Virginia -- You probably know that it takes about 10 years for the rose industry to work up from an original seedling to having material for sale. The original Jesse Hildreth mother plant nearly died this past year -- the victim of drought and cemetery management. A new Heritage Roses group has formed, to care for that plant, and the others in that cemetery, and in the town. We have actually begun to believe that the old rose may survive. For the first time in a decade or more, it was actually allowed to send up new basal shoots. This is what it looked like in 2006: See below, the old plant with a circle of new growth. At present, I can more or less count the existing plants on the fingers of one hand . . . The one in my garden. The one in the Sacramento City Cemetery. The mother plant, in the old cemetery. And what ever Jill Perry has, left over from propagating for the Heritage. No nursery has this rose. Though we surely hope one or two soon WILL. Because, you're right. It is a most extraordinary rose.

I received my 3 DAs from Wayside Gardens (last day sale) yesterday, planted them today after soaked them over night. Just received 2 bare root rose trees from JP today (ordered on their last day sale after 11:00pm :-), I was just testing them out, didn't think the order could go through). I have been watering all my newly planted bare root roses everyday. Helen, What's the temp in CA? You might need shade and a lot of water for those bare root DAs. What are the names of your DAs? I got Gentle Hermione, Olivia and Heathcliff.

Late to the party to reply to questions ... sorry about that. Anyway ... The Old City Cemetery is owned by the City of Lynchburg. They have a wonderful cooperative relationship with the Southern Memorial Association, which has made the cemetery into the destination for tourists and for local folks that it has become. Support buildings were moved to the cemetery, or built from scratch, including a depot, the Pest House, a visitor's center, a beautiful chapel, and the new Comfort House. Rose garden, including a separate area for the Carl Cato collection, is but one of the things that I love about Lynchburg's wonderful cemetery. (Jane Baber White wrote a fantastic book about her work restoring the cemetery's roses, planning and planting the new gardens, and developing the rest of the grounds. It's fascinating!) As far as roses for sale ... The largest variety this spring for browsing and buying in person may be at Lynchburg. The sale at Tufton is much smaller, and it includes only a few of the rarest varieties from their garden. At the HRF conference in May, we will have roses available for sale at Saturday's banquet. (I don't have the list of those yet. I can let you know what we have as soon as I know.) Connie

To echo Jeri's comments, I don't think Sophie's Perpetual is a good fit for zone 6-ish. I put a free one from the Rogue Valley mystery roses into my virtual zone 6 pocket in my yard, and it sort of limped by after a very mild winter last year and totally disappeared this year. I think it's marginally hardy in zone 6, and better in zone 7.If it's in a container, you lose a virtual zone of winter protection and so you'd be a virtual zone 5 in a pot and not a good fit for Sophie's Perpetual. Pink Pet is the only China-type rose that survives well for me, but it's more of a Polyantha than a China in effect and it doesn't climb or get much beyond 3-4' for me. If you're looking for something from the RU sale that would climb well in zone 5, Awakening is rock solid hardy and has lovely pink flowers. It blooms just fine in part shade, and the only concern might be that it gets too big for even a half whiskey barrel. Mine was pretty thorny too. Among hybrid musks, only Lavender Lassie would be reasonably hardy in zone 5 and it would be a good fit for part shade. the mini climber Jeanne LaJoie survives fine in a typical zone 5 winter and is a much better fit for a pot. I think she'd do OK in part sun, though any rose blooms less in part sun. Antique 89 and Harlekin are both nicely hardy but they do die to the ground in my zone 5 and they only bloom sporadically in the year for me. Mine aren't particularly happy in part sun. Viking Queen survives fine in zone 5 but seems to die to the ground each year so you wouldn't necessarily get a ton of bloom. Veilchenblau would be an absolute trooper and climb or bush out huge in no time, and it's in dry shade under my oak tree. It's a once bloomer but gorgeous lush blooms for several weeks once established - here's mine in more or less full bloom with an admiring bunny that my daughter pointed out: Purple Splash and Stormy Weather both seem to survive OK in zone 5 and regrow from the ground reasonably well, so they'd be worth a try if you want the purple striped climbers. I haven't overwintered Quicksilver yet but the odds are good that it will be a good one for winter survival, being a Kordes. Paulspride is the only other rose listed as a climber on the RU sale that survives the winters well for me. Ghislaine Feligonde comes back reasonably well but it has tiny while flat blooms that aren't the attractive shapes others have, and I'm wondering if mine is the correct ID. Among the Austins, most of them are hardy but the ones that tend to be climbers on the RU sale list are the ones that survive the least for me - I can't keep Golden Celebration overwintered, nor Strawberry Hill or James Galway. Lady of Shalott is rock solid hardy as is Scepter'd Isle, Carding Mill and Heritage, but they get at most 5-6' tall by the end of spring since Austins rarely have surviving cane for me. Crown Princess Margareta is a climber and hardy, but I never get blooms from mine without surviving cane and it never has any. Rebecca in zone 5 has tons though and lovely blooms from hers. For other OGRs, Baronne Prevost and Mme. Isaac Periere are both fully hardy here, though BP would be better for a pot. She does Ok in part sun for me but would bloom more in sun. MIP prefers sun and doesn't bloom on new wood for me, so I don't get much bloom most years. Among shrubs, Alchymist is very hardy but a once bloomer. Autumn Sunset would survive fine in a pot and climbs well, but blooms very little in part shade for me. Belinda's Dream would survive fine and seems OK but not happy in part sun. Dames des Chenonceau is totally hardy and in my top 20-30 of roses I grow, and can be spectacular in part sun. As you move into part shade though, I'm not sure how well she'd do. Morden Sunrise is totally hardy and would be very pretty in this context, and White Meidiland would be a low-growing spreader in white and also very hardy. Among the RU sale roses, those are the ones I'd recommend for what you're asking. I'm all in favor of taking advantage of the RU sale!! Cynthia