Dear Mr Rippetoe.
We are a rose nursery in France and I came across your Miracle on the Hudson some years ago. I am deeply impressed by it and it performs wonderfully on our climate, and, since we bought it so far, I was wondering if we could graft it for commercial use. If it was not to be patented in Europe I would indeed be willing to agree on fees. Also, I quickly looked up your other roses and some of them I would love to try and/or sell. If this is of any interest for you, you can contact me at contact@les-racines-du-vent.com so we could discuss things further.
Best wishes and congratulations on your impressive work.
Clement charreyron

Hi Neil. We messaged briefly yesterday as a result of a picture I posted at Woodlake Botanical Gardens. My last name is Heaton. My husband George Heaton (who retired from Reedley College's Horticulture Dept), was happy when I told him your name. He told me to say hi. I tried to reply to your message yesterday, but helpmefind will only let me send 5 messages per day. Can we text instead? (559) 305-9839 Thanks! Jennie Heaton

Hi Robert,

I have a 'waterless' (no water once-established) garden in Irwindale (east of L. A.) where I am experimenting with roses. Plants include Mrs. B. R. Cant, Graham Thomas, Old Blush, Le Vesuve, Evelyn, Crown Princess Margareta, Wenlock, Mme. Alfred Carriere, Marie van Houtte. The last 3 haven't been tested yet, being newly planted in 2019.

Had a question, if you have the time. The 'waterless' roses were pruned upon the first soaking rain in late November except for Old Blush. Old Blush is producing a myriad of flowers, the others have not bloomed yet, and the two David Austins Graham Thomas and Evelyn (Crown Princess Margareta already removed due to unnattractive foliage in late summer) show 'blindness'. Evelyn is partially blind, with a ruff of foliage on its stems and normal shoots at the tips, and Graham Thomas shows entirely bunched up foliage as of January 12.

It looks like there is a fairly restricted range of roses that can adapt to the harsh conditions. In my opinion, Mrs. B. R. Cant looks like the most ornamental variety, dropping its leaves in summer to leave an attractive branch structure, and leafing out normally upon the rains. No flowers yet. Old Blush doesn't look as 'clean', keeping browned leaves thru summer.

My selection criteria for the roses were desiccation tolerance, heat tolerance and the ability to grow in winter. IMO Mrs B R Cant shows the best combo of these characteristics, while remaining ornamental. It's only been through one 'waterless' year, however. Thank you for your HMF posts on heat tolerance.

Can you recommend roses that show a pronounced tendency towards winter growth (thereby avoiding blind shoots) and also sunscald resistance/heat tolerance? What about... Sutter's Gold? Abraham Darby? Mary Rose?? Bewitched?? Bow Bells??? Iceberg?? 'Souvenir de la malmaison' gets too much mildew. 'Mutabilis' may be a little too susceptible to sunscald, based on what I've seen in other gardens. 'Safrano' may not be sunscald resistant and may be too mildew susceptible (???). All of the varieties in the first paragraph are sunscald resistant for me, exc/ for Marie van Houtte who hasn't been through a summer yet.

Thanks!!! Nate