I am getting rid of a few of my knockouts just to make room for more interesting roses. Intrigue is on the list too, I have a tree rose intruige that is a one cane wonder, it looks bad compared to the other bushy full tree roses I have. The intruigue rose in the ground is not much better, it is still under a foot tall after being in the ground for over a year. It was a body bag purchase, so I didn't expect much. Europeana is coming close to being gone, in our cool and rainy spring it has become a PM magnet. I never have had powdery mildew before and the fungicides I am using don't seem to put a dent in it. Hopefully it will clear up with some warm weather.

Rick, I have a similar and yet opposite problem to yours in that I need to choose roses that survive here in my uniquely hot microclimate. I'm in inland San Diego County at about 1800 feet in land that's a sort of semicircle, with another 500 feet of hot, boulder-strewn slope behind us. It traps a lot of heat, and roses like hybrid musks that do well elsewhere have had to be shovel pruned, with the honorable exception of Lavender Dream. Modern purple roses fry to a crisp so they're all gone. I've discarded at least 80 roses, which is a lot since I now have 90 at most. There's a learning curve and others' advice is only partially helpful because my case is somewhat unique. The good news is that you begin to get smarter as you go along (such as your need to know a rose's genetic background as a basis for selection). Armed with the right knowledge you can have a beautiful garden almost anywhere. Abraham Darby failed miserably here too, for obviously different reasons, but I'm having good success with smaller Austins that are own-root. The bigger monsters take up too much space anyway so this works well for me. Climate extremes force you to garden more intelligently, and I think it's a challenge that we can take on and even enjoy. Ingrid

For someone in zone 10, there probably is very little chance of mosaic type virus spread as the rose's immune system is effective at high temperatures. ----------------------------------------- Concerning Davis's indexed roses. Davis has recently published a paper where they announced that they found an aphid spread virus in their indexed rose plantings (see page 511): "In this test, RSDaV was detected in many different rose species and cultivars from the Foundation Rose Collection at FPS. In all, 129 plants in this collection were tested, and 77 were positive for RSDaV. Some of the hybrid rose cultivars tested positive for RSDaV included Queen Elizabeth, China Doll, Heirloom, Lowell Thomas, Jack Frost, New Dawn, Uncle Joe, Bridal White, Butterscotch, and Cynthia. It is interesting that the virus was detected in more than 69 plants in two rows (total number of plants in these rows was 89) of the collection which were planted in the mid 1990s. In all, 162 samples of R. multiflora from the virusindexing rose blocks also were assayed in the spring and RSDaV was found in 94 plants. The majority of RT-PCR-positive R. multiflora plants were symptomatic. Another 40 additional plants from the same virus-indexing blocks were tested in the summer and 6 were positive." Here is a link that might be useful: link for above.

Okay, aimeekitty, since you asked, here goes: Carding Mill - is now actually going to a friend of a friend who is thrilled to have it. Angel Face, Jasmina and Salet have also been given away. Either died or did not thrive, mostly because of the heat: Duchesse de Brabant (have replaced with a new one), Natchitoches Noisette, News, Bayse's Purple, Heinrich Karsch (three plants), Violet Hood, Princesse de Nassau, Baby Faurax, White Flower Carpet, Janet (two plants), Alfred de Dalmas (two), Heideroeslein, Ley's Perpetual, Mme. Jules Gravereaux, Secret Garden Noisette (two plants), Felicia, Lady Hilllingdon, Ebb Tide, Autumn Damask, Spirit of Freedom, Gruss an Aachen (rust), Gourmet Popcorn, Excellenz von Schubert Did Not Like: Tamora, Intrigue, Cl. Cecile Brunner, E. Veyrat Hermanos, Huilito, McClinton Tea, Centenaire de Lourdes, Therese Bugnet and Mrs. Doreen Pike (not ideal for my climate but pretty), Winsome Flowers Crisped Badly, Otherwise Beautiful: Clementina Carbonieri, General Tartas, Monsieur Tillier, Route 66, Angels Camp Tea Roses I Wish I'd Kept: Sweet Nothings, Wife of Bath (now replaced), General Gallienni, Teasing Georgia, Carnation Sadly, I now realize that I've disposed of 50 roses, although I only really regret the last five. I had no idea how harsh my microclimate was (because of increased solar radiation due to altitude, huge boulders and hot, hillsides) and only realized with time that I would have to be very choosy about what roses I bought or be prepared to lose them or live with unhappy roses. C'est la vie. Ingrid