I am right by the bay and we have cool summers (temperatures rarely get into the 70s). My garden is no-spray. Powdery mildew is a menace here and anthracnose and cercospora trouble the roses that are prone to "spotting". Belle Story - grafted. 10+ years. Spring and fall flushes with smattering of blooms in between. Good health but is prone to cercospora spots in summer. It has earned its place in my small suburban garden because of its enchanting and breath-taking blooms. Great fragrance, as well. Molineux - I have 2. Own root (4th year) and grafted (10+ years). Always in bloom. Good health. My workhorses. Can be pruned to stay 4-5 feet. Geoff Hamilton - own root; 5th year. Gorgeous blooms but a once-bloomer in my garden. I have seen it grown grafted in a warmer summer area where it has 3 big flushes. Crown Princess Margareta - own root in its 4th year. Good spring flush and then all she wants to do is throw out long thin thorny (she has drawn blood) canes; I have almost no rebloom from her. I am tired of constantly hacking her back in attempts to control her exuberant growth. A few miles inland, a CPM, grafed and grown as a shrub, is almost constantly in bloom. CPM will be gone from my garden after this spring. Mary Rose - own root; 4th year. So far, she is staying small. Great fragrance, good rebloom and healthy plant. A favorite. Abraham Darby - own root, 4th year. I am trying to grow it as a small climber. It is generous of bloom and has decent health. The blooms leave something to be desired (mine don't always look like the pics on HMF) and I would replace it with a better rose but for its fragrance... Young Lycidas - grafted, 4th year. Good repeat and blooms are very fragrant. Color is lovely - magenta-purple with a silvery sheen. Foliage is, well, weird. Crinkley and appears diseased but is not. Needs staking as the canes are pencil-thin and can't hold the heavy blooms. Strawberry Hill - grafted; 3rd year. Gorgeous, fragrant blooms in shades of pink, peach and lilac depending on the weather. Generous of bloom. Prone to mildew and rust in my garden. (I hadn't seen rust in my garden before). Nasty, wicked thorns that snag. I grow it as a small climber and I am hoping it becomes more disease resistant with age as its foliage when not mildewed or looking like cheetos is absolutely lovely. The Wedgwood Rose - Grafted; 3rd year. This rose has me baffled. I get 4 flushes but each flush has only 3-4 blooms. The size of blooms have ranged from the size of a quarter to 4 inches. Completely disease-free....of course. The following were added to my garden in March last year, so too early for me to cast judgement but I am adding my observations on health and bloom. All are grafted. Princess Anne - lovely shade of magenta-pink. Much admired by visitors. I can't detect a fragrance but most others say it is strong and very pleasant. Good-looking shrub. Canes are covered in thorns but they are not vicious. Stopped blooming after October. Wollerton Old Hall - lovely blooms. Great fragrance. Bloomed well into December. Is my favorite of the new four. Lady Emma Hamilton - would grow it for the fragrance alone. Plant appears to be healthy and repeat seems to be very good. I think you will enjoy having her, FJ. Princess Alexandra of Kent - big blooms with a color range of pink and coral. Fragrance is iffy but, when there, it is pleasant. Has been constantly in bloom and is blooming now. Unfortunately, prone to powdery mildew. It's in an east facing bed and I will be moving it to a south-facing one to see if I can keep the PM in check. Also, the blooms have a tendency to ball so I am hoping the south side will help in that regard as well. (I try not to get roses with a high petal could but I guess I wasn't paying attention when I ordered this one.) FJ - I think getting her own root is probably a good idea. Mine is already 7 feet wide. Jo Wollerton Old Hall

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone's assessment of using plants that are well adapted to the climate and soils in your area. That's being said from the perspective of someone who knows better... When I first arrived down here I was a sucker for anything that looked cool and sounded even remotely zone hardy. I put part of the blame for planting out of place plants on certain nurseries, especially the big boxes that carry plants that are technically zone hardy, but don't grow well in the local soils. Go to any HD or Lowes around here right now and you'll find Camellias a-plenty. In the summer they have all kinds of azaleas, gardenias and hydrangeas too. You get the picture... All that said, I agree w. Shebear that unless a plant's obviously completely dead, giving it at least 3 years is reasonable. In fact, we moved some of our plants that were floundering in their previous locations and they seem to be doing better now. We moved our Fatsias and Wheeler Dwarfs to shady locations and they look much happier. We replaced the Wheeler's Dwarfs with Nana Pomegranates in the full sun location and so far so good. Several of the issues pointed out by Pricklypear were unknown to me at the time of purchase. That said, we'll see what happens. The Little Gem, Camellia, Photinia and Golden Euynomous look healthy as can be, their growth has just been disappointing. All 5 of our Camellias do have flower buds set though! The Queens, well, the darn folks at the HD just tempted me too much. If they ever grow and don't freeze out they'll look great by the pool though. :^) I don't get the whole Firebush (Hamelia Patens?) deal either. I see several people around the neighborhood that have large ones, so it must've just been me... Oh well, I guess trial and error is part of the joy of gardening. As long as the successes outweight the failures!

