Get some real butter and sugar and cream it together. That is the color of Celine Forestier. (Sometimes a little lighter, sometimes a little darker, but that pretty much is the exact color.) Now take that butter and sugar and make some cookies and sit down with warm cookies and milk and comtemplate your roses. Isn't this the best response you've gotten today? ;-) The buds start out with a pink blush on the outside as they open--made me think I'd gotten the wrong rose at first--then open into perfectly wonderful blooms. If I was strictly looking for a foliage plant, it might not be my first choice, but it's good enough for my front porch railing. The leaves are a lighter green with a matte finish. I may end up planting a clematis to grow in amongst it just for fun, but it's a really nice plant. If you look closely you might find a leaf or 2 with some blackspot, or maybe a hint of powdery mildew, and I don't spray. Sounds like it either likes your conditions or it doesn't. Maybe it's just in a sweet spot in my yard, but I've had absolutely no winter dieback, and it has the potential to become a beast. Right now it's my only noisette, but it's so nice I might try to squeeze in another.

I tallied up all the favorite Teas listed here on this thread. Here are the results so far. 6 votes -- Lady Hillingdon 5 votes -- Duchesse de Brabant Etoille de Lyon 4 votes-- G. Nabonnand 3 votes -- Clementina Carbonieri Francis Dubreuil Le Pactole Le Vesuve Mme. Berkeley Mrs Dudley Cross Mrs. B.R. Cant 2 votes -- Devoniensis Marie Van Houtte Mme Joseph Schwartz Mons Tillier Rosette Delizy William R. Smith Honorable Mention  every Tea on earth! Alliance Franco-Russe Angels Camp Tea Anna Olivier Cels Multiflora Comtesse Emmeline de Guigne Georgetown Tea Ley's Perpetual Madame Antoine Mari Madame Antoine Rebe Madame Lombard Marie d'Orleans Miss Atwood Mlle. de Sombreuil Niles Cochet Puerto Rico Safrano Souv. de Pierre Notting Souv.de Claudious Denoyal Susan Louise brought to you by Karen, a rose newbie who is learning!! (using my sonÂs gardenweb name)

Betty, I LOVE the pink tablecloth in your tea setting. If you hadn't told us, I wouldn't have known it was plastic. It is such a pretty colour and goes so well with your beautiful dishes. What I find particularly appealing (besides sweet Hanna and the yummy food!) are the candlestick holders you used...I love candles of all sorts and those are great. Are they crystal? Thanks for keeping this post going, it's a good one! DD

Everybody's ideas are great. First, I'm curious, how long does tea last? I would think unless you drink massive amounts that 25 kinds of tea is enough choices and enough tea that some of it has to be stale and existing like old too small sweaters in the closet. Confession: pre-renovation I kept 25 kinds of tea in a big basket on my counter. Informal groups came in the kitchen and chose their tea next to the hot water. Or I took the basket to the table and let guests choose. When I moved back in I realized I'd had some of those teas for years. No good tea smell at all. I downsized. I now have 7 kinds a two baggies of assorted individually wrapped bag-caff-free and reg. I label baqgies with no tags. Teas fit in a wooden Container Store box that I lift down from a cabinet. (It happens to be the same color as my cabineets which makes me feel I have a custom tea solution.) My dimensions wouldn't work for you but there has to be some Contaqiner Store solution that would. One thing I have been doing which saves space is take any individually wrapped tea bags out of their box and put them into snack baggies. I have reduced my large basket to a volume of 6" by 12"by 7" tall. I don't miss the other 17 tea choices. Maybe after thinking about this post I will even throw out the tea that I haven't used up in a year.