So between the big shovel and my little shovel (some of the roses that I did remove, which Turns out I DIDN'T need to didn't make it....) I need some OGR Replacements. Most of these I did get from Roses Unlimited, especially my Mrs. BR Cant, which I loved. So I'm going to order from them.

I had Lady H shrub. I love the flowers, but the bush didn't impress me. It never put on any size or width. It tended to get a few tall canes but didn't have the graceful shape that many teas have. How is the climbing form? Is it nice and delicate or will it eat a house? I am thinking of putting it in pretty much the same spot on an obelisk to maximize the # of blooms in one spot. Would she do well on an obelisk.

Oh, my DH felt so bad for me that he said, why don't you just order new roses. So along with replacements, I'm getting a few others....he'll never know.....

I like the way you think, lol!

That is interesting about a grafted LH. I thought of that briefly but I usually go own root with OGRS. I think I will get the Climbing form anyway. Maybe I can even get that grafted on either Fort or MF.

Ingrid

My shrub form Lady H did well for a couple of years but for the past 18 months has been growing backwards, lots of cane dieback. So far I have not seen this with the climber. I suspect that the shrub is going to fail over the next year, alas. A beautiful, beautiful rose, and I have seen it do well elsewhere, but it is not happy in my garden.

This is my third attempt. I know when I'm licked. I won't try it here again.

Rosefolly

Oh, here is a picture of my front yard. Madame Lambard is safe, or so they say....

Maria

Ingrid

Ingrid, I had no idea it would be this extensive either. They are trying to correct a serious drainage issue and apparently they found that most of the original drainage pipe was faulty and we could have had a sink hole collapse situation, so luckily that has been avoided.

Part of it I don't mind. I can take a break and not worry about a lot of yard work right now. They did take out a lot of stuff that wasn't that great, native scrub trees and invasive honeysuckle and brambles (most of this area was lawn) and I will have more room to plant more roses. I just wonder what condition the soil will be in. They are going to have to back fill the huge hole, since they carted away all they dug up. So I wonder what I will get. Hopefully this will be done soon and I can start replanting.

The remaining Fortuniana may be suitable. If the plant was stated to be VI, indexed, then there shouldn't be any issues with potential mosaic infection of what you want to bud to it from the stock. Not that we can really presume any rose which has made the rounds and hasn't originated from a source supplying VI material ISN'T infected, but that certainly might be an issue worth thinking about.

Yes ma'am, you should root the Fortuniana. You'll need to remove the growth buds from the cutting, leaving only the top one or two to prevent suckering. Once it's well rooted and vigorously pushing new growth, it will be ready for budding. I would root several of the thicker pieces you can come up with, or perhaps several of varying thickness so you'll have better chances of success. I've found those of thicker guage push more vigorous growth, faster, than thinner guage stocks. The thinner ones push bud growth, just not as quickly. Plus, you can always insert smaller, narrower buds into wider, thicker stocks, but not vice versa. Kim

I remember several years back when something very similar was done to Jon of Wessex's garden. He replanted after the work was done. Incredible as it seems, his garden ended up being even more beautiful than it had been before!

Wishing you the very best with your new and improved garden.

Rosefolly

Kim, I won the Touch of Class/Fort at a raffle, but I know the society member that donated it. I'm going to ask them where they bought it from. I know most here in the SE get their fort grafted roses from either K&M in Mississippi or Cool Roses in Florida. I don't know where they stand as far as virus indexed. I had it in a pot for awhile and never had a chance to plant it until this spring and that's when I realized that the scion had died and now I had a very healthy fort. I'm going to try to root some. I've only had luck with rooting one rose from a friend, I had 4 cuttings and they all took immediately! Every other one hasn't made it. But I have plenty of fort so Hopefully I can get one or two to take. I'm sure I will have a lot more questions. Thanks.

Another tree native to the SE is American Persimmon. It has pretty, shiny leaves and Fall fruit if it is a female.

Cath