The canes of RDLH are a bit stiffer than most climber's canes so it needs a bit or 'man handling' to get it tied down properly if it is to be grown as a climber, and the super abundance of thorns are not easy to overlook, but for disease resistance, rich flower color and size, and powerful fragrance this rose possesses cannot be beat.

As a free standing shrub it should be let to grow as it wants to, canes arching in all directions, only pruned very, very lightly just to aid in it balancing itself, or to remove dead wood. It will develop a somewhat arching form in time, but not like say to the extent that a forsythia bush arches and cascades

Looking at your photo:.

The older branches on your RDLH are characteristic of growth given by young bushes. Its first 'grown up' cane is the one your inquiry is about. As RDLH matures expect most growth to be long canes like this first one emerging from the crown, pointing in time, in all directions as the bush fills in. It will also grow with many flowering (lateral) canes considerably shorter in growth emerging from along the length of these basal canes. They fill in the bush, giving it substance, while the basal canes give the bush its structure.

Hope you like RDLH as much as I do.

I've grown tea roses for over a decade. With success.

Forget what you learned about hybrid teas; they really aren't all that closely related. Treat teas as woody shrubs that you allow to build on growth year after year. Fertilize spring and early summer; don't fertilize fall because many winters you'll loose that growth in January or early February. That growth will come (anyway) but you don't want to diret it.

Water the tea roses; they like that.

You don't have to grow them up against a warm wall; they are happy here as long as they aren't in shade.

(Then look to chinas for hotter spots with major drainage and to noisettes for cluster blooming masses.)

floor

Alternatively, you could just get a wisteria.

House

So on to rose talk. I've long been an admirer of David Austin and his marvelous breeding program. Some people love to hate him, but if it weren't for Entlish roses, I'd likely have quit growing roses in my cold climate. I first fell in love with David Austin's roses in a much warmer climate almost twenty years ago. The fact that many of his roses are relatively hardy here in Eastern Ontario, 4b, makes them even more dear to me as a passionate rose gardener in a rose challenged climate. Its -20 C outside and going to - 28 C or colder tonight. So once more, my roses will be tested by a cold Canadian Winter.

Many of the Early English Roses prove hardy because of the fact that they have OGR and Rugosa breeding very close up in their genetics. This in my view also helps to give many of them a much more OGR habit, and form as plants than a lot of the newer releases. Yes, perhaps they are not as continuous flowering as the newer releases, but their hardiness and shrubby habit more than make up for that in my garden.

Some of my favorites are:

Cressida (1983):

This image of Cressida is one taken by Tivoli Rose, Susan, from New York, who used to frequent the forum. It is one of the most gorgeous rose photos I have ever seen. I hope she does not mind me linking to it, credit where credit is due.

Cressida has been one of my favorite roses every since I first saw / smelled her. She is one of the most fragrant roses I have ever smelled. Potent, delicious and fruity scent, of Myrrh and old fashioned perfume. Her blooms are ruffled and pleasingly dishevelled and have a rare old time charm with a hint of her Noisette / Climbing Tea ancestry, through Gloire de Dijon. She is three quarters Gallica through her pollen parent Chaucer and half Rugossa hybrid through her seed parent Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. She does best as a grafted plant. I have tried to grow her own root several times, but while she strikes cuttings easily, they remain extremely small, miniature size, for me. We shall give her a real test for hardiness this week. I did not winter protect her this year and the nights are very cold this week.

Lilian Austin:

Lillian Austin is a standout for her colour, rapid rebloom and cold hardiness. She is low growing and a bit sprawling, would make a good landscape rose. her blooms are a gorgeous salmon colour with a yellow centre and are especially lovely in cooler weather. I have grown her forever and would not be without her. Her cold hardiness is a bit of a mystery. Her breeding is full of tender Hybrid Teas and Floribundas with a only a little Gallica and Rosa Foeteda a long way back. But never the less, she must have inherited a cold hardiness gene from one of her ancestors, because she survives zone 4b winters year after year.

Redoute (1992 sport of The Mary Rose 1983):

Redoute is a sport of The Mary Rose, and I love its blush pink colour. He is also healthy, fragrant, vigorous, has prolific rebloom and is reliably winter hardy in my garden. I grow several plants of Redoute and Wichester Cathedral, a White Sport of The Mary Rose, in my garden. There is Gallica again, three generations back and that is where I presume the winter hardiness trait came from. No winter protection for these plants either.

