I can't imagine roses only as being a garden. I grow mostly old roses and Austins and am trying for a natural effect that will blend into the surrounding hills. I'm all for easy-care plants and not too many, but something that will give color, line and a contrast to the billowy forms of the roses. I have day lilies, irises, sea lavender, several varieties of penstemons, pelargoniums, Mexican evening primroses, Jerusalem sage, lavender, rosemary, butterfly bushes, marjoram (which the bees go crazy over) and some sages. I've kept the color palette to white, pink, lavender pink, lavender and purple with the odd yellow for contrast. I have photographs on a recent thread on the Antique Forum and the Antique Gallery titled something like Roses in the Fog which will give you a good idea of what kind of rose garden I have. Ingrid

terryjean - about the hardiness being listed as zone 7; Most of the HT's listed on HMFR are listed that way and I have found very few that I had trouble getting through a southern Michigan winter. There might not be much left of the prior years' canes, but they always seem to come back fine. Really, the only ones I have had troubles with are roses that are on Dr. Huey, and were body bags the prior year. The only HT not a body bag (off the top of my head) that I had trouble was Jocelyn. I finally gave that rose up just this year after trying for 4 years. This includes a lot of florist roses I have propagated and then left it to fend for itself for the winter.

I’m in ND and in the same situation… same storms, probably, gave us 99 inches of snow this winter. I emailed Grace Rose Farms last week and my shipment is delayed shipping until next week, so I’ll probably get it Wed. Here’s what I am going to do. 1. Soak the roses in cold water for 24 hours. Thankfully by then, we will have above freezing temps during the daytime, so they should be fine in the garage. 2. I have coconut coir blocks on hand that I will add water to and make a lot of soiless mix. (DO YOU HAVE A LOWE’S OR HOME DEPOT OR MENARDS, OR HARDWARE STORE NEARBY? They will have some potting soil in large bags. Get some of that.) 3. Take a box that is not so huge that the roses will fit in. Line it with a garbage bag that has a hole cut in the bottom to let any extra water drain out, and add some soil mix in the bottom. Then put the roses at a slant so they fit in. Add soil to cover.. I make sure the soil is moist, but don’t drown the roses, and keep them in an unheated garage. Don’t let the soil get dried out. Don’t bring them in the house unless you have grow lights and that’s a whole different ball game. They should be fine until the time you plant them. I would not leave them for a very long time if they are already sprouting when they come. It’s ify because they are coming from California and will be exposed to warm temps along the way. If they are sprouted, plant them in their pots when you get them. You can always plant them in your garden after the snow is gone and it thaws enough to dig. By the way… WHAT ROSES DID YOU GET? I ordered 2 Distant Drums, Crazy Love and my free rose is Apricots N’ Cream. I’m pumped!! Happy Rose-ing in the North Country!!! Rebecca

"These sellers are all illegitimte." Our fellow forum member, seasiderooftop took action ; you have to go to find her/his post on the "Etsy roses we can trust" thread in order to view Wabara's reply (I couldn't cut-and-paste it here, but here is seaside's post (from 11 days ago), and a link to the thread. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6421437/etsy-roses-sellers-we-can-trust#n=250 From seasiderooftop: "Dear all, I am going to post this here and in the other thread so everything is clear for everyone. I reached out to WABARA (Keiji roses). I copy pasted the list of sellers that appears in the "Etsy rose sellers we can trust" thread and asked Wabara if any of these are authorized resellers paying their royalties . Below is the reply from Wabara. I could not find an email address for Kawamoto , so I sent them an actual letter. I suspect their reply will be the same. The controversy should never have existed, since it is easy to find out the truth. These sellers are all illegitimate. If you want to continue in spite of this information, that's on you. The good news is that there may soon be a legit way to get Wabara roses."