Well, I disagree with Harry. I think it depends on what part of SE PA you are in. I'm more central, in the Susquahanna Valley, Lancaster Co. within a quarter mile of the Susquehanna River and Conestoga River delta. I have Double Delight in my garden that is super. It's low growing about 4' tall and is one of the fullest disease resistant roses in my garden. It's the sub-climate, I'm sure. Gemini gets much taller, say about 7' in my garden and is a good rose for the back of the garden as is Veteran's Honor. Fragrant Cloud is about mid range (Double Delight size) as well as Iceberg. Our Lady of Guadalope is squatty and needs to be in the front. Yes, you will have to treat for black spot, but I prefer a systemic rather than a spray. Bayer has a good one out that helps to keep black spot to a minimum. I've also found that if you keep the bushes well fed and ground watered, black spot is again kept to a minimum. Use an organic fertilizer and a drip system for them. Keep the moisture off the leaves and all dead leaves cleaned up from around the bottom of the plants. I actually, very rarely water -- only when drought threatens them and they are showing signs of stress. Most of my roses are now quite established and can fend off drought conditions. Yes humidity does play a factor with the black spot and that is why you must treat for it. They will still show some sign of it even if you help the plant be as strong as possible. That is what the systemic is for. You can also pull off the leaves as they get it as well. As far as Austin roses -- well, it is a taste that is learned, I suppose. To me, Austin roses in this area are no better than the HTs. Each one is just as different as the next, some have good disease resistance, others are just ronchy. I have two Austin roses (the only ones left). Tamora which is looking at the shovel this year, or at least moved to a pot where I think it might be better. And Shaifra Asma which was planted in memory of a friend and will stay. SA does appear to be a good plant so far. Another thought would be to plant own-root roses. No matter if they are HTs, Austins, Polyanthas or what, own-root roses have better strength and disease resistance in our area. Your selection of roses are beautiful.

Hi Carol, I can understand how the idea of building permits ever got started--protection of the public!--and the real needs for that in housing and other buildings. But if it gets applied to pergolas, it seems unrelated to public safety. How much do they charge someone for building a pergola? Perhaps the charge is so low that it's a mere nuisance? The main argument for a pergola is that it's very inviting and attractive the year around. I have seen pictures of posts with chain swags in a famous Paris public garden and the roses look fantastic there. As best I can recall, the posts were large pillars and fairly tall, though I cannot find a picture now. The rub would be what it would look like in the winter and early spring if you're not building large (wide) pillars, but are using wooden posts. If you are headed toward a circle of posts, a circle of tepees might look better when uncovered in the winter and early spring. Our first fence was professionally installed and the fence-builder's suggestion was that posts set into a gravel footing hole would work fine. Anything set up as our do-it-yourself building books suggested, with the posts in concrete, would have been noticeably more money so we went for what we could afford at the time, and that was already plenty expensive. That method did work reasonably well, although not quite totally solidly if you pushed against a post. After about 20-25 years the posts had rotted in the ground, though, and my husband had to do the fence posts over again. At one time, our fencing on two sides held thin "farm" wire mesh fencing (6 feet high) and I loved the looks of it, because beyond the fence were beautiful woodsy areas I liked to be able to see and the fencing didn't detract or distract from that view. I think the sections were about 8' each, as you are considering for yours. I'm no expert at all on rabbits, but I wonder whether a fence that is only 3' high would be tall enough. I think, though I'm not positive as to the exact route the rabbit took, that a rabbit here has jumped up to some landscape timbers that were 3' or higher off the ground (to trim way back our Julia Child roses for us). Rabbits love roses. The best way to make sure you have no deer problems is to prevent deer from finding your roses and vegetables in the first place. I'd suggest that you not wait to see what happens, because once hungry deer have a memory of getting food at a certain place, it's much, much more difficult to ever keep them out. There's a book that discusses keeping out deer that's well worth reading now (right now, to help you plan). Your local library ought to have it, but if not, it's relatively inexpensive to buy from Amazon: "Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden" by Rhonda Massingham Hart. Deer aren't kept out by rose hedges, not if jumping them is to a spot they are already familiar with, such as would be the case for them while the roses were growing up. They don't jump into areas they can't see or are unfamiliar with, though. Deer will eat roses, all roses, even very thorny ones, if they are hungry enough. That tends to occur in winter and early spring during some years, but not all. (After a famine, generally caused by more breeding than the land's vegetation can support, the deer don't reproduce well, so the deer population pressure on the land lowers for a few years then; that cycle can mislead you into thinking that you've solved the deer access problem when you haven't.) Your gorgeous front gate with an arch will be wonderful, and so inviting. I've seen many pictures of that being done, and don't think I've ever seen one that looked less than wonderful! Best of luck! Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Phillip Oliver's pictures offer lots of landscaping ideas

Straw: Didn't see this thread since long and missed your comment. I think primarily it is the river soil that is the main reason for deep colour. It comes with lots of trace elements which are in the form of fine particles formed due to the crushing of mineral rich rock high up in the glaciers. I have observed that many of my plants, planted in plain river soil, do well for years. My potting mix contain mainly river soil (6 parts) and lots of humus material including home made compost (2 parts), leaf mould (1 part or a little more) and remaining is some chicken manure (may be 1/2 part out of 10), some cottonseed cake etc. I would conclude that it is mainly river soil along with home made compost that is rich in Potassium, Calcium and trace elements. best regards

Help Me Find lists three offspring of Louis Philippe. One is a mutation; one is from its seed and one from its pollen. Archduke Charles is a mutation of Old Blush and has produced only mutations. That doesn't necessarily mean anything other than no one has reported raising any seedlings from it, but seedlings have been raised from Old Blush. Mel's Heritage may be fertile, or not. There are no listed crosses involving it, either direction. Again, though, that only means no one has reported raising any crosses from it. Of the three, I would think Mel's Heritage would be the most interesting to try, because of its parentage and the fact no one has reported any results from it. Unless you're going to try something really far out, like species crossed with Archduke Charles or Louis Philippe, you are likely to raise "more of the same" from them.