Other good reds? Nuits de Younge is wonderful-has fabulous foliage too, Etna is a really good dark red that has a really long bloom-nice rounded shurb, Baron de Wassenaer is good and huge too. There is a great climbing single called Goethe. I am waiting for Pélisson-new to me and supposed to be a really good crimson red. The repeating reds like Eugenie Guinoisseau, Mme de la Roche-Lambert, and Deuil de Paul Fontaine tend to spot-sometimes badly. When I pass Henri Martin I think of the old Ballad about 3 Scots brothers who became Pirates-I love the line about 'All their dear bodies drowned in the salt sea' the English not the brothers... patricia

I emailed you regarding your Peggy Martin which I have since found out is a climber and I can't find space for even one more climber. I'm looking for cuttings of old teas that I don't have. I posted a list of the roses I have on my member page I'm sure I forgot some but that is the majority of them. I'd love to do some trading of cuttings, and some of these I have rooted already.

Pagan, yes, some obesum hybrids are evergreen under such conditions. The one in the first photo has never shed a single leaf (I removed a few near the caudex myself). The one in the second photo has shed maybe 5 leaves in total. Probably a drought response (I forgot to water the plant). I do not plan to repot them anytime soon but something is clearly "going on" inside the Smart Pots. ;-) One of the Smart Pots now has a curved, oval underside, not flat. It almost needs support. Otherwise it would tilt. I suspect that some big roots are causing this distortion. ;-) I will document the good stuff below when I repot the two obesums.

HU5….......4, Are you planning to provide winter protection for your Celeste? Celeste is a Southern variety. Your winter is too harsh on an unprotected tree for it to thrive for you. Even Chicago Hardy will need winter protection in your zone. Alternatively, your Celeste, depending on its size, may be grown pot cultured. If you can get the majority of its root mass into a pot, I would suggest pot culture. In my case, a 15 gallon pot is too large to move easily. I find 10 gallon pots to work best for me. One last point.....Does the Celeste grow and fruit in the zone 7 garden of the current owner? A 5 year old fig tree should be producing a crop. How does the current owner get the Celeste through the winter? Moses