Habit: 6 feet x 8 feet (warm climate); 6 feet x 5 feet (cool climate) "Like 'Cymbeline', 'Leander' shares a problem with others of the same habit: It grows much wider than tall, and unless self-pegged, it flowers only at the ends of the long, sinuous canes. Self-pegging will help to control the size and encourage more flower production. Otherwise, this is definitely a rose for a low wall or fence where the arching canes can be trained to display the charming flowers to their utmost." He says a lot of nice things about this rose and he clearly likes it, but wishes the growth habit was different. Here's a collage I made of photos I took of Leander today using my weed bucket as a reference point for size. After six months, he's about 18" high and about 2.5 ft wide. The lower right corner shows how the blooms are sitting on top of the canes, which corresponds to Clair Martin's description. Leander and Brother Cadfael (which I've had for 5 years), share Charles Austin as a parent. My expectation is that Leander will be wider, about 5ft compared to Brother Cadfael's 3ft or so, but about the same height, 6ft as the tag from DA says. I'm sure there's someone out there who grew a 14' Leander but I'm going with Clair Martin's experience, and my experience with BC in my climate. Here's a lovely arrangement from the Celebration of Old Roses earlier this spring which was aspirational! I had already planted my Leander but was happy to see and smell this beautiful bouquet. I wish I could have talked to the grower; many people kept coming back to Leander to check it out and smell it. My Madame Ernst Calvat is a sport of Madame Issac Periere which is a darker pink version of MEC. Both are beautiful and fragrant, but typically I prefer a medium pink over dark pink. MEC is a bourbon rose and not a once bloomer; she has bloomed sporadically since the spring flush but she's still so young, and not too developed yet. I've heard that if she's "well grown", she'll do very well in terms of re-bloom, but we'll see. Recently a bird dumped a huge amount of poop all over her and I had to clean all the leaves after it had dried for awhile. So if well grown means poop cleaning, I guess I've done my part. :)) I have considered Chianti, but I'm afraid I don't have room for once bloomers. It's a lovely rose though! Ann