I have one year plants of Aloha & Laguna. So far I'm most impressed with Aloha which put on about 10-12 feet of growth in our short season last year. Laguna hasn't so far put on as much growth as Aloha, but it is a very nice rose and I've heard lots of good things about it, so I'm anxious to see how it does this year. All of our new Kordes roses have really done well for us considering they were just planted last year. Moonlight is another nice one although it has less petals. All have been very disease resistant if one year can tell the story! Amadeus has not done much so far and I'm not crazy about the flowers and I have just planted Jasmina and Golden Gate, so I can't comment on them yet. Kordes Aloha Laguna

Laguna is a gorgeous rose. I have had mine now for 6 years and every year it just gets better and better. It is not cane hardy here but once it is pruned in the spring the new growth is wonderful, the repeat lasts all summer, well into fall. Valerie

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that supporting William Baffin is like supporting a lilac bush. The first year you would need some support such as a fence post to keep the canes upright. After that you would only need to tie new cane growth to keep it from whipping around in the wind. It needs plenty of room to spread. I originally had WB planted a good 3 feet plus from the house and that was not enough room and it had to be moved. It is rumored that WB will repeat. All I ever get is a tease of a few blooms on a late growing new cane once in an odd year or so. I have an arbor with John Cabot on one side and John Davis on the other. They are a pretty good match for that purpose. JD is, overall the better rose if you have only one. You probably ought to have both. JD has a slightly better repeat, but a slightly less spring flush. JD's blooms are fuller and a clear pink with a pleasant, but light perfume to my nose. JC is more vigorous and will reach the top of the arbor a year or two sooner. JC has a denser spring flush, but a more sporadic repeat. JC's perfume is faint, but very interesting, it smells like a cold cream my mother used. JC's bloom is a fuchsia pink and smaller than JD. Both JD and JC have fairly healthy foliage. JC will sometimes get a minor case of Fall spots and JD will get a little PM in bad years for PM. I have not grown Joseph's Robe. Climbing America canes will die if not covered. I used to make a small circle of snow fencing around CA and fill it with leaves after freeze up. Most winters this would save 2.5 to 3 foot of cane. I now just pour a bag of wood chip mulch on the base of the plant for winter protection. It dies to the ground or lower, but the end result by fall is not much different than when I used the fence. I get a four, maybe five foot pillar. To save any appreciable amount of CA cane you would have to Minnesota Tip the entire plant. It is not worth that much trouble. Regards, Charles

Carla, am delighted to spill the beans on my ordering frenzy. I carefully went through the list, wrote down all the ones I thought I would like, researched to see which of these no one else offered......wanted to make sure I got these. I will probably go look again, see what I cant live without. Have ordered from Sequoia for so many years.....it is sad to think they are closing. I just hope Tx. A&M gets up and going and I can go there to see all his blooming roses - its about 2.5 hours from me. Here is my first order, that just arrived: 3 Lavender Crystal 3 Ripples Walferdange Dancing Doll Rosy Purple Shipping this week are: Magenta Opal Brunner Purple Buttons Jacqueline Humery Now.....wanna hear about the damage I did at Ashdown this morning? I did have one of those discount cards I bought last year and had $150 + on....and before I sound out of control.....they are having a big sale this week! Look what a savings I got! Every 4th one was half price, free shipping!! Apricot Vigorosa Mme. Charles Noella Nabonnand Queen Mab Cloth of Gold/Chromatella Daybreak Gravin Michel d'Ursel Grandmom Schmidt Rivers George IV Wilhelm Ley's Perpetual Mme. Bovary Sorority Tea Floral Fairy Tale Perennial Blue Chartreuse de Parma Oh, cant leave out Vintage: Thomasville Old Gold Chantilly Lace Cl. President Herbert Hoover Etiole de Feu [wanted this one a long time!!] Heinrich Karsch Verdun Grandmaster So I went a little overboard, its Christmas, Merry Christmas to me! I feel sure there will be more..... Anyone else doing any ordering? Fess up.....lets have confession.....whats everyone been ordering? Carla, surely you have succombed to something!! Merry Christmas All! Judith