Duchesse, I've seen Purpurea described as less than 3' and also 6'. Mine is in the ground about 10 months and gives no signs of being large unless it's just waiting to explode. It's a small 2x2 now. Whether this will be true when it's older I don't know, but it stayed leafless for 2 months this summer. It was the prettiest bunch of green sticks you ever want to see. Looked something like Form #2 (but smaller) in Vintage's Hybrid Tea chart. It has leafed out again but hasn't put on any size. Carol, re "bands that started dying back at the tips as soon as I took them out of the box. I'd cut them back below the dead portions but it didn't stop the die back and eventually they just died back to the soil.", mine didn't start that soon - only after repotting, and I'd had some roses for months. But the rest of what you say is exactly what has happened. It seems to me I did everything I usually had done except that I used some peat - oooohh, wait a minute. I used an oil absorbant recommended on the "Container Gardening Forum" is this mix and in another that I made for a Marie Daley that I was moving to a big pot from the ground. That rose died, too, and quickly (that mix had much more absorbant in it.) I wonder if that was the culprit. The bag even said uses include gardening. Well, I guess I need to dis-pot the surviving roses. Glad you asked, Carol. Maybe this is my answer. Ingrid, there may be thousands of roses, but probably 80-90% are already eliminated right off the top due to our locations. And now that I've fallen in love with Teas (thanks to the Australian ladies) I find that there aren't enough of them - that can be bought anyway. Of course, if I had planted Pink Pet and The Fairy instead of Marie Pavie and Clotilde Soupert, I could have used Blush Noisette. So our own choices quickly reduce the numbers from which we can choose. And, of course, there's the fact that we're just plain picky people. :)) Sandy, if I could only have one rose, I would also probably choose Mrs B R - unless the only spot I had was the small yard in front of my house. It would be a gorgeous bush out of place, I'm afraid. So I think I'm going to move LeVesuve to this center spot and put Anna Olivier in its old spot - hoping that neither one get as big as they can get or will at least tolerate a little nipping down the road. It still amazes me that Malcolm Manners prunes his Mrs B R Cants at the college down to short sticks every year. I call that whacking!!! I wish he had posted photos of those bushes after their spring growth. After everything I've read here it was a shock to see his after-pruning photos of one-year old plants. Thanks everyone for all of your input. Your suggestions were all good ones, and I appreciate them. Sherry

Looks like you've got a good start! I agree, something larger than the candle ring under it. Fabric, place mat, mirror, charger, silver platter.. something to 'anchor'. Have you thought of trying that cellophane stuff you put in gift bags to fill them out? its all strips and curly and fluffy.. I've seen the iridescent kind in water and its pretty nice, if you little votives down at the base to reflect light off of. You'd have to use a wider anchor for the whole thing if you used the votives and cello stuff. or find one of those submersible lights to drop in the bottom and shine up through the cellophane stuff, or use one of the lighted 'ice cubes' for drinks instead. You can still use the floating candle if you want to.

Thanks for the additional ideas! The caterer tells me that we shouldn't use the "horse stalls" to house the buffet stations (will restrict the line flow too much), so those areas will be open for us to decorate as well. I'm definitely going to keep searching out horse items - harness collars and hames as mentioned above would very cool! Also love the idea to use grapevine in the mix. And those articulated horses ... Yes, I'm definitely going to be ordering several of those guys! Annie, I'm unable to open the link (blocked from work computer), but the place card holders sound quite pricey from your description, so maybe it's for the best. ;-D

Gotta say that I LOVE those 'Titleist' cookies as favors! :) The golfball-filled flower vases are cute as centerpieces. I also think the fresh grass centerpieces are a great idea! If you go with that, I'd recommend using wheat grass and sowing the seed 1-2 weeks prior to needing it for display (and depending on how tall you want it). It's reliable and beautiful... I grow it indoors in winter for my cats. A thought I had for individual homemade favors would be neck coolers... they're easy to sew! just do an on-line search and you'll find lots of examples.