Masha, this is three days after the bloom opened. It stayed in its typical perfectly tightly cupped form for the first couple of days. Ingrid, I'm glad you liked this one. Every bloom I've ever seen on my two Pretty Jessica roses have blown me away. The near lack of thorns and great fragrance is the icing on the cake. Debbie, it's fun to plan where to plant roses and their companions. Sounds like you've got some good ideas. Lynn, RdV & SdlM would look great together. Eric, Sherry, & Florence glad you enjoyed! Kate, they get about 8 hours of sun. Joe, I can definitely understand that. The blooms on Pretty Jessica were made to bring inside for a vase. Randy

A few words about HMF and how you can use it to search for disease resistance. As many of you know, I've worked on the database for many years. Before I started working on HMF, the early volunteers did not always add the REFERENCES where they got their information. Nor, were there all of the features on the site that are there today, so volunteers are slowly going back to fill in the blanks. AND there were already tens of thousands of roses entered into the database before I started working on the database. Where disease resistance is reported for a rose, the information generally came from a published REFERENCE open to public scrutiny or the plant patent. When a member adds a COMMENT to the rose page, we sometimes ... depending on how many people are working on the database at that time, will bring that information forward to the main rose page and put a note in the NOTES section ending with "See MEMBER COMMENTS". That's telling you the the disease resistance came from a site user's experience with the rose. If you want to get a sense of rose grown regionally, there are two ways, both of which only work if site users enter their gardens on HMF. When you open a rose page, you can click on the GARDENS tab and if you see a lot of gardens growing that rose in your region, it is an indicator, yes it's subjective, that this rose is a good rose for your area. You can also tick the GARDENS tab and select to view them by a specific state if you want to view listings of roses grown in the gardens in your state. Yes, it's still kind of vague, but it does narrow down your search. Also, you can post a question on the Q & A forum and many site users will respond with their experience. The best way to do this is to go to the rose page for the rose you are researching and click the MEMBER COMMENTS tab and then the POST A COMMENT button. Another way to look is to do a SEARCH of the Q & A. The most recent posts will appear first and is kind of cumbersome, but it's a lot better than when I first started working on HMF. If you are a premium-member, you can do an ADVANCED SEARCH on more than one criteria. Yeah ... I think just this one benefit is worth the $2 per month, but that's up to you. You can select CLASS and then drop down to GROWING and select for disease resistance. It's a database. There are lots of different ways to find information. There is no staff to answer questions, so you have to do the research. The information always comes from public REFERENCES or site members. The webmaster is open to new suggestions for how to do things, but many people haven't already experimented with the tools that are already available. Even if that is true, the webmaster is very open to suggestions to improve site users' experience on HMF, but remember he has a very long list of suggestions, so you may not get an immediate response. It's a tool and you can make it better with your participation. Supporting a site that you use regularly, whether or not you use the premium-member benefits, is just the right thing to do, but no one is checking. The support for HMF has increased ... and thank you .... but, to date, it still does not cover the cost of keeping HMF available to you. Smiles, Lyn

Apparently my roses never got that memo about mulch. The thing to remember about most modern tea rose descendants is that they are much more susceptible to drought dormancy than cold dormancy. In other words, they have to be hit over the head with a very large hammer before they get the idea that winter is coming. They aren't dormant yet because it just plain hasn't gotten cold enough yet. In the future, you could experiment with less water in the fall, but that isn't something I've been in a position to do. Fall is often very wet here, and the only way to cut back on the water is to move them under cover, which would keep them too warm for too long. Whether or not you wait for them to go dormant depends on how many times you are willing to move them. My largest pots are still fairly mobile with the help of a handcart. So in a fairly typical year, they will go in and out about three times before they finally stay in for the winter. They come in when the nighttime lows are around 20, and go back out when the forecast is for nothing below freezing.