"Thomasville Old Gold" is at the bottom of my list of potted Teas alphabetically, but is near the top when it comes to vigor and growth so far. This came as a band from Long Ago Roses. Now onto the Chinas. I got a bunch this year. Some went in the ground, and they're doing well so far. In the bed with the aforementioned 'Napoleon' I planted 'Louis Philippe', 'Rival de Paestum', "Dutch Fork China", 'Ducher', and 'Cramoisi Superieur'. I already had "Grandmother's Hat" and 'Perle d'Or' in there, so with this year's Chinas, that area is "done with roses". In my little front yard, Chinas which went in this year are 'Arethusa', Comtesse du Cayla', and if you think of it as one, "Huilito". But this is about the ones destined to remain container plants. "Boone Hall China" is a "mystery" rose without a page on HelpMeFind, probably a seedling or close relative of the 'Louis Philippe' and 'Cramoisi Superieur' clan. It's a cute little thing so far, with cherry-scented blooms that hang down. Unfortunately, it's the only one of my potted Chinas and Teas which seems to be showing some mildew, but only a touch, and only recently. This came as a band from Angel Gardens. "Ferndale Red China" is another "mystery" rose I'm giving a shot here. It recently sent a new thick shoot, which grew rapidly and is terminating in a small candelabra. On HelpMeFind, bloom pics seemed so variable that I wondered if they were all the same rose. As I watch this one flowering on and off, I see how they really vary with the weather. This one came as a 1-gal from Rose Petals Nursery. I'm really looking forward to a barrel filled with 'Miss Lowe's Variety', and its rapid growth so far with me makes me think that it will accomplish this by the end of next year. This one came as a band from Rogue Valley Roses. I almost didn't want to admit that I planned to try 'Mutabilis' in a barrel here, being as it's so often touted as becoming a monster. Well, I'm going to see how it deals with one hard pruning in Spring, then letting it grow as it wishes the rest of the season. I have to do it anyway for Winter damage for my few other Chinas and Teas planted in the ground previously, and they rebound. Right now, this rose is a bit lopsided. When repotting it, I accidentally snapped one of its smaller stems, and it doesn't seem to want to grow back. But the other side took off. So here in my neck of the woods, the growing season is just what the Chinas and Teas seem to like for encouraging growth. The ones still in pots are in my "magic mix" -- three parts peat moss, one part Bovung dehydrated manure, one part vermiculite, and one part perlite, with 1/2 cup Garden Tone per gallon of mix, and a mulch of used coffee grounds. They get almost all-day sun, and frequent water. Those in the ground started off the same way. Give them heat, food, and water, and the Chinas and Teas will respond with lots of growth. And this is what I need here, since my Winters will take some of that away -- three steps forward, two steps back, every year. Those I'm keeping potted will go into either my garage or my unheated enclosed back porch for Winter, but I still expect to have to remove damage in Spring. They may never get as big and glorious as they do in California, but I'm thinking they'll work somewhat like Buddleia here -- they need one hard pruning in Spring to remove damage, but then let them go wild for the rest of the season. That they bloom for me all through the heat of Summer -- as long as they get food and water -- makes them worth it. :-) ~Christopher

Thanks Filly. My roses are young also, we moved to this property about 3 years ago. The difference in the amount of blooms is due to the varieties, many Austins tend to be spring/fall bloomers and they don't hit their blooming peak until they are older. Heritage is an exception, it blooms through out the season .I have varieties that are almost everblooming. 2 of my most prolific are Belinda's Dream and Louis Philippe. If I fertilize, it's 2 times a year, end of February and end of March. I don't deadhead, but I do take fall cuttings for starting new plants. My cutoff time for cuttings is December. I figuring that is about 6 weeks before our first hard freeze, temps 25 F or lower. Temps higher than 25 don't cause stem damage. ( My own observations). Many of my varieties are of Tea and China heritage so they don't go winter dormant.