Ooops! My mistake! There's a much smaller plant that I've heard referred to as "Japanese Knotweed" but when I looked up Polygonum cuspidatum, I saw that y'all were right! I guess I won't be trying to root any cuttings! Thanks!

Congratulations! They all look very lovely! :D I love gardenia and have a giant one (about 9ft tall) in the backyard). I'm not so sure about the "hardy" claims though. I'm in zone 8a and had the jubilation variety before. When the Texas winter storm hit, it was the first to wither away... Last year, when Texas had record breaking snow storm, it severely damamged my giant Gardenia. :( Several branches were dead, and the lower trunks, the barks were broken. I was so heartbreaking. When spring came, I tried my best to help the tree to regrow, so far it's doing great, with new branches and leaves forming, though I'm not expecting much bloom today. What I'm trying to say it despite what the plant might clain to be hardy, you still might want to take protection plans when the weather gets cold. It's always better to be safe than seeing our beloved plant suffer. :) I'm growing a container gardenia for the first time this year, so far it's doing well in the pot. :)

I used to go for 'bests' and then I learned about rootstocks. A lot of my bought locally roses were on Dr. Huey rootstock. They didn't do well. They didn't do well because my soil is an acidic red clay with some top soil on it, but the business roots of the rose are going to go down into that clay for the moisture and nutrients. Dr. Huey thrives in slightly alkalin soil. That's why it was THE rootstock of choice for growing roses for resale and that was done in the alkaline playa lake beds of inland California. For Virginia roses....there are acidic red clays in a number of places. There are also sands, and there may be some alkalin soils. In your neighborhood do you see roses that have reverted to Dr. Huey? Do you see wild Rose multiflora (zone 7 Virginia would have had multiflora blooming back in early May. Next question: are you willing to spray fungicides every two weeks. Last question: Maybe take a chance with R. x fortuniana rootstock, unless you get serious freezes in some winters. There are two Hybrid Tea roses that I find to be all but bullet proof, and they are pretty in different ways. La Traviata: no scent, healthy foliage without spraying, and carnation like deep red blooms that do not have the classic HT form, but which look like carnations and last on their long straight stems for two weeks, even in summer. (The blooms and stems are so strong, they hold water after summer rains and it needs to be dumped out or the petals will stew in the summer sunlight. The MacCartney Rose: Scent!!! strong pink, open well. Strong bushes that thrive without spraying. Not a show rose, but it's so good it doesn't need to be. Glows in the sunlight when it's backlit by morning or evening sunlight.

Actually, Gelsemium sempervirens Margarita should be hardy for you - there's a Rhode Island gardener (6b) who has posted photos of its winter blooms on the New England forum. It has survived in my garden for 4 years, but has not done well; while Margarita is hardier than most Gelsemium sempervirens, my zone 5a is too cold for it to be happy. I may try it in a pot so I can give it some winter shelter. I found that Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' retained some of its leaves for me last winter which was an unusually warm one for central NH, though usually it drops them all in late fall/early winter. Mine still has flowers on it now, though we have been having hard freezes for 5-6 weeks, so it might well bloom in winter for you. Mine blooms from some time in June until late fall with the most blooms in early summer, but it continues to push flowers on new growth. I don't know if all Lonicera sempervirens do this, but Major Wheeler is a very long bloomer. I'd start working on removing the ivy if possible.