William Shakespeare, the original (1987):

This is one of Mr. Austin's roses that has been "superceded". Not just superceded, but he has in fact named another rose William Shakespear 2000. I have grown both, but William Shakespear 2000 has left the garden after four years and several moves to try to make him happy. The original for me in my garden is vastly superior and remains. He is much more shrubby, vigorous, healthier, more winter hardy and just as good a bloomer. His flowers are larger and more of a garnet crimson that fades to a pleasing mauve purple similar to some of the old Gallica roses such as Hippolyte and Charles de Milles. The colour in my photo is a little washed out, so I have linked to a website with some gorgeous photos of this rose. Another early English rose I adore.

Well, I've gone on quite a while, got the rose bug out of my system for now on this cold January day. I've been hearing its cold in California. Sorry bout that, but I suspect its a wee bit colder here in the Great White North.

Cheers, Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: William Shakespeare at Démons et Merveilles

While looking through my albums, I found some more images of some of the cultivars I initiated this post with. Here are a few more:

Lilian Austin X 2

William Shakespeare (Original, 1987) X 2:

Redoute:

And while I was browsing images, I came across the two images below of another early, hard to find favorite that I have grown forever. The rose is Bredon, bred from Wife of Bath and Lilian Austin. He is short, under three feet for me, has an uprigh habit, very healthy in my garden, floriferous and quite winter hardyin 4b. He has a pleasant, mild fruity fragrance. I began rooting cuttings from my plant last year because he is becomming hard to find, though Hortico in Canada and a few nurseries in the U.S. still list him. He is in the same category as Potter & Moore, an early Austin cultivar that never got much attention and was never wikely grown. He is another of the early English Roses that deserves much wider cultivation IMHO.

Bredon (1984)

Jeri and Ingrid, you have both enabled me, Cymbeline and Potter & Moore are now on the top of my cultivars to trial list. Thank goodness I already have two plants of Pretty Jessica and one of Claire Rose coming in April. Too many roses, too little room.

I am really enjoying chatting with you all in this thread, it is giving me a much needed winter rose fix.

Cheers, Rick

Thomas' trilogy is a wonderful read, but unless you live in a climate similar to his, do not take anything he says to heart. You will not enjoy the results. MANY of us ignorantly believed what he said about the cold hardy OGRs, spending much money, time and effort until we learned what he wrote is only applicable to HIS type of climates. The same holds true for anything written by Beales. Don't get me wrong, these writers were "experts", they wrote wonderfully and did great things for the world of roses, but their advice and recommendations ONLY apply to THEIR climates. If they are to be faulted, it would be for not realizing and stating "your mileage may vary" and explaining why. That would have saved many from failing and feeling they just can't grow roses. Kim

Lady Hillingdon, maybe. Mons. Tillier. Rosette Delizy?

NOT the Cochets.

Better off with the Nabonnands. Gen. Gallieni, G. Nabonnand, Rosette Delizy -- they seem less-fussy to me, and their blooms open more easily. Maybe, I might start with G. Nabonnand.

None of the Nabonnands mildew for me, Diane -- and we, too, have cool coastal air and fog.

But keep in mind that you will get less bloom, than if they were in the sun.

OH, and don't get discouraged if they mildew when they're immature. We DO see that, and most outgrow it.

Le Vesuve mildewed its way through 5 years or so, and left for the landfill. Mme. Antoine Rebe is on her way to the landfill, after 5-6 mildewy years.

BUT, FWIW, let me tell you that we have a massive "Grandmother's Hat" under the canopy of a huge (and I do mean 3-story) seedling avocado tree. It is completely healthy, and blooms just fine.

Jeri

The general rule of amending soil it to mix in only material that is completely composted. It can be horse manure, pine needles, whatever you like, as long as it is composted to the point that you cannot tell anymore by looking what the source material was. Good compost will resemble dark soil. Composted horse manure no longer even smells like horse manure. You can handle it with your bare hands and it has no ick factor. Similarly, composted pine needles have broken down so much you can't tell that they started out as pine needles. Why? Because as long as these materials are still breaking down, they will tie up the nitrogen in the soil for their decomposition process. If they are using the nitrogen, it will not be available for your plants to use.

