I have a friend who is an excellent gardener and she is a big believer in pruning almost every plant. I have started pruning back alot of things, even cutting blooms off annuals I buy - this takes the stress out of blooming and the plants can make roots - then bloom. It works great. I have Knockouts, including the yellows which I love. I do prune them back and they just keep blooming. It neatens them up - I also disbud regularly. Dont give up on your roses. They are wonderful with the perennials you describe. Buy a Belinda's Dream if you can find one - totally disease free and blooms constantly. Find some composted manure [I raise horses so have lots], put on alfalfa pellets, cottonseed meal, use Miracle Gro and fish emulsion fertilizer........I have a Graham Thomas rose that has frustrated me with no blooms. A rose nursery told me to fertilize it with Carl Pool BR-61 - sure enough, it started blooming. Dont whack your roses back too much, maybe a third. Keep them watered then watch the new growth come on. It is amazing what roses will do when fertilized. I once read - roses are hogs - feed em. Roses make such a lovely addition to other annuals and perennials - I will bet with some pruning, watering and fertilizing, you will see good results. Be sure and water before you fertilize. Good luck! Judith

Maybe we can repost this with a note NOT to reply that way it stays at the top? Is there a way we can sticky this?

#1, I just tried to send you an email and it bounced. Maybe that's what happened with the other? I don't always receive the bounce notices, my spam filter eats them. I'll post the message below in hopes you will see it here. ***************************************************** Hi #1, This is Askew. I'm so sorry you didn't get my earlier message. I wondered why you didn't write back. I emailed as soon as I received your package to tell you how much everyone LOVED their homemade treats and everything else! About once a year I'll make biscuits for them, so this was a special treat. What I wondered is what the cuttings were that you sent? They rooted nicely. I guessed they were houseplants, but I don't know for sure. I didn't see any activity on the Dog Days thread for about a week so I thought it was over and quit checking it. I truly didn't mean to slight you. You gift was greatly appreciated by both my and my dogs. I'm sending this message to you via email and hope that you get it this time. Don't think poorly of me, OK? Angela Askew Gardens

Lilyfinch thank you! I grew Buff Beauty in PA, too. There, she bloomed at the beginning and end of the summer. I am hoping to get a third flush from her here in NC. I don't have many pictures yet, but I will share what I have (if I can figure out the new layout now that gardenweb is part of Houzz). If this works, one of the pictures is one I took yesterday that shows how big and brambly the roses got after only 1 summer. The other is a Buff bloom (she had some buds when I brought her back from RU). Sorry about the blur, I took these with my iphone; I will break out the real camera when the roses start blooming this summer. Floradarosez9, I hope I did give them enough water. They are in the path of the runoff from the house when it rains, but we also have fairly sandy soil so the runoff doesn't stay around long. I did mulch with newspaper and shredded cedar, so it should have at least stayed damp as long as possible underneath, and we got plenty of rain last summer. Thanks for the reassurance about Buff Beauty; at least that's one that should be ok. Jaquilline9CA, you're right, only some of the roses I mentioned were really antiques, but those where the ones I was most worried about, although I love the Austins too. Thanks for the reassurance that they should do fine!