Hi Sarabell Welcome to another Nebraskan gardener on GW! I totally agree that it would be best to buy your plants from Roses Unlimited for several reasons. First, RU has very substantial gallon-sized potted plants and own root are generally a better bet for our cold zone. Queen of Sweden grows well in my Lincoln yard on own roots. Austins don't tend to die to the ground for me, but in the early years they can get a fair bit of winter kill and you may need to trim them back in the spring to a foot or two. My two QoS bushes are quite tall (well over 6 feet) and narrow - maybe 2 feet or a little more wide. Second, I've had some of the problems Hoovb has mentioned from David Austin in their bareroots (grafted or ownroot). Even though Dr. Huey grows well in our alkaline soil, the plants from David Austin direct have a higher than average fail/death rate for me, and the last one I got from them (Munstead Wood) arrived bone dry and crunchy. Third reason, whenever possible I like to support our independent and smaller rose companies that sell quality products. We just lost Vintage Roses this year, and I like to do everything I can to contribute to the ongoing success of the great companies we have left. With the international craze for DA roses, that company isn't in any serious risk for the foreseeable future. Besides, Pat Henry at Roses Unlimited is such a lovely person and very helpful in discussing rose options with you if you need that personal touch. Finally, since you're in Nebraska, we could talk about adding your roses to a bulk order that Roses Unlimited offers that cuts half off the price of shipping. A rose buddy in Omaha and I have done this for several years to make up the 45 or so roses required for a bulk order, and with Vintage sadly out of commission, that shouldn't be a problem for a group spring RU order. I'm in Lincoln and would probably have them shipped here if you're interested, and then you could pop over and pick them up at an agreed-upon time when convenient in spring. If you're interested, feel free to email me privately at my GW email address (I think I have that enabled), and be patient as I only check that email address maybe once a month. Cynthia

Lol, to this day LEH still gives me the shudders. She was such a disease magnet, lol! But up in Ohio at least you got indirect sunlight. Bustopher's garden has nice dappled shade/sun so she's not going to have such blotchy yucky colors like mine in the blazing direct Midwest rays. It made her blooms as small as 2.5" across, that is even if they bloomed at all. They were too busy wilting. Would have to keep watering sometimes as much as twice a day. There was a span of 4 weeks that we had merciless heat. You won't ever get as hot as in our locale. But boy do I love looking at Abraham D'Arby! Each time Boxofrox shows his, I start to droooool and my fingers keep twitching each time I look at Crepuscule and wonder what A.D. would look like in its place, lol! Makes it impossible to resist the temptation. But as the Kansas gardener with the 70 roses warned me, do not do the Austins if you are all-organics. And if I killed A.D. I would go as berserk as when I killed my Gemini. Too much heartache! I still also think of the tea I killed, Mrs. B.R. Cant. I loved that tea, a wonderful unique grapefruit fragrance. I had no business growing her. Her canes still had plenty of green until February, then our wildly fluctuating temperatures drove her to her grave (from 80 degrees to 28 degrees within just 5 hours' was the worst for example). Well, this year will be the last year I will grow a rose inappropriate to my climate conditions and to my zone. I have one more poor rose that I'll be torturing but I dare not even mention who she is. When she blooms I'll be called out as the Most Evil Gardener, :-X

I'm with you, Cori Ann. I love the Delbards and I've been asking Pat at Roses Unlimited for Claude Monet for some time now (no mother plants of other Delbards, sadly). Another place to check for Delbards is Long Ago Roses, since Linda occasionally has some. I sent her cuttings of Edgar Degas, who is truly to die for, so she might have some of him in the future. Back to the OP, Roses Unlimited is the best as far as the combination of variety and quality of gallon plants goes. Their boxes can be a pain, but my trick is to take the rose out of the box, rather than box out of the box. If you slit the tape off those mini boxes in the boxes at the corner, I find you can pull out the pots without ever removing the mini boxes that are stapled in like there's no tomorrow (one more reason they arrive in such good shape). When you buy as many roses from RU as I do, speed is essential. Speaking of which, in case there are other truly insane people like me, Roses Unlimited does bulk orders of roses. If you buy 66 or more roses, you get a price reduction on all the roses (I think 10%) plus dramatically reduced shipping (I think mine drops to $4/rose rather than $7/rose). Maybe you're not insane enough to order that many roses for yourself, but if you can talk your friends and neighbors into a group order it's a great deal. Cynthia

Thanks for digging up those photos, Curdle. I think I am gong to be very happy with my CdP. I'm happy to hear your comparison to Yves P. I think they will look lovely together, with Souvenir de la M between them. They sound alike enough to look nice near each other, while different enough to look like two distinct roses. I soooo can't wait for some blooms. It sounds like she is an eager bloomer, so I'm guessing I will have flowers by May. CdP and Sonia Rykiel will be arriving in March, and roses usually get going very quickly here (with a couple of exceptions). I still kind of think of Versigny as "one that got away", but I only have so much space. When/if Augusta Louise becomes available in the US, I will find the space for her. The photos posted on this forum have been incredible! Thanks again. Lisa