My favorite three old roses that I am loving for a long time are Zephirine Drouhin, Rose de Rescht, and Cl. Cecile Brunner. I bought Zephirine Drouhin the first time around 10 years ago by accident (at that point I didn't even know that she was an old rose), when I was still living in Germany and growing roses on a roof top terrace. I love her for a gorgeous, very strong wafting fragrance and for the loosely-double, slightly tussled, pink blooms that occur in abundance on this rose in spring. I have seen this rose re-blooming well in Germany, and it seems to be the case that a colder climate helps with that, whereas in a very warm climate she seems to be a little bit stingy with the repeat. The color of the flowers vary in intensities from clear to a light soft pink depending on the age of the blooms, which makes this rose even more charming in my eyes. I am very happy that I am able to growing ZD here in San Diego, again. She is getting into her third year this spring and has grown quite a bit and I am expecting great things of her. Rose de Rescht was also already with me ten years ago in Germany, and I bought her already twice in California again, once in the Bay Area and now in San Diego. Besides that this rose has very cute crimson pompom like flowers, which are nestled deeply into the beautiful gray green foliage, it has an awesome, strong, warm, old rose fragrance, which makes it even more adorable. I also appreciate that the rose is making a nice round shrub by herself, which looks very pretty in the landscape. To me it is very fascinating that she is so adaptable to very different climates. She was doing really well for me in Germany. In the Bay Area in CA she became a really nice big bush. Here in San Diego my RdR is not even a year old so it is too early to judge about her, but I got some very nice blooms from her last year already! Cecile Brunner, Climbing. This rose stood out for me when I came to California 6 years ago. I saw her everywhere in CA, sometimes gigantic specimen always producing an absolutely spectacular spring flush of small blush pink flowers. The rose is relatively floriferous year round. The sheer vigor and will to live of this rose has impressed me tremendously. I also love the dainty, cute flowers and the fragrance is also not bad. Even though it is a very common rose here in CA I get never tired seeing this beautiful rose! Christina

Taoseeker- I am thinking about trying a Yolande d'Aragon hybrid perpetual. Other people in the area have had good success with this rose, even with the cold winters. I'd love to try a Jacques Cartier, but I want to check at Northland Rosarium to see if it's recommended for our zone. Mariannese- Wow! You have 36 Gallicas? Do you have any pics of your garden? I'd love to see them. I would like to try a Charles de Mills, which is supposed to be pretty cold hardy and maybe a Tuscany and Apothecary rose. Isabelle- I showed my husband the picture of your grape arbor and table and chairs. I have wanted to do something similar in our back yard, maybe with my antique bricks underneath. He likes the bricks, but didn't really know what I wanted. After seeing your picture, he thinks it would be a great idea! Yea! and thanks :)

I am interested in what is the natural spread of rose viruses. In designing any experiment one normally calculates the number of samples required to obtain a result that has a 95% confidence level. I think the results of this type of calculation for rose virus spread are interesting. If the natural spread in a field is 1% a year and one checked the field at the end of one year, one would have to examine 2377 plants to be able to report the results as having a 95% confidence level (1.0 +/- 0.4)%. If the natural spread in a field is 4% a year, and one checked the field at the end of one year; one would have to examine 9220 plants to be able to report the results as having a 95% confidence level (4.0 +/- 0.4)%. To be able to report a (4 +/- 1)% spread, the number of plants should be 1475. To be able to report a (4 +/- 2)% spread number, one would need to examine 369 plants. To be able to report a (4 +/- 3)% spread number, one would need to examine 164 plants. The number of plants required for a quantitative study are probably larger than what most researchers would want to undertake. Another approach is a qualitative study to see if the spread is non zero. If designed correctly, positive results of such a study would have a definite meaning but negative results would not. An example of such a study appears to be the published paper by R. H. Converse and A. B. Bartlett, Plant Disease Reporter, volumn 63, pages 441-444, (1979). They studied 21 wild rose plants from 17 Oregon, U.S.A. locations. 5 plants out of the 20 that were tested by agar-gel diffusion (1 plant was not tested) were found to have tobacco streak virus. The positive testing plants came from 4 of the 17 sites (2 positive out of 2 tested from one site; 1 out of 1 tested from another site; 1 out of 3 from another; and 1 out of 1 from another). (The wild rose was not identified in the paper, I suspect that it was R. Setigera.) Here is a link that might be useful: Link to do your own calculations

Tangles, I'm so glad you are going to order the Queen! I feel she is one of the loveliest roses ever created. What country do you reside in? Yes, your impression is correct. The Queen is more of an arching shrub that is somewhat languid and very graceful. She grows beautifully on a tripod, as a fence or wall shrub or tied to a trellis. I grow mine next to a wall and support her with a surround of rebar and and plant twine. She and Basye's Purple and Botzaris weave together as they throw out their arching canes across the bed. When the Queen's canes arch horizontally, she blooms all along the canes. Please post photos when your rose(s) arrive! I'd love to share in your excitement. :-) Carol