Noisette roses rock! I was thrilled that out of the seven plants of 'Cato's Clusters' I grew from cuttings in 2004, one sported a cane that produces only white blossoms, and now 2/3rds of the plant now (in 2012)sports pure white blooms from the moment that the sepals part. Other canes have c. 50% pink blooms and the rest pure white. Nearly all Noisettes where I live are highly disease resistant in 3 local no-spray gardens. (Mac being a notable exception because she's often covered with p.m.) I also grow -Celine Forestier -Marechal Niel -Mme. Alfred Carriere -Lamarque (along with Crepescule the most resistant to p.m., here) -Le Pactole -Reve d'Or' I love that rounded bloom form, it is such a romantic bloom style. -'Nastarana' I have two of these pretty white Noisette roses flanking the entrance to my most fragrant rose garden, their scent, like R. moschata, wafts on the air filling it with Musk rose scent for a distance of several yards. Of all the Noisettes I've seen and smelled at the Vintage gardens collection and San Jose Heritage Rose garden the most strongly fragrant to me, and the one I desire most,is 'Secret Garden Noisette' which has red-pink staining on the outer edges of the petals. I ruffled a few blooms on the plant, and my hand was perfumed for several hours afterwards. 'Secret Garden Noisette' was found in the same garden as Secret Garden Climbing Musk' I think Rogue valley sells it. It is one of the roses I loose sleep over, lusting after. Luxrosa

Wow, we just got SPANKED with another microburst...I thought we were gonna catch a tornado that time, for sure! I had to shut down the 'puter and run and close all the windows. In that time I lost my post, I'll try again. Linda, I spoke to Century Oaks Peony Farm about Butterflies in Flight, and they maintain mine cannot be, since BIF are brand-new this year and mine have been here at leastfive years. My nieghbor behind us also has a HUGE bush of these, and I maintain they hav been around here for many years. However, yours 'could' be BIF, although I doubt they would be offered through Wal-Mart their first year. Cecily, here are a couple closer shots of the 'white' one. Sorry the pics are so yellow...it is so dark this morning that I had to use the light and I didn;t correct for color accuracy before uploading. Close enough, though. The outer petals (are they really sepals?) are a pale pink while the rest of the flower is white. The stamens have a lot of red, but no red flecks in the petals.

Jana, thanks for the info on Tantau's Nostalgic series. I'll take a look at Piano. I actually also got a Chippendale this spring, and mine has not bloomed yet either, so I guess we can compare notes later this year. I also remember looking at Heidi Klum, so any more info and pics on yours will certainly be appreciated. Princess Alexandra of Kent is not that vivid, but of a deeper pink with a very distinct smoky salmon tint, quite nice actually. Lots of petals in nice formation, it looks superb when it slowly unfolds. It lasts quite well on the bush and in the vase too. I really like its scent, old rose with tea, I'd say. Young Lycidas is of a very vivid color, but I'd put him more into the purple-cerise group. Toward the end his huge blooms fade into a nice soft mauve. And the fragrance is really superb. Claire Austin, now that's a very very vigorous, extremely healthy rose (basically no BS in my no-spray garden), and a very good bloomer too so far. Looks like it wants to be a climber. Its flowers open light lemon fading to white or cream white, with a complex myrrhy scent, not too bad. It blooms in clusters and the blooms are very cup shaped. It's pretty, but I think it just looks a little pale somehow, perhaps because it doesn't quite have the radiant quality of say, Margaret Merrill or even Fair Bianca, and the blooms tend to not quite fully open, staying cupped pretty much until the petals drop. Currently, mine is a tall arching shrub (in its second year with me), but I think it'll look better with some support as a climber, perhaps next to a dark red rose like WS2K. Anyway, so far it has proven to be an excellent garden rose, so I can certainly recommend it. Roselovr, sounds all very good, especially if you're already familiar and comfortable with Nikon and perhaps own some Nikon glass already - did you get the D5000? We'd certainly love to see some pictures! Andrea

I still think it was you but don't remember that much if kids were there. Wife black straight hair? Last Saturday at the Devonian gardens we talked about prunus Siberica and thought it to be a rather minor deviation of prunus Manchirica. Even though Siberica is likely to carry over the pink I still have one reserved thought that Robert Purvis knows of about Siberica. That it is an incredibly slow grower and is dwarf. Robert used to live in Alaska and in Idaho still does nothing but apricot in one of his collections in Washington. Gabe Botar was at the gardens who is another person knowing a great deal about apricot. He had scions of a prolific dwarf apricot with small good tasting fruits that he produced from crossed parents. Good stuff because slow growing and dwarf is always great for extreme cold or unprotected sites. For example flowering under the snow would delay bloom and escape the damaging spring frosts. If Clair Lammers (formerly from Edmonton) from Alaska ever grew Gabes apricot he would at least had fruits from this where all other his Manchurica experiments failed. My grandfather may have been around as a retired forester at the time those were planted and lived very close by. Only a remote possibility exists. I came across the trees a few years ago because I wanted to visit my childhood memories of the wading pool that still there in that place and not that anybody told me. Who ever planted them it seems very possible it was done from self pollinated Goldcot seeds similar the way you collected from the pink tree the seeds for another generation.