This Canadian source info for Parafilm was a lifesaver ... Live near Calgary where grafting supplies are practically non-existent... Am learning the hard way from 2 previous failed grafting attempts with rare conifers... Had tried twist ties, string and homemade wax. Don't know how I did not know of parafilm or similar. .... Thought I had it licked having found Treecote grafting wax locally at Lee Valley tools last month. Yesterday, when I tried to use ONLY the warm wax to close my cuts and stabilize the scions, it was just a big messI. Like working with dark honey -- no way to see if the cambium layer is lined up. Terse instructions on the tin suggest it can be used like plasticene ... It advises oiling the hands, very ineffective, and I ended up with slippery cutting tools. I'm sure Treecote wax has its place but there is not one single how-to video online about using wax as described on the tin. Online info and videos all recommend some form of taping first, (then seal with Treekote, warmed liquified and painted over the taping). Have saved some scions and rootstock and went online to find immediate solutions... Nearly everyone is recommending Parafilm, and I ran into the same brick wall: multiple sources in the US, but can't be shipped. Also came across the medical Parafilm source in Canada. Thanks to your tip, Frencsh's took my order by phone and are mailing express C.O.D. I could not delay, buds on my rootstock are already swollen. I ended up getting 7 rolls ... the minimum order for about $50. Thanks for the tip!

mgleason, thanks for the heads-up/offer re. Papa Meilland. I'm planning on ordering for early spring. I've hearing such positive feedback about Northland Rosarium that I may order with them come January. But keep me posted about your PM plans. What do you expect to charge for PM? Re. Taboo/Barkarole and Black Beauty; Ceterum is right that I am favoring fragrant roses right now. So I'm not serious about Taboo at this point. I do expect to get a Black Beauty and/or Hocus Pocus in the future, but probably not in the next several months. It's at least a quite compact plant, so i figure I can squeeze it in somewhere. But I do already have a reverted Memphis Magic (was supposed to be striped Memphis Music). It is such a deep red its actually burgundy rather than red. Terrific color! That's tiding me over at the moment, as far as scentless dark reds goes. And I have the small deep red HT Deep Secret--awsome fragrance! Depending on weather, it varies from blood red to black-shaded red. Not the best flower form in the heat, but when I cut it in bud and bring it inside, it opens out beautifully and holds very well. Mgleason, I meant to ask you about UCDavis' program. How does one go about requesting cuttings from them? Is it a wholesale operation only? Can we get info regarding what vendors have gotten which VID plants from them? It would be great to be able to track their program. Sounds like you may have been doing just that for a while. Mike

A question for the more informed - who and how is it determined that a species is native or non native? And is this like everything historical - that history is only what we have actually found? I personally, from observing and being involved with rugosas for quite some time now, find it difficult to believe that this species has distributed itself to the degree it now exists in the possible time allotted. I also, don't put much stock in introduction dates as more than rough guidelines.I am descended from a long line of sea captains and know from family history that these people were keen observers of plant material and brought back all sorts of plant treasures (rugosas in seed,or plant form would have traveled well and there was no USDA then.) Plus sailing the Maine coast for example, I've found rugosas in the most remote and never inhabited locations. Having grown at least 500 rugosas in my gardens for over 25 years, I really can't fathom that this species could have distributed itself so thoroughly in the possible 400 year time frame. A couple of other tidbits that regrettably I can't remember sources for or there simply weren't any: Somewhere I read that there were 'rugosa farms' in New England for the production of rose hips for vitamin C aboard the sailing ships. Also, apparently there are confirmed native colonies of rugosas in Alaska.

woolywoof, your availability of hardy roses probably has more to do with being in Canada than being in zone 4. If I head to nurseries in zone 4 New York, the situation is likely to be even more dire than it is here. Lack of availability of roses that do what I want roses to do is probably part of the reason I became so interested in rooting cuttings. Several wonderful roses are probably better known as pass along plants than in the nursery trade. This unfortunately doesn't make me a very good source of information as to where you should get your roses. I've bought more roses from Mike Lowe than any other source. He's in Nashua. Is Mike still in the nursery business? I don't know. Pickering, as mentioned, is a good source. I know Paul has gotten a bunch of his roses from Spring Valley in Wisconsin. I've heard nothing but good things about Spring Valley. I've often wanted to order from Corn Hill in New Brunswick, but never come up with a big enough order to make it work out. Corn Hill is Robert Osborne's nursery. If you don't have his book "Hardy Roses" you should. You should also have Suzanne Verrier's books. You want to avoid the nurseries that ship little twigs. For the money nurseries charge, you want them to send you a real plant. I'd like to be able to recommend Ashdown, but I've never ordered from him. Oddly enough, most of my recent purchases have come from Sequoia. Certainly Ralph Moore has no reason to specialize in hardy for the northeast roses, but he does have some neat oddments that I can't get anywhere else. He ships little twigs, but at least the price reflects this.