Jeri - it's a favorite of mine, too. And that's a beautiful photo!

Laura

Your photo shows the beautiful shadings that are typical of many teas, one of the qualities I love about them most. Too bad mine has remained a bonsai (partially my and partially the rabbits' fault) for over two years and will be replaced by Mrs. B.R. Cant in September. I'd order another Mme. Lambard but I have an order in at Chamblee's for other roses and they don't carry Mme. Lambard. It seems to be a rule of life that one nursery NEVER carries all the roses you lust after, and splitting an order would cost you a fortune one way or another. Of course three months later, after you have your roses in the ground, the nursery suddenly WILL have that rose in stock (gnashing of teeth while you try to love the second-best rose you had to settle for instead).

Ingrid

Ingrid -- This plant of 'Mme. Lombard' was grown from a cutting collected in an old cemetery in October, 2006.

That was before we had the greenhouse, so it probably spent a year in a "band," and then a 1-Gal pot, before it was moved to a 5-G pot, where it spent some time, before going into the ground around three years ago.

Today, it's maybe 3 ft. tall -- Not fully mature, so more spreading than upright (and it WILL go more upright than it is, when it matures.)

When you bought those honkin' bare roots you used to get from J&P and Weeks, you got a plant whose uber-vigorous Dr. Huey roots were already three years old. The scion had been growing for a couple of years, at least. When you put those in your garden, they took off like a shot.

When you buy a small own-root Tea Rose, you're buying a newly-rooted plant. It's three years behind that bare root plant, in terms of root growth, and it's not depending on Doc Huey.

Tea Roses take a few years to build up a twiggy structure, and mature. When we took that cutting, I was likely 62 years old. Now I'm 67, and my DH is 70, but I'm betting I'll have time to see that plant, and the others about to go into the ground, mature -- maybe 5 years or so, anyhow.

That's OK. As DH said the other day about training a dog in Agility -- it's really about the process, as much as it is the result.

Jeri

I've grown a normal Mme. Lambard before and it acted pretty much like other tea roses. I remember it hugged the ground quite a bit but produced normal-sized leaves and blooms pretty quickly. My "runt" has been transplanted once and decimated by rabbits twice and I think it was just too much trauma in its young life. It's planted along the upper driveway where I'd like some impact. Belinda's Rose nearby just threw out four new basal canes, would bloom like crazy if I didn't disbud it and is clothed in healthy leaves from head to toe. I only got this rose last November so it's quite a difference. Mme. Lambard is definitely stunted, with tiny little leaves that would do a bonsai proud. Mrs. Dudley Cross that I also planted last November is three feet tall and blooming her lovely head off. Your DH is right, but when there is no process and no result I think it's time to throw in the towel.

Ingrid

I planted Mme Lombard 2 yrs ago (or is it 3?) and it has grown slowly and is still small for here, probably 2 to 3 feet tall. It finally bloomed this past winter and spring and I fell in love with the blooms. It's definately a keeper in my garden! Am looking forward to the end of summer when it will start blooming again, I hope.