Nearly Wild was sold by the Box Stores as a plant to compete with KnockOuts about a decade ago.

We watched a small planting up a LMU (four bushes) that were planted and abandoned. One positive: RRD spread slowly in each of the plants, but they never got six feet tall.

Maybe Annie has a healthier clone, heaven knows what the bulk sales had been subjected to.

I had wanted Mrs. Oakly Fisher and then I saw one in bloom. There are so many shades of yellows that are gareish, but MOF isn't in your face yellow, but for me she's a bit too subtle, like a favorite floral print that has been sun dried on the clothes line until you barely remember how charming it was.

Strangely, I'd almost suggest you try R. bracteata as a repeat blooming white that grows (here) vigorously with no fungal problems and has the pureest white blooms that we can see from a tenth of a mile away. And evergreen. But thorns. I wish Mermaid had a bit more of bracteata's positives.

Well, I just planted it so I'll give it a chance to show its stuff. Funny that the box stores were selling a (now) 80 year old rose!

Annie's described theirs as "resurrected from old homesteads", so a found rose. In my experience, found roses tend to be healthy versions of whatever cultivars they are, likely to not have been ever grafted on diseased rootstock, though no guarantee.

I went to Annie's several weeks ago, but I forgot to look at the roses. I thought their setup for covid was really well done.

FWIW, I've had two plants of 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher' for more than ten years here and PM hasn't been a problem on either of them (unlike some in my collection who are martyrs to it -- Chinas in particular). So, I'm surprised it was on the plants at Annie's. But, at about 35 miles north of you and a bit more inland, Rosefolly, that may make a difference. Annie's is, of course, right on the bay and in the fog. Maybe like how, for many years, I resisted planting 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' because of how hideously and continuously afflicted with PM the climber of it was at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, only to find that here, once I dared with a plant from Annie's, it gets PM only lightly and briefly in my garden, if at all.

There are two 'Nearly Wild' at my neighbor's house across the street that have been there for a couple of decades at least. They are kept pruned for height to about 5 - 6' and are about 6' across, right next to the north side of the house by the way.

I was giving long and hard consideration to 'Gay Princess' (Boerner, 1967) at Annie's the other day and only after giving myself a stern talking-to, passed it by -- for now, at least.

That columbine 'Krystal' looks great. I have the native A. chrysantha which is big and showy like that, but yellow (extremely reliable and long-lived, and something of a happy pest with a zillion volunteer seedlings) and last year I got the native serpentine endemic, Aquilegia eximiaat Annie's which is breathtakingly architectural and elegant, but not as drought tolerant as A. chrysantha is.

Indeed that may be the case, Catspa, but I already gave the spot to 'Nearly Wild', so unless that rose fails, done is done. I'm happy to hear your report of the size of your neighbor's 'Nearly Wild'. That is what I am hoping for mine, only in full sun by the back fence. By the way, "Florence Bower's Pink Tea" has never grown so big and glorious here as yours - I suspect gophers pruning the outer roots - but it is a little better each year. It just finished quite a respectable flush. I'm always happy to see it in bloom.

I started planting columbines with abandon last year. Someone on Facebook posted photos last year of her gorgeous columbines run wild, and I was inspired. (I'm not sure, but she may be a member here. I think she uses a different name, so if this sounds familiar to someone reading this, feel free to speak up if I'm describing you.) I'm trying for a cooling effect in the front garden, soft colors and lots of white, though I keep a couple of favorite red roses on the fence. So I'm planting lots of pale yellows and whites. I've been looking for Krystal since last year. I would be reasonably pleased to get lots of volunteers. There can be too much of a good thing, but I am fine with pulling extras so long as they don't become thugs.

Nearly Wild is an excellent landscape rose. One of the very best in my opinion. It does not surprise me in the least that it is still in commerce and readily available. Weeks Roses still sells it and for good reason It is not overly showy, but a workhorse of a rose. We have a long row of them as a border in our shrub rose garden display at the Summerland Ornamental Gardens. Here in the Okanagan, it stays very compact though, 2' x 2' on average. It is very shrubby in habit, mounded and blooms prolifically and constantly even if we miss dead heading for a time. It is also completely healthy and grows well with drip irrigation in our hot summers.

I have seen images on the web of NW growing to be a very large shrub, still arching and mounded in habit. However, HMF also lists the size a 2 - 3 ft and mounding. Of course, California is a very, very different place with respect to rose sizes, so I hope your new rose will grow to the size your nursery indicated. But if it does, be aware that it will likely be very, very shrubby and just as wide as tall. I can only imagine the prolific bloom on a NW plant of that size.

Cheers, Rick

I've grown Nearly Wild several times, in several different gardens, and in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys it remained less than 3' in all directions, often smaller. They have all been own root plants, which might make a difference. Mildew can be an issue, if there is water stress and conditions encourage it.

So many different reports! I will send back my own once it has a chance to show its stuff.

Thanks to all of you.

And I'm back to report, with chagrin, that I got fooled by my neighbor's 'Nearly Wild' planting. On closer inspection, there is actually a double row of plants in that shady, northside flower bed: two plain holly shrubs in the background, next to the house, that are 5-6' and then the 'Nearly Wild' plants (actually 4 of them), placed immediately and closely in front of those, that are only about 2 - 3' tall and wide. So, I can't verify Annie's claims of 6' after all, though their descriptions are generally good in my experience. (They did once sell me 'Comtesse du Cayla' as 'Talisman', which I suspected from the leaves and structure as it grew and certainly knew when it bloomed, but with the excuse that they had gotten their mother plant erroneously labelled as that from the Sac Cemetery sale and, hey, they're both sort of orange.... :-) ) So, my neighbor's 'Nearly Wild' plants are more like what Rick's and Kim's experiences have been. My apologies for originally being misleading, Rosefolly!

You talked me into 'Gay Princess', Kim. What the heck -- if nothing else, being a floribunda of relatively modest proportions, she can be a pot princess (as own-root 'Mirandy' has been for many years -- that one "likes nice things" and certainly not my lousy soil, but is perfectly happy in an 18" pot, to which I rescued her).

Ah well; thanks anyway!

If Nearly Wild doesn't work out for you, you might consider "The Alexandra Rose". Gorgeous single blooms, repeats very well, healthy and grows to about the height you say you are looking for.

I grew it in my Ontario garden and liked it very much. Will grow it again someday if I can find one. Just a thought.

Cheers, Rick

Catspa, thanks for the kind offer. For now I'm going to give 'Nearly Wild' a chance to show its stuff.

Rick, I'll remember your suggestion if I decide to switch to a different rose. As for now, I'm going to leave NW where it is and see what happens.