Hi Julie I have or have grown a lot of the roses you list, so I can comment on hardiness, rebloom, and general appeal. Don't trust my nose on fragrance, however, as I have so many allergies it needs to be Francois Dubreuil before I can smell it. Autumn Sunset - mine has survived wretched conditions in a zone 4 pocket and mostly shade for about 6 years, so I finally took pity on it and bought another plant to put in much better conditions. It hasn't bloomed much under those conditions, but it's a survivor for me. Brass Band - hardy in z5? - not in my zone 5, though I'm trying it a third time in a protected pocket of the yard that's effectively zone 6. Cheshire - same as above, only survives in my zone 6 pocket.Deuil de Dr. Reynaud - mine is in part shade which might explain its scattered bloom, but I don't get much rebloom from mine. It seems to be hardy enough, just not noticeable where I have it. Distant Drums - I love this one enough to have two of them. Not a terrific rebloomer but reasonably hardy, and the color mix is to die for. Dr. Robert Korns - died on me once, but that doesn't mean it isn't hardy Easter Basket - has survived in an average spot of the yard and puts out lovely little ruffled blooms off and on all summer. Hardy enough to try. Enfant de France - survives in the zone 4 part of my yard, so I'd give it points for hardiness. I haven't noticed very frequent bloom, but it's still young Excellenz von Schubert - I'll echo the comments above that mine is essentially a once-bloomer and an octopus-armed one at that. The flowers aren't interesting enough to warrant the once-blooming, but it's in a tough spot so I let it stay.Golden Buddha - I really like this one. Paul Barden has some terrific roses, and this one really glows and bloomed all summer even in its first year. I lost one previously to gardener error, but it was hardy enough for zone 5. Granny Grimmetts - I lost one of these several years ago so it's probably only marginally hardy. There are more hardy HPs - Sydonie has bloomed regularly and kept canes much better, for instance. Gruss an Aachen - I had mine for 6 years or so and it was OK hardy, though I never really warmed to the blooms. They were a muddy cream for me and I'm not all that tempted to replace it. Still, it's reasonably hardy. Janet Inada - died once on me but I think it was the spot. I'm watching Rogue Valley to see if I can replace it. Jeri Jennings - hardy in z5? Sadly, no, and I've tried three times. I'll give it one more try in my protected zone 6 spot, for the name alone (smile), but it is likely to be marginally hardy even there. Lafter - survives just fine in my zone 4 pocket, so robustly hardy elsewhere. Not a terrific rebloomer where I have it, but it's in part shade. The color is nice. Larry Daniels - Blooms fine in part shade and has some cane surviving most years. Nice light pink blooms, but not as nice as Grandmother's Hat Lyda Rose - Survived into its second year this year, but I don't think I've seen it bloom. No surviving cane, but few of my roses had that anyway. Marchesa Boccella - who knows if I have this or Jacques Cartier? Either way, it's pretty hardy for me and blooms some in part shade. I should give it a better spot as it has a nice old fashioned look and at least some scent. Mrs. John Laing - not hardy for me in an average spot, though I may try it one more time. Munstead Wood - wonderful, highly recommended deep purple Austin. One of his better roses, and comfortably hardy in our zone. If you like this color, you should definitely try the new Kordes Dark Desire. It is perfectly stunning and seems quite hardy as well.Oshun - didn't survive on its first try, which is odd as I think Paul lists it as hardy to zone 3. Might have been a fluke, and it's also on my wish list at Rogue Valley Pam's Choice - dearly love the color of this rose and worth the time and space. It blooms fairly regularly, but to be safe I planted it in my zone 5 pocket as the russet roses have a tendency to be wimps. So far it has done fine, but I'd give it a protected spot. cl. Pinkie? Fragrance? - Climbing Pinkie hasn't survived in two or three tries, which is particularly troublesome in a climber. I wouldn't go there. Perle d'Or - Mine has survived 6 winters or so and is quite hardy. I'm not as sold on the blooms as other folks, as I find them a bit scruffy and muddy, and mine doesn't rebloom in part shade as well as it might in more sun. Pink Enchantment - lovely blooms, nice form, and hardy. Even better than this is Beverly, also a Kordes Portland from Glendora - this one didn't survive in the first try but did on the second. It's still too young to bloom much, but it seems happy enough, though not as big as advertised yet. Prairie Harvest - haven't grown this one, but Prairie Sunrise has fluffy apricot blooms to die for and it's hardy to my zone 4 pocket. Ditto for Heaven on Earth and Folksinger. Pretty Jessica - hardy and stays small as advertised. Just hit its third year, so not yet as prolific as I'd like, but earns its keep. Rose de Rescht - I tried this first in my zone 4 pocket and it didn't survive there, but I have it on order this year for a normal spot and I think it will do well there. St. Elisabeth of Hungary - a much under-appreciated rose. Totally hardy and happy even though it tends toward lavender (a usually wimpy color). This one has the form and bushiness of an Austin with more interest to the blooms in many ways. I highly recommend this one. Sydonie - one of the few roses that had surviving cane beyond the climbers and a prolific bloomer even in its second year in part shade. I highly recommend this one among OGRs. Hope this helps! You have some great choices, and I'm sure we could help add to your wish list, but you seem to be doing fine on your own. Of course we'll want pictures when you're done. Cynthia C