On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 12:44:41 -0700, Cass
wrote:

In article , dave weil
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 15:47:19 GMT, "Kellie J. Berger"
wrote:

If you had to pick some roses to make a long hedge (probably w/o a
supporting fence), and wanted something w/o much maintenance, what would
you choose?

If you don't mind a *****defoliating****** arching form, fast growing,
once-blooming, orange/red hipped in the winter, green applely smelling
foliaged, cute litte five lobed pink old rosey bloomed, heavily
armored and densely branched plant, then sweet briar rose is your
man...eh...plant. It's even mentioned in Shakespeare - that's how
venerable it is.

http://mywpages.comcast.net/ddweil2/...riar5.8.03.jpg

BTW, the dimensions in the last shot are 19 feet wide by almost 7 feet
tall (the plant is about 10 feet fromthat facing edge to the opposite
edge - envision an ellipse shape from above).

Oh yeah, here's a closeup of the blooms. Each bloom only lasts about 2
or 3 days, but they grow in groups where one blooms then the others
bloom sequentially. Each bloom is only about 2 inches or so.

http://mywpages.comcast.net/ddweil2/...riarBlooms.jpg


Great shots, Dave. What's the defoliating part mean?

This plant sheds its leaves. Right after the end of blooming, it tends
to shed some of its leaves (but only a portion). Then, after resting
for a month or so, it starts to zoom into high-speed growth, i.e.
right now until fall. I still lose the occasional leaf but it's just
very slight. Then, in winter, it pretty much totally defoliates, with
just the occasional leaf here and there.

That might not be the case in your climate though.

I bought Lady
Penzance because I was taken with the sweetbriars. The blackspot put me
off. Is you plant Common Sweet Briar, plain ole plain ole?

Yep - R. Eglanteria (or however you spell it).

The foliage looks terrific. Blackspot?

No blackspot whatsoever. The disconcerting thing is that when the
leaves start to drop, they look suspiciously like rose mosaic virus.
IOW, they get that weird veining. However, I've asked the experts and
they say that the timing of the drops don't coincide with the virus
and that it's probably just how the leaf dies. So far, I haven't
totally ruled the virus out, but it always comes back 3 times the size
of the previous year, as you can see. So, I'm not particularly
worried.

If you get this plant, you'll LOVE the apple smell of the wet leaves.

Also, basically you don't have to worry about whether it blooms only
on old wood, because it's *all* old wood when it blooms. This is one
of the first roses to bloom in the spring (mid-end of April). and
there is no new growth until after blooming.

I'll try to remember to post some shots tomorrow that I just took, but
I don't have time to do it right now...