Following. I want this rose SO badly.

Kim Rupert has said it grows better grafted, maybe you could try grafting one? See if that works better

Yes, Bart, ALM does fine freestanding. I have two own root and one grafted on multiflora. They can sprawl here or climb if they want to and all is beautiful. I hope to get photos in a few weeks.

Sheila, how big do your own-root Annies become?

So far one is about 5 ft, another sprawls 4 ft and the grafted one is 4 ft upright. Not huge.

Here, it's not much in bloom yet, but you can get the idea. This is a budded plant, tho.

Mine is only about 4 feet tall and floppy after 3 years, I got tired of de-budding it and decided to dig it up last winter and transplanted it to another spot without the climbing structure, and just let it be without the de-budding this year. Such a resilient rose, It's covered with buds currently, hope it can grow into a nice bush. One interesting fact was it had a very long tap root of at least 3 feet length, I had to cut it to dig it up.

I have six of them on my garden fence and grow them as small climbers but could easily imagine them as an arching shrub. They’re not a wildly vigorous climber in my climate, which is similar to yours, Bart.

Thank you all so much. These comments confirm to my mind the idea that ALMcD will make a fine shrub.

And so lovely . . .

I'd agree with the assessment that it could be a small climber or a shrub. My own root plant is trained against a fence, and the canes are at least six feet long, but I bet if it didn't have support it would stay a bit more compact.

Resurrecting this for a hot second, is there anybody in the California Bay Area growing this rose who would be open to sharing some cuttings with me? Thank you! I'm happy to trade too.

JudiJunebug: I can't imagine someone having *six* of this desirable and hard to find rose. The fragrance must be out of this world. I hope you will continue to post pictures and news about it.

I know what you’re saying, Monarda. I had this idea in my head six years ago of putting 6 of these along the garden border. I really didn’t think it would ever happen because I knew how difficult this rose is to find…. But I kept watching and happened to find all 6 at once in 2021 at Rose Petals Nursery, if I remember correctly. They were small, own root babies and I coddled them in pots for a year and eventually put them in the ground and coddled them some more. They do smell wonderful! Here’s a few pics from this morning; the first is a photo of half of the border, the other side being a mirror image. And then a close up of one of my Annie bushes. They are blooming just now but not heavily, as you can see.

@judijunebugarizonazn8 don't you love being able to dead head Annie simply by shaking the canes or blowing them out with a hose? They look wonderful, thank you! Not bad for a rose which "won't grow".

Judijunbug, thank you, thank you.. How barren life would be (mine at least), if one couldn't garden in one's imagination .

You know, Kim, I rarely bother even with shaking or blowing them off with a hose because we have enough wind here to pretty much keep them clean . I do occasionally walk by and bump and shake them a bit, but not often! And I love the fragrance when I do take time to mess with them.