Thanks Luanne, for the pictures of what I assume is Lady Hillingdon. Just what I wanted. Lux, that is a great idea about letting tea roses get big in pots prior to planting them in partial shad! I have a Niles Cochet in a large pot, and that is also where Mrs. Dudley Cross is going. Maybe after they get big I will be able to put them in the ground somewhere using your theory. Meanwhile, I have planted my 8 " tall Lady Hillingdon in partial shade between my thriving Safrano and Mme Joseph Schwartz. There is actually more sun available to LH when she gets bigger - I will feed her extra per your suggestion, and talk to her and encourage her - I have had a lot of success with teas and tea noisettes in partial shade in my garden. They also get cages at first so the deer don't carry them off! Sandy - re "I wouldn't plant roses in any less than 6 to 8 hours of direct sun". I know that that is the conventional wisdom, but my (and evidently Lux's) experience with tea roses is that they can do well in a LOT less sun. I do appreciate your responding with your experience. Since we are both in heat zone 9, all I can think of for the difference may be that our summers here are long (no rain whatsoever from May to Nov), very DRY (no humidity to speak of), as well as very HOT (90 - 100 degrees is not unusual for weeks at a time). I know I appreciate the shade of our large trees when it is so hot & dry - maybe the tea roses do too! Jackie

Cl. Lady Hillingdon did beautifully in a previous also warm/hot garden and I have a young plant now which is bushy pretty much from the ground up, and I also seem to remember my previous one being bushier than the Reve d'Or that I had until recently. It was against a hot wall and was slowly perishing, but I would say it had a more open spreading habit than Cl. Lady Hillingdon. I love the colors on both but I would say Reve d'Or has a more subtle, muted shade.

I dipped a toe into growing teas last season with some success and tried a few more this season. I am in zone 6b south of Cincy in south central Kentucky. I started with containers which I overwintered near my house's south facing brick wall (I'm too lazy, I have no basement, and my garage is too cramped to move them inside.) I was successful with Mme. Lombard, Devoniensis (the bush form) and Georgetown Tea. I had actually planted GT in the ground in the fall of '06 after growing it in a pot all summer. It came back with flying colors. I lost the Cl. Devoniensis however - remember we had that Easter freeze after a warm spell and it developed canker and did it in. Poor little Mme. Lombard, a one cane wonder, survived all summer and through the winter in the little one gallon pot it came from the nursery in - and half the soil was gone! I had to find a place in the garden for this tough gal, so I finally planted it this fall, after another summer in that same pot (bad gardener!) It has three blooms on it now, what a trooper! This year I tried Mlle. Franziska Kruger, Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux, Marie Van Houtte, Souvenir d'un Ami, Miss Atwood, Mme Jules Gravereaux (not to be confused with Rhodologue JG), and Lady Hillingdon. Most were grown on in BIG pots this time, with only Rhodologue JG and Mme. JG immediately going into the garden. LH grew a lot over the summer, it's a real beauty. I would definitely try it, at least in a pot for the first year to see how it does for you. Use a large foam or fiberglass pot and you'll be able to overwinter it outside. The foam pots provide root insulation and there is no worry about the pot cracking. I have 16 different roses in pots on my deck (this year) that I am overwintering. The varieties and number of roses change from year to year. Some go in the garden after a season or two. Some just don't make the cut and are given away or composted. It's a good way to test them out and grow them on (all mine were own-root babies when I got them.) On top of that I can justify my "pot ghetto" if they are in "real" pots and not the nursery pots they came in, decorative or not! BTW I also have Hermosa in the ground, it does very well, and has a very nice fall flush.

'Lady Hillingdon' (shrub form) is something of a bully here, at 6'+ tall and 9'+ wide -- 'Fred Howard', for one, wishes she weren't so pushy (see photo below). The original clone was from Vintage and it did not do well in the spot I put it (outer edge of garden, so-so gravelly clay soil). So, after a few years, I removed it and, as often happens, it resprouted from the roots. Dug that plant up, grew it in a pot for a year or two, and planted it where it is now, in a prime (for here...) garden area, much nicer soil, where she took right off. I think she likes nice things. 'Lady Hillingdon is to the right in this group, leaning into 'Fred Howard'; 'Lemon Spice is the next rose to the left, then, on far left, 'Etoile de Feu' (who is a much larger, total stunner this year, after all that rain!): From a few years ago, already over my head: