Good question to ask here on the Antique Rose Forum, Aimee! I enjoyed reading the answers of other ORG lovers and discovered some really exciting roses this way for myself! Here is my input: Hybrid Teas: Anna Pavlova. This one is a real gem in my opinion that found its way into my garden by accident. I do believe it is a rarely grown HT even though it was just released in 1981, that deserves more attention. Very beautifully formed, pale pink, full bloom and a surprisingly strong damask fragrance to die for. Frederic Mistral. A winner in my garden, light warm pink color and strong fragrance. Vigorous grower. Memorial Day. Deep pink color, huge blooms with a very intense perfume. Moonstone. Huge and I mean really huge classic white HT blooms with a pink edge. Very good cut flower. Unfortunately I only can smell a very faint scent. Mr. Lincoln. Dark red, that fades to blue-ish red, which I love, with a super strong fragrance. If you are looking for a red rose to give to the very special person in your life, this is the one. Pope John Paul II. My favorite white modern HT. The flowers are humongous and the fragrance knocks your socks of and is wafting. Vigorous rose in my garden that has been never without flowers since the first flush this year. Floribundas: Iceberg and Iceberg, climbing. I love them because they are so floriferous here in SoCa. Always give you a reliable punch of white color, where you need it. Only flaw in my garden susceptible to mildew at certain times of the year, but the advantages outweigh this drawback. Nimbus. Very unusual flower color. Brownish-mauve at times. It is a very special interesting rose, that I am sure will not be loved by everyone, but if you are into unusual colors it might be the one for you. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Silvery shine on cool pink flowers that open in a very elegant way. Grandifloras: Sweetness. Relatively new introduction. Produces very beautiful lavender colored blooms with a strong fragrance. What stands out for me is that this rose is completely healthy in my garden. That is very rare for a lavender colored rose, which are known to be disease prone. Shrub Roses: Belindas Dream. Very awesome, full pink flowers. Strong fragrance. Cymbeline. Older David Austin rose with a very unusual elegant almost pink-grayish color, that is hard to describe. Eden Rose 88/Pierre de Ronsard. To me one of the most beautiful modern roses with an old-fashioned look. Flowers are large, cupped and very full. Color is a creamy white with pink in the center. Even though many people claim that this rose has no scent, I can clearly detect a pleasant, mild, fruity, fragrance. Pretty Jessica. Small bush with exquisite, clear pink, very cupped, flowers. I like that this rose doesn't get the monster size of many other David Austin roses. Scepter'd Isle. Very elegant, pale pink, cupped shaped, flowers with a strong myrrh fragrance. It shows it yellow stamens in a very charming way, when the flower gets older. My plant is still very young but so far I love it. The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild. Also new to me, but already won my heart over with its strong citrus fragrance and beautiful, pink (darker in the center), cupped shaped, blooms. The Prince. Another new arrival in my garden, but boy the very dark crimson flowers fading to a wonderful dark purple color of this rose are just outstanding. It looks almost like velvet and the intense fragrance is another nice addition to the already very impressive blooms. Christina

I love this thread too! So many beautiful homes! Amber, I just took a look at your photos... such a terrific home! I liked all your bay/alcove windows, your fireplaces and your stairs best! I'd love to see some pics of the exterior. Looks like you have a victorian? Our home is modest compared to many here, but I love the victorian door hardware, and we have a twist doorbell too. The bell is still there but it makes a clacking sound more than a ring most of the time. Needs new inside parts! I also love our heart pine floors, wood work and porch. Maybe I'll post some pics later, just for fun. Hope others will post more photos. I love looking! Cheers, -Kim

Btw I'm jesse I'm very new to the plumeria forum as I have only been growing plumerias for about a year & 1/2 but I managed to get 8 plumies already and I want more as I'm addicted to them :). I mean who isn't after their first one?! I'm from Orange CA born and raised but currently live in riverside CA. Btw I would of never thought to root plumeria in water! I thought it would rott. I'm definitely going to try it when I get a cutting. When I bought some plumerias I was given 4 cutting that had a lot of green on them not that mature. I got them to root but it took forever. I put them in water to plump up because they were really soft by the time I got home (they were already kinda soft when I received them. They were free so I took them) and then I put rooting hormone on them the next day and mixed miracle grow soil with perlite and put them in 1 gallon pots with black stones ontop of the soil and watered good and put in direct sun and I did mist the cuttings so they wouldn't go soft again. I did water the soil every few days because in direct sun the soil dried out pretty quick. They did root I recently gave 2 away and I kept 2 I dont remember what Variety they are all I know they were some sort of pink. They bloomed but don't even remember how they look like I was on vacation when they started. now they have 3 branches on them. I feel that I did a good job for my first time at rooting plumeria cuttings. Now that I remember I also rooted another cutting along with those 4. It's a cutting that is very special to me know that was gifted to me by my Uncle when he saw I had just got into plumerias he already had 2 but he had bought some cuttings and he gave me one. When he gave me the cutting it had flowers on it and it was a Y the blooms I kind of remember were 2 or possibly 3 dark colors I remember I liked it a lot. When I first tried to root it I failed and it rotted so then had to save it and cut off and just kept 1 cutting that eventually rooted and now has formed another Y but haven't seen it bloom again. It's very special to me because my uncle has Gone to heaven this past December and he left me my last great gift that I will treasure. Anyways But I will definitely next time try the water rooting. Thanks for the info and I will look forwards in learning much more from you!

What a great post, the stories are all so touching & humanitarian. Anything I was going to say about my favourite things in my yard would just sound so trivial & shallow in comparison. But I will share anyways. I do not have a fantastic landscape view, wildlife is limited, I have a subdivision lot to work with. Some of my neighbours think I spend an unhealthy amount of time gardening & that makes me odd? But I have spent the last 7 years with my husband, my son & 4 dogs in 2 different yards & I realize that I'm very grateful & fortunate to have that. We do spend a lot of time in our yard as a family. And slowly each year we add to it; for our enjoyment. Last year my husband spent a number of weekends building me a shed & veggie garden. It turned out great, but it was a lot of work for him after putting in 60 hour work weeks. So I really appreciate his weekend sacrifices to make me happy. And we all enjoy the veggie patch, it's great for little ones to learn about food. Even my husband is getting into gardening. He now wants to watch Monty Don & other gardening shows with me instead of watching a banal sitcom. It has really become something we are bonding over. We are planning on doing some garden tours together this summer. That would not have happened a couple years ago. It is just so nice to share that enthusiasm with someone else. The more he gets into gardening the easier it is to convince him to spend money on plants and the landscaping. So that's a win-win for me! He has also surprised me a few times by picking up potted roses or garden items that he knows I would like. To others that would seem so unromantic, but a handy garden tool or flower is right up my alley. And it proves he is listening to me! As for actual favourite things in the yard there are a few. We have a glacier boulder in our front yard. That was the reason I got him to go to the open house in the first place. We lived in the area & my husband said he wished we had a big rock on our lawn when we would go for walks and see other landscaped yards. So when this house went on the market, I told him about it and said it has the biggest rock in the whole neighbourhood. We bought it at the open house & it all started because of a big rock. And it's fun for the kids to play on too! I also have a couple plants that were from family. They are not anything fancy, but one is a plantain lily that my grandfather grew, than my mom has a chunk of it & now I have a chunk of the one my mom has. So it's special to me.