We are just about in the center of winter and I have pruned a little less than half my roses. Felicia, Prosperity, Lady Hillingdon are still puffing out some winter beauties, my once blooming Easleas Golden Rambler has a tendenancy to give me an occassional bloom in the dead of winter - go figure. Come spring when roses are in thick abundance, I love all my babies, no matter what there age. Give to me and you receive love back. So maybe the question for me is what do I look for? I want fragrance. Catch my nose and you've got my heart. A variety of beauty. I like singles, semidoubles to full blown blowsy babes. Space is precious for me, so I hope that the rose is healthy, but I will forgive the rust and the PM if the bush can pump out the blooms. So I spend an afternoon stripping leaves and getting bloody, the leaves grow back. I don't shovel prune lightly, I try and give the bush good care and a chance to prove its worth. But sometimes my tastes change or the growing conditions just aren't right. It hurts to get rid of rose, you've talked to it, begged it to perform, warned it of the consequences, put a hand trowel nearby to underscore the warning. You've cosseted, fertilized, stripped it, pruned it, begged it, but it just isn't responding. Ahh, the heart hurts to put the shovel in. But in the long run, the hole needs to be filled and the possibilities are endless. Oh my gosh, there's a bud on cl. Etoile d'Hollande, the perfect dark red rose with the a fragrance to die for. How long will the blossom last? Hope the rains hold for a few days. Spring should begin in less than three months. Can't hold my breath until then, but I can dream about a bursting of colors and a smile on my face. Carol

My mother had several plant collections, she collected rare alpine plants, most of which were 2 to six inches tall, and I never did appreciate them, but I loved her Primula collection, odd gilded Victorian primroses, hose in garter prims, Japanese primroses, drumsticks and species. My first love in my own garden was the Lily, I loved the trumpet and oriental lilies for their rich deep scent. I lived with more than 200 different modern rosebushes for five years and only one was fragrant Double Delight, and I could not stand the gawky bare limbed growth habit of those H.T.s and Florries. THEN LUanne changed my life with one suggestion "since your'e looking for fragrance why don't you try growing Old Garden Roses ? I did and never looked back. I was enchanted to know that I could and would grow the white 'Rose of York' and the Lancaster Red Rose, cloned from descendants from the same plants that bloomed in medieval Europe. The white Musk rose that Shakespeare wrote so sweetly of, is in my garden now about to bloom. The history and mystery of Old Roses endears me to them, I love knowing that I see roses blooming that I grow the white rose of York, known since the 1400's in England, and that white rose and the red rose of Lancaster was likely to have been seen by both Shakespeare and the Tudor family back when knights fought in tournaments, and some people truly believed that unicorns might exist, the wild eglantine one sees in Queen Elizabeth 1's portraits, painted in the 1500's, are a symbol of virginity and I have held the wild eglantine in my hand, so small and frail and perfect, and smelled the welcome scent of its leaves on a moist breeze. - the rare and only yellow garden rose, brought from the middle east, seen in the paintings of the dutch masters was so rare in the 17th century that one painter had to wait months for a yellow rose bloom to appear in the marketplace, so he could fulfill his patrons request for a yellow rose in a still life. The many Tea roses blooming in my California garden, and the Banksiae have ancestors in China, and I would love to see them all in their native habitat. I love roses best with companions, the photo posted recently with hollyhocks and red Valerian in profusion with one Le Vesuve in the center is my idea of high beauty; lush colorful companions with a queen in the middle. O, Splendor, O, Joy!!! The leaves,up to 15 leaflets upon one stem, fern shaped leaves of Scotch Burnets, pleated rugosa folaige, the scent of the Incense Rose leaves, more strongly scented than many a flower of a modern rose, the flagon shaped hips of Alba Semi Plena, and millions of R. moyessi hips, hips as large as cherry tomatos on Magnifica rugosa, tiny sprays of black hips an ornament many Spinosissima roses, the lush grow of de la Grifferaie' blue-green leaves of the Alba roses, pretty arching growth of a pegged Hybrid Perpetual Ulrich Brunner fils' , and many scents of the different rose classes, , classic Damask, to the sexy scent of Tea roses has opened a world to me that I could not dream to comprehend before I knew of any rose other than 'Peace'. -and best of all, the people I meet at Old Rose events, and here on gardenweb that share their love of roses with me. Thank you all for sharing your beautiful writing, Lux

Here's some cheating The rose family- which includes roses of course, and also allows me to include apache plume and cliffrose. The mint family- includes russian sage, salvia, lavender, agastache, thyme : ) Penstemons Needled evergreens ornamental grasses Oops even cheating, still went over five succulents I think what is clear is that I can't make a list of five.

My all time favorites are kai (ONLY the lotion or oil, the EdP loses a GREAT deal of the charm) for summer and Jalaine's Patchouli for winter. I qualify for perfumista, as I could also give you my top thirty, and own about 150. I will SO be trying Spring Fever today. Any perfume that inspires such loyality is a big gap in my sniffing hobby! A quick search on my perfume forum Note- Artemesia, mandarin, apple, watermelon, marigold, linden blossom, cypress The quick thing I find you might like also, is a travel exclusive from Estee Lauder called Emerald Dream. Top Notes * Tangerine, Apricot, Honeysuckle, Blue Basil. Middle Notes * Mediterranean Mimosa, Violet, Blue Florentine Iris, Emerald Orchid, Plum, Marigold, Cyclamen. Base Notes * Beach Skin Accord, Blue Cypresswood, Sandalwood, Hawaiian Kamani Wood. I've never smelled either one of them, but I know blue basil won't give you quite the aromatic bite of artemsia, and the apricot/cyclamen won't give quite the wet fruit appeal of apple and watermelon. The violet/iris is going to give some powder but who knows to what extent. Notes like "Beach skin accord" probably means a clean, salty musk. The mimosa is what might get you--similiar in feel to linden, a green floral note of spring. And of course the wood heavy base. Overall, I'd guess a bit more of an attempt at 'Early Summer Fever'? If you ever get a chance, try Mimosa pour Moi by L'Artisan. It's spring in a bottle to me--but not wet or woody. The base is vanilla musk.