I think it's going to be good here, tho it's still in a pot. Goes into the ground tomorrow, God willin'. I think she's beautiful, and if you like her, check out 'Irish Fireflame.' We just dropped an 'International Herald Tribune' into the ground, next to 'Irish Fireflame.' 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher' will go on the other side of IHT. A single treasure recently added here is the mystery China, "Bengal Fire." What a beauty! Jeri

Thanks for the info. Here's the scoop and the list of what came home with me today - there may be more coming in the future since the lady who is giving them away had second thoughts on a few. Her garden is TO DIE FOR! These were some of the happiest roses I have ever seen living the live of luxury in 3 foot deep beds of loose loamy rich soil. Seriously - it was rose heaven! Unfortunately, she is going through a divorce and doesn;t know what the future will hold, so she decided she wants zero maintenance plants since her soon to be ex may end up with the house and will promptly kill all the roses anyway. She decided it was better to give them away to good homes (she did a little interview first to see if I knew anything about roses) rather than have them die of neglect. Fortunately, I passed the interview and was gifted the following: Ambridge Rose '08 Baronne Prevost '08 Cottage Rose '08 Tuscany Superb '08 Orange Mothersday '08 Jude the Obscure '08 Gene Boerner '08 The Herbalist '08 She had several people there yesterday to dig and more were coming after I left. I probably could have asked for a few more, but I didn;t want to seem piggish about it. If she decides to part with the following, I am first in line to get: Distant Drums OLOG In return, I am going to give her divisions of 20 or so daylilys, several hostas (I have over 150 named hostas for her to choose from), some heucheras and some iris. They will all be pretty and won't break her heart if she has to ignore them. I am truly sorry for her current situation, but I think a new gardening friendship has blossomed and she will be welcome to come visit her babies at my house whenever she wants. All of them have already broken dormancy so I did pot up a couple of them, and some of them are just going to have to spend one night sitting in trash bags, I am exhausted from digging the new bed where they will live! LOL! They will be planted tomorrow... if I can move! LOLOLOL! Thanks again for the advice! Alexa

DO it, Nik! I grew her for over 18 years in Newhall, Zone 9b. California mid desert. The temps swung 100 degrees F from one extreme to the other (15 F to 115 F) and the canyon received direct sun from dawn to dusk. The plant was own root from Muriel Humenick's wonderful rose collection. That garden has now been gone nearly a decade and I don't have photos of the plant scanned. They're all slides, somewhere in a box in the garage, but Carolyn Parker's photo on HMF is what she looked like there. When conditions were perfect for diseases and water stress was high, there could be rust (NOTHING like Simplicity and Queen Elizabeth) and some mildew, but she was otherwise extremely thrifty and "sturdy". She also flowered incessantly and every bloom formed a huge "apple". Dead heading the plant was a chore because there were SO many hips to remove and she is quite prickly, but every effort was worth those wonderfully scented, gorgeous blooms. If I were still in "collecting mode", had more room, energy and water than sense, Mrs. Oakley Fisher (and most of the other single HTs) would definitely be back in my garden. If occasional rust and mildew aren't issues for you and you don't mind having to regularly dead head the plant. GET HER!

FWIW, I've had two plants of 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher' for more than ten years here and PM hasn't been a problem on either of them (unlike some in my collection who are martyrs to it -- Chinas in particular). So, I'm surprised it was on the plants at Annie's. But, at about 35 miles north of you and a bit more inland, Rosefolly, that may make a difference. Annie's is, of course, right on the bay and in the fog. Maybe like how, for many years, I resisted planting 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' because of how hideously and continuously afflicted with PM the climber of it was at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, only to find that here, once I dared with a plant from Annie's, it gets PM only lightly and briefly in my garden, if at all. There are two 'Nearly Wild' at my neighbor's house across the street that have been there for a couple of decades at least. They are kept pruned for height to about 5 - 6' and are about 6' across, right next to the north side of the house by the way. I was giving long and hard consideration to 'Gay Princess' (Boerner, 1967) at Annie's the other day and only after giving myself a stern talking-to, passed it by -- for now, at least. That columbine 'Krystal' looks great. I have the native A. chrysantha which is big and showy like that, but yellow (extremely reliable and long-lived, and something of a happy pest with a zillion volunteer seedlings) and last year I got the native serpentine endemic, Aquilegia eximiaat Annie's which is breathtakingly architectural and elegant, but not as drought tolerant as A. chrysantha is.