On the other hand, these same materials before they are broken down, or partially broken down, are highly beneficial as a layer sitting on the surface of the soil. This is exactly what happens to build soil in nature either in a forest or a grassland. There the material will act as mulch, doing all the truly wonderful things that mulch can do for your soil. The nitrogen tie-up will only take place where the soil and the mulch actually touch, so the plants are not impacted. Over time, the soil microbes and worms carry all that good stuff down where it is beneficial, and in a form that improves the health of the soil.

There are a couple of outstanding authors that have helped me sort out advice I've read or been told that sounds good from what actually works. At one time I was impressed by a lot of sincerely well-meant advice that I later set aside. Anyway, here the authors.

Linda Chalker-Scott
The Informed Gardener
The Informed Gardener Blooms Again

Jeff Gillman
The Truth About Garden Remedies
The Truth About Organic Gardening
Decoding Garden Advice

All of these books are available in paperback, and many libraries will have them as well.

Finally here is another quite wonderful book that would be enjoyed by anyone as intrigued by soil as I am, and you clearly are as well.

Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis

Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardner's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Happy reading and happy gardening!

Rosefolly

I've paired the following up and will post pictures this summer

Viola with Princess Diana

Barbara Harrington and Perle d'Azur

Ville de Lyon and Prince Charles

Perle d'Azur and Marie Cornelia

Emilia Plater and Madame Julia Correvon, looks especially good!

Ville de Lyon and Romantika

Florida Sieboldii with Barbara Harrington

Perle d'Azur with Comtesse de Bouchaud ... really prudy together!

Terrance

Tea

Be sure the ground is moist before you add the epson salts. I mix in a bit of 12-12-12 fertilizer for small rosebushes, and 16-16-16 for those that are more than 4' tall, and climbers.
I had amazing success with this for getting Le Pactole, and other Teas to get a move on. Before Epson salts Le Pactole bought as a band sized plant in spring of 2011, grew less than a foot in its first year in my garden despite wonderfully amended soil and all the love and praise I could give it.
In spring of 2012 I gave it a couple T. of Epson salts with 12-12-12 fertilizer, after I saw that it tolerated this well, I repeated this six weeks later. My Le Pactole' doubled in size over an 8th month period.
Le Pactole is one of the' slowest to build size" Old Garden Teas.
Now, on March 31, 2013 it is waist high and almost as wide,
Oh joy!
I gave Epson salts and fertilizer as stated above to Monsieur Tilllier and my plant bought in January 2012, as a gallon sized rosebush from a.r.e, grew to be 4 and 1/2 feet by September of the same year. My neighbor bought the same cultivar from a.r.e 2 months earlier than mine and her plant is still c. half the size of mine, on March 31,2013 and she has excellent soil and cultivation methods and means.
Best wishes for lovely roses,
Luxrosa

Here is a link that might be useful: Raven Penstemon

Just Joey

Miss All American Beauty

Plus seconds on: Dick Clark and Cherry Parfait

http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/

:-)

~Christopher

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Delights Nursery

White-blooming Darwin's Enigma was moved from another location to grow next to Don Juan behind the Hebe statue. I want to remove the clothesline T-post. Just need help doing that. It will be quite a chore!

Due to our continuing drought and extreme temps, Don Juan died back almost to her base. I thought it was a goner, but bounced back the following spring and look at her blooms!

You can see Tiffany through the arch in the Rose & Iris Garden. There are also Herbs in there.

The Roman Basket Arch was my birthday present from my mother last year. I was flabbergasted!

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Sat, Feb 23, 13 at 2:45

I just added two new roses this past week: "Pristine"

This is my favorite garden most of the season.

(CLICK on photos to enlarge)

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 16:19

As a counter to all those rose pictures, the last is of the front yard, just past the garden and concrete parking area. Just a little later now it's raining and hailing!

Ingrid

Jackie

Luxrosa

I grow LOTS of roses on pillars (actually rebar teepees). I simply get 3 pieces of 10 ft rebar, drive it into the ground about 20 inches (in a 3 ft triangle pattern) and secure the tops with an automotive hose clamp. I put the rose inside.

