Wow! Gorgeous photos. That first one is too pretty for words.

Oh, you've given me ideas! Gorgeous photographs with which to propel them. Thank you.

I know, jasmine -- hard to believe, isn't it? Germans and Austrians offer it and that, apparently, is it. Sure, it's a once-bloomer, but many "repeating" climbers are hardly more than that, and this show lasts a fairly long time. Color and bloom form are lovely -- my eyes are constantly drawn to that arbor these days. There really is a "glow" about the blooms.

Beautiful!! Love them all. I wish you could send cuttings of Apricot Glow and Arcata Pink Globe to Burling, so I could grow them too. :-)

Very very handsome, and I want 'Alba Odorata'. I used to grow the Brownell rose 'Golden Climber' here and liked it quite a lot. Probably it made its way down to Italy from a northern European wholesale nursery; it, too, was a once bloomer, but a worthy rose.

I had Alba Odonata but gave it away. It intimidated me. Possibly that was a mistake, but what is done is done.

I also had Apricot Glow for a few years and it did not do much for me. Polka is currently not doing much for me in the same spot. I think it is a bad spot, too much shade or root competition from a nearby oak, and I am ready to give Polka away. Rosa moschata nearby will be happy to grow into that spot anyway.

If anyone local (Bay Area) wants Polka, please let me know.

Motivated by your mention of 'Golden Climber', Melissa, I just did an HMF advanced search of roses bred by Brownell and there seem to be so many good ones, and a style of rose that appeals to me. I was reminded of a rose I've been attracted to for some time, "Fields of the Wood"/'Rhode Island Red'. Photos of those flowers just make me swoon. It occurs to me that a space along a fence has recently opened up, after I got tired of growing grapes for squirrels and rats...

'Alba Odorata' should be well-adapted to your garden, Melissa, as it not only survives but looks good all year in pioneer cemeteries without irrigation, and our dry season is longer. Mine is growing as a climber on a wrought-iron fence (not that you can see the fence anymore!) in a remote corner where the hose visits less frequently than other parts of the yard, in rough conditions. I've seen it growing as a huge, mounded shrub, too. It does have intimidating prickles and is very vigorous, but I think you've got a perfect fence and space for it, Rosefolly, and the leaves are so handsome. It is also the best security/perimeter defense device, ever. I would be willing to start another for you, if you desire. It is an exponential grower, once it's spent a year settling in.

'Apricot Glow' has a primo spot in my garden and it has so far developed relatively slowly (versus typical pace of ridiculously out-of-control around here), so I imagine it might not take well in a marginal spot. I had 'Polka' once, too, at a time when I was auditioning it and other modern "antique reproduction" roses to see if I liked them (Austins, Romantica series, etc.). Flowers pretty enough (on sometimes atrocious plants!), but neither it or any of those made my heart sing -- missing the romance of true history, I guess. Of interest to me is whether or not AG will rebloom in fall, as Vintage claimed, in long-season gardens, at least.

Very beautiful, as is every area of your garden. I try hard to be happy for others and not jealous, but given the dismal state of my garden it's getting harder and harder. However, miracle of miracles, it's raining today and that can't hurt.

Apricot Glow did not rebloom for me, but then as I said it was a dubious location.

It rained a bit here yesterday, too, Ingrid -- only 0.25 inch but, as you say, it can't hurt. The latest drought map shows our area as being on the borderline between severe and extreme drought, but most of southern CA is still shown as far worse: exceptional drought. Livermore itself had exactly its average amount of annual rainfall this year, so it doesn't seem as bad as what they say, but groundwater levels are likely still depleted.

In any case, weather is cyclical (and consensus seems to be that this is simply a "cycle thing" and not directly climate-change related -- yet!), so I imagine the revival of your wonderful garden is relatively just around the corner. It is hard looking at roses in survival mode. What surprises me, though, is how roses that basically stood still while I irrigated only enough to keep them alive, are now sprouting large numbers of new canes -- it's amazing. Old roses, in particular, are very tough.

Amazing climbers.

Love love love

Wow, Alba odorata is gorgeous! I've never seen it.

Love love love Perle d'Or.

I keep coming back to read this again, and enjoy the pictures all over again.

Wow your garden is amazing! You made me laugh at one part of your post:

"... frequently found surviving in many old California cemeteries (where I got mine)..."

LOL! Never knew cemeteries were a good place to scout for OGRs to propagate... But it makes sense! I wasn't expecting that, so it was funny to me! I don't mean to offend you so please don't take it that way;). You must be a true rose enthusiast to find roses you like here and there and bring small pieces of them to nurture to life in your garden! Good for you and your ingenuity!

thanks for sharing your beautiful blooms! :)

filly, cemeteries are one of the BEST places to see old roses in California, though not always a good place to secure propagation material (appropriateness and conservation ethics needing to be taken into account). Planting roses on graves has been a tradition since the Gold Rush, at least. Being a plant ecologist, I drag home lots of odd plant stuff, from all over, but, yes, roses are near and dear -- as they seem to have been to the earliest settlers here, too.

The 'Perle d'Or' is interesting, Anna-Lyssa, because I got it as a gallon plant from San Francisco's Strybing Arboretum plant sale run by their volunteers and found out later, when I went to plant it, that it was labeled "CLIMBING Perle d'Or". Three years in the ground so far, it doesn't yet show any particular signs of being a climber, but if it turns out to be that, it would be a rarity. The "regular" 'Perle d'Or' can become quite tall, so the label may have just been a misinterpretation.

I just finished deadheading and pruning my hedge of Perle d'Or (8 plants). From time to time it throws out a few very lax long canes that fall limply over the top of others, climbing canes mixed in with the regular sturdy ones. I can see how it could be trained as a climber. It would be tricky, though, with its mix of long rigid canes and soft, lax ones. Pruning this hedge always gives me lots of time to ponder over the nature of the growth of this plant. It has so many different growth patterns, all on the same plants. I think of it as a rather complex being. And thorny. Wickedly thorny.

Well, that's interesting, Rosefolly -- I'm glad to hear of your experience. Gee, a few, sporadic climbing canes mixed in with giant candelabras that sprout new growth from every node -- oy! A real conundrum about what to cut and where. Yes, mine is very thorny, too. Funny to read that it is "short" and " thornless (almost)" on the HMF "Description" page! As usual, not in CA.