I'm thinking about a fall rose order, and am wondering about 'Georges Vibert'. I'm bad about keeping track of what I've ordered and planted, but it seems to me that I keep ordering this one and yet I never find it in my garden. Does anybody here grow it? What is your experience of it? Generally the Gallicas do well for me; in fact, generally they're superb. So I'm wondering whether this is a fussy variety, or whether I've always just planted it so badly it couldn't handle the conditions.

'Comte de Chambord': what is your experience of it? How about 'Mme. Boll'? I once bought both of these, and they looked identical to me; also, I lost both of them, but then, bad planting spots. I'm trying to make better planting holes, and am also hoping that a couple of decades of just letting plants grow and returning all their organic debris to the garden is bringing about some improvement to the soil. Plus compost, mulching with organic matter--we passed the mark of a hundred tons of old hay added to the garden years ago--and so on.

I'm also looking at 'Mme. Zoetmans', 'Leda', and 'Salet'. I have had the former in the garden and it may be tucked away in some neglected corner still: I'm not sure. My original plant, grafted, never really took and petered away, but a couple of offspring from cuttings or suckers succumbed to bad luck, one being mowed over by DH as soon as it was planted. 'Leda' may also be present, but I wasn't around during the spring flowering to be sure it was still there. Its sport or sport parent, 'Pink Leda', is a thug, but 'Leda' doesn't appear to be, unfortunately. A cutting-grown 'Salet' petered out.

I'm particularly interested in how these roses do on their own roots. Unfortunately I'm compelled to buy grafted plants, but prefer to see them get off the rootstock and on their own, so I'm curious to know how these varieties do own root.

I hope you folks can give me some feedback!