Thank you! Seasiderooftop, that Teasing Georgia is a freestanding bush, grafted, from DA Roses. It became my biggest plant out of close to 400. In this pic it is not at its biggest. There was an apple tree near it and TG would send out canes into the tree but I didn't want it to climb . The trouble with this plant is that the wind catches in the very thorny canes and blows them completely out of shape and into other plants. It is too hard to reposition them. So the whole plant got blown to one side. I don't prune it except for dead parts but I guess I could try to prune it back into shape.

Kristine, wish you could visit! I do love The Faun. I think it's pretty tough as well as beautiful. Mine is growing under a crabapple tree where it is never watered and competes with the tree and other plants but it does well.

Artist, I like lots of blooms also. I think it was Mike Shoup's book, Antique Roses For The South, that got me interested. I hadn't realized that roses could be shrubs full of blooms but I do think there are many that are like that.

Rosecanadian, thank you....I have no magic chemical formula for growing them. I much prefer to keep it pretty simple. Rosetone or other tone, and alfalfa tea in spring, followed sometimes with 10-10-10. Sometimes I get some manure. I used to get truckloads of compost. I'm a big believer in water.

I think one plus for me is relatively mild winters. Also, my soil is light and easily penetrated by roots. The downside is that my soil dries out quickly and I think my roses really struggle when it gets hot and dry. I have no irrigation sysem. NC is the 9th rainiest state in the US but I think we're in a dry area due to being east of the mountains.

I think it helps if roses keep their leaves, especially when they haven't put on much size yet. I spray fungicide but not in winter and not in the heat of summer, like after June, and not much in fall. So I spray a bit, those that need it.

Folksinger on the left, Climbing Pinkie and Madame Alfred Carriere