I haven't grown any of those roses, so can't comment on them, but I second Michael's point about the pillar being a bit on the short side. Remember you have to sink the legs in about 1 ft to 1.5 ft., so that leaves at most 5 ft for the rose to climb on. Why don't you check out the David Austin web site. He double lists a number of his roses--for example, 4 ft tall if grown as a shrub, but 6-8 ft tall it grown as a climber (and wrapped around the pillar). I think The Pilgrim falls into that category and it is supposed to be fairly good on the disease-resistance. Lovely pale yellow/white blend. And yes--plant it outside the pillar. I didn't, and my pillar deteriorated unexpectedly--rusted and falling apart although the other one like it was fine. Boy, was that a job getting it out of the climber that was planted in the center under it. Now I always plant my climbers about 6-10 inches outside the pillar. Good luck. Kate

You may have good ideas at this website: davidaustinroses.com Re: Pruning to summarize, prune when frost is over & when to dead head during blooming, cut the stem back 3 or 4 sets of leaves to encourage repeat blooming, only prune the plant once it is well established, to tie the plant is to support & keep its in good shape. My own experience is Ash Wednesday, it should grow up to 15ft or 20ft, the 2nd year this Spring, grew more than 10 ft, so I bent & tied to half circle to smell the fragrance as I photographed closer, after the blooming was over, daringly cut half of its length, now I am waiting for the repeat bloom, here in Costa Mesa, CA, we have warm weather until mid Oct, so we will wait & see. Next photo I will show the rose in full bloom.

I had put in a Mother's Love last year and the perfume is as good as Double Delight or Mr Lincoln. It is also a very delicate pale pink, but High Hopes is such a prolific bearer, shame is has such a tiny perfume, if any.

Pierre de Ronsard is incredibly beautiful. I have been a little leery of it because I heard somewhere that although it gives a gorgeous spring flush, sometimes there is very little rebloom. Do you guys know about the rebloom on PdR? I will of course go look up PdR's rebloom after this. I planted Climbing Eden in my former garden about 10-12 years ago, but moved about two years after planting it. I never got to see it grow and bloom to its full potential. It only bloomed a little for me both springs. (That house was in this same town, only 1/2 mile from my current home.) Those few blooms were sure beautiful, though! Maybe it's one that takes a while to get going. I know that's how it is with many climbers, but I'm pretty spoiled living in Southern California. Most roses start blooming right away, even climbers, and even from a band size. I like that it's also shade tolerant. It really is an exquisite rose. Your photo certainly proves that, Curdle! Lisa