So far, so good. My wood guy, who does a LOT of gardening work in my area gave me a couple of what I call "disks" and they call "units or stations" of Sweeney's Deer Repellent for the roses which the previous owner of my home planted in front of the house. He reported 100% success with this product in all of his client's gardens, many of which include roses. He's not the kind of guy that generally recommends products, so that alone got my attention. Last year, I gave in and caged my roses, except for one which I have had high hopes they would kill. I put the disks out next to my two least favorite roses and left the others caged. Until I put the disks out, the deer have blatantly climbed the stairs up to the garden to eat the uncaged rose and other plants that deer are not supposed to like. The hated rose now has blooms and the other plants are coming back. Since deer do not read, I cannot guarantee the product, but so far, so good. Smiles, Lyn Here is a link that might be useful: Sweeney's Deer Repellent

We went way over the top. We had a fence and a pool cover. Our boys are now teenagers so we have gone through 3 covers. We had the solid cover ( the type you can drive a car over ) unfortunately the horses thought they were solid and stepped on the cover whilst walking past. The cover is not warranted for that. After two of those we switched to the net type. I way preferred that type. You can see your water. The dirt does not accumulate on top. When it rains you have to pump the water off the solid covers. The dogs and horses stay off of the net. Why both? When we had parties and the kids were done playing the cover would go on, but the adults are still hanging, eating, and drinking around the pool. We had a two year old come to the hospital, where I worked, who had drowned. Growing up the neighbour's boy drowned. This was during the time we were deciding what to do. It was an easy decision to go with both safety guards. It is amazing how many adults can be around a pool and yet no one is watching the children. We also started having one adult sit by themselves, in turn, watching the kids play.

Hi Beth Since no one else has chimed in about The Generous Gardener, I'll put in my two cents. In my garden it's more or less a once-bloomer, and in some years a "none-ce" bloomer. The blooms are a muddy cream and don't particularly stand out or smell nice when they bloom. It wants to be huge - I wind the canes around the base of an arch to its back - and I shudder to think how big it would get in your zone. What it doesn't want to do much is, um, bloom. Some of that might be a reluctance to bloom after being cut to the ground until it puts on massively long canes, so it might be better in your zone. Still, I don't think the blooms are anything to write home about, and if it weren't in a low-traffic spot in my yard it might be my second shovel-pruned rose ever. Most Austins do quite well in my cold climate even being pruned to the ground, but this isn't one of them. Here's the most attractive bloom shot of a bush of TGG I could find. The blooms open up like this and blow pretty quickly, but I do notice that the bush is blooming when only knee high in July here, so it doesn't seem to need all those large canes it wants to grow. Here's the best bloom shot I've got, and even this one has that nasty browning on the edges as soon as the weather gets at all hot. Of course your results may vary, but I think the other roses you have listed are a more reliable and interesting option for you. Cynthia

Abe should do well for you in zone 7. And he will probably reach quite a big size. I grew him in zone 5 and he got to the top of an 8' arbor. But as you say some BS. I have a new Abe in the ground this spring - missed the fragrance and color.