I just sent this list to my mother-in-law for plantings along her front pathway to the front door, and it has all of the HMF links. I have ordered Souvenir de la Malmaison for the very reason you are describing. It is a bit of a slow starter at first, and it doesn't get more than 5 foot as far as I can tell, and of course, it is gorgeous, disease resistant (at least here in TN), and is know for having few prickles. Pink Gruss an Aachen is also smaller and is very beautiful and known for few prickles. But I highly encourage you to check all of these out, the pink gruss and reine des violettes are the only 2 you would probably have to spray for anything, all of the others are known to be very disease resistant. Good Luck! Souvenir De La Malmaison: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2435.2 Thomas Affleck: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.35273 Basye's Blueberry: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.541 Nur Mahal: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.4507.1 Reine des Violettes: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5179 Mrs Dudley Cross: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.4308 Pink Gruss an Aachen: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2228 Marie Pavie: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4130 Perle d'Or: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4755 Crepuscule: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1366 James Galway (probably way too large for your space): http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.33731.1 Mrs. John Laing: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.4317 Natchitoches Noisette: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.4440

A friend just gave me a small (abt 2.5 ft tall) bushy crepe myrtle she'd dug from her yard and potted in a one-gallon container last fall. The cultivar, she said is Lagerstroemia Purple Magic. The plant is obviously rootbound now, but that's not the main problem. This morning, I was going to remove it from the pot, straighten out the roots then repot in a 5-gallon container so I can nurse it along after the trauma of repotting. I planned to plant it around the middle of Sept. The big problem I now see is that someone cut the ONE main trunk back to about six inches. There are two skinny branches coming out near the bottom of that main trunk (they are not coming out of the soil) and a few tiny shoots near the base. Now I'm wondering if it's worth all the time and trouble to repot and eventually plant, since the 1" thick main trunk is missing. I never cut the top of the main growth of anything unless I want to stop it from growing taller. I've never had a crepe myrtle, so I don't know if it will grow taller without that trunk (my friend's trees are about 8' tall)? Please help with this, it's too hot here to waste a drop of energy for a plant that will remain a small shrub forever.

It expands in mass at the base the stem...It won't do that in that weed cloth and river rock. In fact nothing much will do worth a darn in that combination for very long at all. My advice and the advice of many many gardeners is get rid of that felt stuff and the rock and mulch with organic matter...wood chips, sawdust. cocoa bean shells pine needles or whatever else you like...but the purpose of a mulch is to keep the soil cool and moist and rocks get very very hot and there is no exchange of air beneath that fabric stuff, no worms no composting of mulch going on and eventually the fabric will become full of silt and you will have a garden that can't get water, so the roots of your plants will grow on top of the fabric....and all the bits and pieces of stuff that falls will create a layer beneath the rocks....and in spite of it all you will get weeds growing in the rock. Ask me how I know!!! Sorry about the rant...but I spent a lot of time helping my daughter get some plantings in shape that had that stuff down for about 6 years before they bought the house. Lots of grunt labor, but we did it. Then they had another child and moved....and guess what!? There was more of that stuff in the new house...but this time it had bind weed growing in the fabric itself. Linda C

Thank you everyone, and especially those of you who have posted photos. I have been on a little hiatus because I had some minor surgery, and to be honest I forgot that I posted this! I truly understand what most of you mean when you say that you should not prune until the roses are about 3-4 years old, I know they need their energy stores, I know that they have awkward teenage stages (hey, who doesn't?). The thing is that most of the ones I am having troubles with are Austins, and just judging by how much growth they put on last year, if I went this whole year without pruning them I think by fall they might be gathering up mailmen and loose dogs that wonder on to my porch. I suppose I am of the same mindset as Lori_elf, to help inspire new growth I want to get rid of some of this awkward growth that will not support strong, large canes, even if they seem a little young for it. I always get a little confused when talking about the ages of some of my roses anyway, Munstead wood for example is going into it's second year in my garden, but I purchased it as a large (4' at time of purchase), grafted, 3 gallon plant from my local nursery, so it obviously spent at least a year with them, if not more, so would you consider him to be 3 years old at this point? or still just going on 2 because that is how long he has been with me? Not that it really matters all that much because when I judge them, I don't really consider their age as much as I consider their overall size and the vigor that I have witnessed under my own care. For example, I have two Jude the Obscure plants which I got last spring, both have been living in pots that are 12" across since their initial transplant. One plant was a band from from Heirloom and it was purchased earlier in the year, the other was a gallon sized plant purchased from Chamblees purchased a little later in the year. The band from Heirloom really took off and put on a lot of growth last year & is now about 3' tall, he is the one with the odd candelabra situation. Even though the Chamblees specimen was supposed to be a "gallon sized plant", he has grown much slower, but has retained more of a pleasantly round & even shape, it is a little over 1' tall. I feel comfortable pruning the Heirloom specimen because the largest cane is very thick & long, the plant is tall and seems very healthy. I would however not prune the Chamblees plant, it is still very small and looks very young at this point. I think this is due to the unusually small root ball it had upon arrival, both plants I bought from Chamblees did (the other being Molineux) which is why I probably won't be ordering from them again, they were puny as gallon sized plants and have been surpassed by every single band I purchased from Heirloom at this point. I did prune both the roses that I mentioned in the original post, but I did it gently, not removing the entire candelabra, just a few of the smaller branches here and there, or the most awkward growth on the cane in question, so that the new growth that they put on this spring will help them evolve into more balanced, rounded shrubs. I don't have many roses large enough to prune, so these two being some of my only decent sized shrubs (3-5ft tall) I really wanted them to be presentable, even if it sets them back a tiny bit, I need something pretty to look at while I'm waiting on my herd of 1 year old gallon sized babies to mature. I really don't think it will cause them much of a problem, because as I said, almost all of my Austins have grown very quickly and vigorously so far, and I already see Jude swelling into large buds in all the places I was hoping he would, so I think he will do great this year, still waiting on MW, but I think he will do great as well. I'll try to snap some photos today. Thanks again for all your responses! Jessica.