I am keeping my eyes open for Summer Song on its own roots. No hurry, I could squeeze a floribunda or mini into my overcrowded garden, but an Austin would be a challenge.
Secret is gorgeous and according to hmf it can be grown in Montana. I will add that to the hybrid tea section of my "try someday" list.
The mini "ring of fire" would look nice with some of my other minis, especially rainbow's end.
I am always surprised that very few Austin collections include Wildeve. Maybe people thing "yet another pale pink" but I really like it. It has a touch of yellow at the base of each petal. It varies a bit with the weather.
Speaking of minis, time to get myself outside and move a couple of minis to the front of the expanded flower bed. I extended it twice this year, now I have no grass left and don't have to pick up dog poop from my neighbors (*)*^*& dogs anymore. Now that my grass is gone, they walk their dogs on the other side of the sidewalk or in the other direction. Yippee. After I lost my Westie,Tiffany, this July I completely lost patience for this. I have adoption pending for a new canine gardening companion (chronicled on the companion list). I also got a bag of flea/tick/mite killer to put near my place when I am done in the garden. I resent having to go to such lengths to protect my dog from other people's dogs. Some of these dogs obviously don't get disease protection or vet visits. (Someone's small dog has had worms since February. If they picked up after it, they would notice that.) End of rant. Now that the grass is gone, I can enjoy mini roses instead of cursing the neighbors under my breath. (I made sure that I told anyone that chatted with me outside why I was extending the garden. Maybe that helped also.)
I need to add more companion plants like perennial geranium and Chinese forget-me-nots. Does the San Jose garden feature any companion plantings? Pictures that I have seen showed rectangular plantings of multiple plants of each kind of rose. Must be fabulous. I would love to see pictures taken from an airplane/blimp/hot air balloon.
