I got my teeny CJ from Henry Fields, as a matter of fact! It was really clearance priced. It was incredibly healthy, just quite small. I do recommend them for the little starts of these as far as health of the little plant goes. They might have different sizes. I'm sure mine said it was in a 3 inch pot, so I knew what I was in for that way. If you do go with the little babies, just make sure to pay more attention to it than you might for a bigger plant. The roots aren't as forgiving since there aren't too many of them comparatively ;) I potted mine up in good soil and checked frequently for water needs. It was still really easy to grow the whole time. I've had zero problems.

Dunno if I can talk about long term success stories when my Olympia garden was eight years old when I moved, and my current garden is about seven years old. Of course, most of the roses in both gardens were/are considerably younger than that as I bought/buy roses every year. The only rose that comes to mind that declined after growing well was the 'Mme. Plantier' by the front door in Olympia, which was a mature plant when I bought the house. It was so excessively vigorous that I put most of my efforts into curbing rather encouraging its growth, and possibly I was too successful. Aside from that one case roses in general either grow for me or they don't: they don't make 180° turns in their behavior. But I've never had a garden for a long enough time to be able to give a good answer to this question, which is an interesting one (thanks, Sherry!). If I begin to think of roses that did act in this fashion I'll report them. Oh....a few years ago I cut back 'Noella Nabonnand' hard, and she hated it and refused to grow. I'm hoping she'll get going again this year. It would also be interesting to hear whether the roses mentioned are grafted or ownroot; what the growing conditions are; whether the environment has altered over time (getting shadier or sunnier, for example); and what extraordinary events might possibly have triggered a decline. Melissa

Can't help with finding, but a warning - Honorine Jobert (tall white) has spread very aggressively in my yard, and is difficult to remove when it gets into rose bushes etc. I hand treated with Roundup and only got partial removal with it coming back completely in 2 years. The shorter pink forms seem to be better behaved... PPS if any one is interested in HJ they can come to Los Gatos and dig as much as they like...

Sorry, I can't comment because we've not yet planted goldenball lead tree or seen any used in our far north Dallas area. Am sure there are a few around here somewhere. Couldn't find the one at the local Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center during a quick look while at a class there - could have missed it, but good chance it fell victim to the expansion and other changes they've recently made. Had considered using GBLT as a smaller replacement for the large Chinese pistache lost in last year's wind storm. But decided to go evergreen with Tx mtn laurel instead. Still at the top of the short list to try as other space becomes available.