YOU BET THERE IS!!! This is the book we needed, and waited for for years. TEA ROSES Old Roses for Warm Gardens Lynne Chapman, Noelene Drage, Di Durston, Jenny Jones, Hillary Merrifield, and Billy West -- (A team of Australian ladies most commonly referred to as "The Tea Bags") They're the nicest people in the world, and their book is an essential for warm-climate lovers of Old Roses. ======================= I would also recommend the older books: LANDSCAPING WITH ANTIQUE ROSES (Shoup/Druitt) and ANTIQUE ROSES FOR THE SOUTH (Welsh) Shoup's NEW book, EMPRESS OF THE GARDEN is also good, but both of his books DO touch on some roses for colder climates. If you are a bit more adventurous -- and ready to step off into something without pictures -- look on line for EVERBLOOMING ROSES by Georgia Torrey Drennan. She wrote of the roses of the South at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries. I think the book is available via Print On Demand service. Then, there is ROSES by Ethelyn Emory Keyes -- the FIRST "Rose Rustler." I recommend this because Mrs. Keyes also knew the roses of the South, and knew the ones that had survived to be rescued. (That's what you want, you know. Roses that are so tough that, once established, they will make it on their own.) Lastly, I hope you will visit the websites of the Heritage Roses Group: http://www.theheritagerosesgroup.org/ and Gold Coast Heritage Roses Group http://www.goldcoastrose.org/ (Or find them via Facebook) There, you'll find images and articles on roses that succeed in California -- including many of California's Found Roses. That should get you started. :-) Jeri

The Quilts of Gee's Bend - John Beardsley , William Arnett, Pauljane Arnett, Jane Livingston, Alvia Wardlaw (This was an amzing exhibit I saw recently.)

i have it more then fifteen years, the first years it bloomed with a small flush and in september a few more flowers, but the last tree years it gives me a lot more flowers. Even the one i propagated is doing much better. Is it the weather, feeding??? or is it that i removed the thick mulch a few years ago.... Blackspot? not on Isaac P here, but when i have it on an other i cut it deep as David Austin advises.

Thanks so much for the eloquent and persuasive explanations, Kim and Jeri. The difficulty of pushing against gravity totally makes sense, particularly given how it gets exponentially harder to maintain a plank after 30 seconds on my part and roses have substantially longer "limbs". Hafta mention though that my sap is flowing freely under such conditions, or at least something is dripping from my forehead. Sounds like I need to rethink the support system for MIP or frankly (sigh) move her. I hate moving roses, being essentially lazy and trying other strategies to "make do" like stretching out her arms horizontally to visit her buddy Aloha on a neighboring shepherd's hook, and reciprocating the favor in return. I can think of a good spot about 6 feet away for MIP, but I cringe to think of her root system after 8 years not to mention the bloodletting involved even after pruning her down in the spring. Still in that new spot she could drape herself over the top of the extensively horizontal and floppy Madame Alfred Carriere and they could do their languid "I'm ready for my closeup, dahling" poses together. Sort of like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, but with more teeth. Interesting that our disease pressures are quite reversed, Jeri. We never get rust, and mildew only happens for about a week in the fall on a few roses if at all. Blackspot is just a way of life though not as bad as on the east coast because we're dryer. MIP is better than average for BS resistance I'd say. It's funny that the east coast is the home of blackspot and the west coast is mildew central. You'd think that proximity to large bodies of water would have similar effects, but weather is much more complicated than that. The largest bodies of water I contend with are the pools of sweat (or blood) I accumulate over a day in the garden. Yep, planning to accumulate plenty of both for moving MIP. All the more reason you're smarter than I am boncrow for asking BEFORE you plant. Gotta try that some day (smile). Cynthia