Gosh, what great suggestions! I have a Mrs. Oakley Fisher in a pot. I'm wondering if because she is an older hybrid tea she just might do O.K. on her own roots. Actually, if a rose can't hack the own root thing, there are plenty of others that can. Kronprincessin is planted by Cramoisi in another bed. It's a very small baby but looks so pretty with the red. I do have a band of Souvenir de St. Annes, so when it blooms I'll see what I think. I was discouraged today and was going to plop Louis in a pot until I figured out what to do, but my husband said that he liked him where he was, and that he would be striking against the white house. Right now he is only at the toddler stage-if that. I hope he is a fast grower. I'm trying to plant STURDY, but pretty roses on the west side of my house, because I've learned the hard way that what goes there will have to have the ability to withstand whatever our hurricaine seasons dish out. It seems the twiggy bushes let most of the wind go through without whipping them around too much. I put Madame Lombard on the corner of the house near Louis, because the other one I had never had a problem with wind. Probably because she is built like a tank. I like to mix colors, prettier that way IMO, as long as they don't jar each other. I wonder if Hollyhocks will do well here. I'm planning on researching companion plants so that once all the roses are in place I can tuck a few here and there. If any of you know where I can start my research let me know, hopefully with a place that knows Florida. It's too bad all you ladies don't live closer. It would be so great if we could actually look at each others gardens. Sandy

Thanks Suzanne! Bee balm would be great. I totally forgot about Bee Balm. I'm trying to get more plant for bees, butterflies, etc. I probably wont put in another rose into this bed unless it is short. I think I have enough tall ones and there is maybe 1 space that I could squeeze a short rose into the front on the left. I will have to see if all the other ones I put in make it okay lol. Does LD Braithwaite stay small in warm zones? Thanks to Lisa's enabling photos of PCdM, I have two in the ground and another in a pot! With the 3 Abe Darbys I will be full of peachy apricot sherberty goodness all summer long lol! I totally envy everyone that can griw poppies. I haven't had much luck here with them. I can get them started but they pout when they get in the garden. Perhaps the humidity.. My Crown Princess Margareta improves every year. She definitely takes her time. I almost tossed her the first year. Ugly fugly blooms like the grossest washed out orange yellow ever. Barely double and tiny. I have 2 and they both looked the same way. The next year they were much bigger and better. Last year they actually looked half decent. I think she likes colder winters than I have. She likes to be pruned hard in early spring. She grows like a big climber here. One is climbing my fig tree. The other is espalier near the fig tree. She is full of buds right now so hopefully they will be nice! Last year ~Sjn

It's deceptive because these were seedlings I started last August, then over wintered rather too dry as I didn't water them as much as I should have for fear they might rot. That being my first winter with adenium seedlings. So by March they were already 6 months old, if still only 3 inches tall. Hardened off enough to try. Even the grafting scion should ideally be hardened off with at least 6 or more months growth from what I have read because younger is still too tender and not 'woody' enough. They are all very rapidly growing now it's hot, humid, and getting plenty of water.

Rosecanadian.... just laughing about this last night, because I thought to myself "this is too hard, I can't learn it....and the phrase I say to the boys popped into my head "don't say it can't be done chances are you rue it, for some poor fool who doesn't know will come along and do it." Then my next thought was I guess I could be the poor fool, who actually learns and remembers this stuff! So my goal this year is to keep looking at my notes, keep trying to see, keep at this until I get it...and not overwater...going to see which I learn first!!! Abe for me, did a little the first year...I got him from Garden Valley Ranch as a huge 2 or 3 year own root (I highly recommend them if you want the 5-12 roses they sell mail order.) But he really took off this year. I am also trying to learn for perennials "First year they sleep, then second year they creep, then third year they leap." I even have a tiny new root rose that I stunted last year with not enough soil or fertilizer and too much water, but it is actually creeping forward too this year.