I'm sorry for assuming. I went by your username, you never signed your real name. I would imagine it might be best to take advantage of local opportunities. Is there any way you can go on a car trip around town in FLorida to see if there are ANY instances of THE actual rose you are looking for still in town or in the surrounding counties at older homes and or abandoned homesites/former farms? That way you can ask the owners of that property if there is a house nearby if you can take cuttings yourself? Or if there is plain no one in sight, go up and take a cutting yourself? That's called 'rose rustling" by some, when they find old abandoned roses and either find permission to move them, take care of them or take cuttings. That way it's FREE, and completely up to you AND it gets you exactly the rose you want. I'm still unclear about what you actually want, most of the signs you are saying point either to pink pet/caldwell pink Old blush Dorthoy Perkins. But it seems I've either read incorrectly, someone is suggesting your rose does not repeat while I'm remembering the rose you are looking for that you've seen has been described as flowering year round. Can you please confirm if the bush blooms only once for a few weeks to a month or throughout the season in flushes? If you're worried about not finding it, I'm sure it's around if you say it's as common as it was. Even I see old bulbs still poking up in certain spots in woods as I drive by where there might have been a house or path around here, plants are terribly resilient! In fact I know where there is a giant stand of r.virginiana or carolina by the road where these days you'd usually see the invasive multiflora. I repeat I think you are probably looking for 'Old Blush' and it can be considered an old Florida heirloom. Best wishes, I hope you find your rose. Max

Last night before being dragged off to bed by DH I looked at Sue's, Anita's, Eric's and Jeri's gardens. The pictures that were there were wonderful, but the really surprising thing was how it made me feel to "see" all the different roses (via the the listings) that each was growing. It was almost like walking through the garden. It was a really neat connection. Some were ones that I grow which made me want to email to see how they were doing! Plus there were many that I had never heard of that I want to look into further. This is really a wonderful asset that allows us to browse through photos and gardens whenever we want to. I never realized there were so many gardens on HMF. It's really fantastic. I'm looking forward to taking more tours tonight and maybe every night! Thanks, Anita, for being so nice. Sherry

It's Climbing Pixie. The auction gives a nice description, but there's no photo on HMF or on the auction description. "Charles Walker's Miniature China" isn't on HMF at all. I'd like to know how much this rose differs from "Mableton Rouletii", which I bought from Vintage three years ago at least, and is also not on HMF. I collect rare, unusual roses, and I'm still very tempted to pull the trigger and see if I can add these to my collection. I'd just like to have as much info as possible to justify spending that much cash ... even if it IS going to such a good cause. Connie Here is a link that might be useful: Climbing Pixie on HMF

Sherry, if "Schmidt's Buff Giant" is really the original Anna Olivier (as it seems to be so far), then I have no idea what your rose is, but if it "never has had any pinkish coloration" then it cannot be AO. My AO (the original Schmidt's Buff Giant) has pinkish coloration on its outer petals about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, depending on the weather, the bush can put out all light yellow blooms, all light pink blooms, and recently, even all almost white blooms! Last week it even put out a couple of blooms with dark/bright pink/orange coloration on the outer petals, just like the cool weather AO pics from Australia. However, the normal blooms are buff with a brick/pink color on the outer petals. So, I agree with Kim - you now have an "unknown" beautiful old tea rose - if you need a label for it, you might label it "NOT Anna Olivier". I have no opinion about the BAO - Etoile de Lyon discussion, as I have never seen EdL. It does look like a beautiful rose, however. I just looked up AO on Help Me Find again. It is sort of confusing that so much info under that page is really about "Bermuda Anna Olivier" , which is not AO at all - perhaps that info should be moved to its own page, or to the Etoile de Lyon page? Just a thought - Jackie