Robert

Another was planted to grow up the side of our garage. Did that, and also went another 20 feet up a pine tree next to the garage, from whence it is contemplating eating the neighbor's deck.

The third one was planted (in a large pot this time!) at the base of another plum tree next to the other side of the garage. It went up the tree 20 feet, and is also now trying to cover the entire roof of the garage.

I love them because they bloom for 10 months here, and get no care from me at all, except food once a year and some water during our normal 6 month summer drought.

I would not ever try to "control" this rose -

Jackie

She's a beauty

Carol

The wall of the house it is growing on gets a Western exposure, in sunny Calif. No crisping or blurning at all. Re cold tolerance, I understand that this rose is a Winchuriana hybrid, so it should have enough cold tolerance for your zone. Mine is perfectly healthy, and never gets sprayed (we have enough trouble going up on a 30 foot lader once a year to tie new canes up to the house!).

It blooms in waves all Spring and summer, more if you deadhead it periodically.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pillar rose photos

Shorter climbers, such as Golden Showers and Social Climber; the previously mentioned Austins as well as other bushier ones which can be permitted to develop into larger plants, but not massive monsters like Graham Thomas and its like, can very easily be trained like you would a climber, but on a smaller post, obelisk, pillar, etc. You do exactly the same thing as you would for a climber.

Grandmother's Hat is a marvelous rose for that purpose here in the warmer areas. Many of the later HPs (Mrs. John Laing, Mrs. F. W. Sanford, and others which grow similarly, can easily be wrapped around a post, pillar or obelisk to produce gorgeous results.

You basically want a plant which grows like a larger, floppier bush, instead of a house eating climber, so it's easier to handle and not overpower the structure. Kim

Some roses I use or would use for pillars include: Aloha, Cornelia, Mme Ernest Calvat, and Kathleen Harrop.

Here is a photo of Aloha:

One rose that works well on a pillar for me is the HP Ferdinand Pichard. I do need to go in and work on it two or three times a season, and occasionally tuck in a straying cane, but all in all that's not bad.

Rosefolly

This post was edited by videocheez on Tue, Feb 5, 13 at 23:41

My other suggestion would be David Austin Roses. If the catalog says it can be a climber, it definitely will be a climber here. Look through catalog and post your possible choices, people from California can comment on health and flower production. I have only two that climbs. There are many more to fit your requirements.

Falstaff 8'

Christopher Marlowe: Short climber 6-8'

Here's my only contribution, Rosa Mundi, the gallica, although you already saw it in the L's with Lynnie!

I don't soak the alfalfa, I just put down the pellets and mix it in with the compost and manure and let it break down naturally.

I can't bring myself to do the alfalfa tea because of the smell, lol! The fish is bad enough.

Jackie

For soil in the pots I followed both books, one by Field Roebuck of Texas, and the other by Ontario nurseryman Douglas Green. Here's my pots experiment with 32 roses:

1) The worst one is Ball Professional Pottting soil, NO slow-released fertilizer, mixed with 1 cup Hollytone (with bacteria like Rosetone, and sulfur). The growth is VERY SLOW.

2) MiracleGro potting soil (green bag, pH of 6.5) mixed with 2 cups peat moss, 2 cups native clay soil, 2 cups alfalfa meal. This was too wet for our rainy weather, and I had to drill extra-holes in the pot. The mix is too acidic, blackspot magnets Scentsational and Comte de Chambord broke out in BS, and I had to mulch them with horse manure, before they are clean.

3) See #4 below, except I ran out out potting soil, and topdressed mini Love Ya Dad with my native clay soil. It worked well: no blackspots, and it bloomed like crazy. The clay soil on top acted like a fertile crust to keep the below soil moist. This pot has the most bloom.

4) MiracleGro Organic potting soil (brown bag, pH of 7), mixed with 2 cups of native soil, 2 cups peat moss, and 2 cups of alfalfa meal. This gave the best result: Annie Laurie McDowell bought as a band is now 2' x 2.5' wide, too big, I'll have to put her in the ground. Jacques Cartier as a band became huge, and I had to put him in the ground after 1 month being bought. Also zero blackspot on roses with this neutral pH potting soil.

All my 32 pots were in full-sun, except for Paul Neyron in partial shade. I don't fertilize them except for topdressing with alfalfa meal mixed with fluffy potting soil before a heavy rain. I did it twice this summer. I was sick of pinching off Annie' buds constantly, so I gave her acid fertilizer high in nitrogen this month. She's the only one that gets it, since I want her to be very big before burying her bud union 4" below ground level.

See below picture of Crimson Glory as a band, with 1 month of growth, it's catching up with the gallon size rose behind it.

I have an old little pink climber (miniature?) I think. I will post pictures in the summer when it is blooming. It was saved from a farm. It gets long stems that are weak. I am not sure if it really is a climber or what. How do you tell if it is a climber?

picture from Sunset Roses. This is what they say: "Rose bushes are natural choices for flower beds and shrub borders; some also make fine hedges or container plants. The largest are the old garden roses, grandifloras, and shrub roses. Hybrid teas and floribundas generally grow with more restraint. Miniature roses are the smallest; some reach only 1 foot tall. For a little formality, consider a standard rose, a bush rose grown on a tall bare stem; a patio rose is a small standard.

Climbing roses grow on vertical surfaces or free-standing supports. The most vigorous ones, the ramblers, will cover a house roof or grow to the top of a large tree. More moderate climbers clothe arbors and tall walls. Small climbers, sometimes called pillar roses, are suitable for a pyramid or trellis. In addition to the roses that are classified as climbers, there are old garden roses and shrub roses that climb, and climbing miniature roses.

Ground cover roses make a low, mounding carpet of color up to 8 feet wide. They are most often massed on a slope or an area of the garden where other knee-high shrubs might be used. They also make good container plants."

Here is a funny pic of some of my roses growing together - the orange fading to peachy pink fading to white one in the foreground is an unknown rose that I think someone brought over to me as a dinner party hostess gift - I stuck it in the ground out by the street (you can clearly see the street curb in the bottom left of the picture), and forgot about it. It came to my attention years later, doing this. Actually, it is in full bloom right now - I just noticed it yesterday. The dark pink rose is the original Flower Carpet, which has also been left mostly on its own out by the street. The white rose way in the background is Gourmet Popcorn - it is on the other side of the sidewalk.

Jackie

I have other color themed beds but no good pictures.

I, too, very much enjoy this sort of arrangement, which here is all under a huge old pepper tree on the outskirts of the garden (Mme. Alfred is now at least 20' up into the pepper tree)

This post was edited by the_dark_lady on Fri, Jan 11, 13 at 11:34

2. If there is a light layer of pine mulch bark left over from last year in potted roses and the soil is low, what do you think if I simply cover the old mulch with a layer of soil + compost then cover that with another layer of fresh bark?

I'd dump the old mulch in a flower bed to continue composting and becoming part of the soil. I like to add soil underneath the potted plants to raise the crown where it was originally, then add to the sides and any necessary on top, then replace the mulch. My goal is to have the plant positioned in the pot as it was originally.

3. When planting roses near trees or other shrubs how do you keep the tree or shrub roots from taking over the new soil meant for the roses and stunt the roses?

That depends upon what kind of tree you're referring to. For massive root systems such as White Birch (gawd-awful weeds to plant around!), there is little you CAN do as those roots can find their way through block walls. For those with less massive root sytems, I haven't found it to be that much of an issue as long as the rose in question is a rampant grower.

4. How much does composted horse manure smell and for how long? Does it attract flies?

Composted horse manure has little smell other than "earthy" to me. Fresh horse manure smells like a sweaty horse for about three days, then most of the scent dissipates. I have NEVER had horse manure of any kind attract flies, and I've used a couple of tons of the stuff over the past thirty years.

5. Besides looking for rain tolerant roses is there any way to tell if a rose's blooms will survive lawn sprinklers, still open, not ball and turn mushy? Anyone have particular cultivars they recommend if roses will get sprayed lawn sprinklers?

Your greatest probability of success with this is to select roses with "heavy petal substance". Those with very stiff, waxy petals. The "substance" is a waxy cuticle, skin, over the petals which is what makes the specific varieties which possess it excellent for exhibition and florist work. It's also one characteristic which prevents scent in blooms. The heavier, stiffer and waxier (more "substance") the petal, the longer it lasts in a vase, the less scent it has, the more abuse/handling/refrigeration it can withstand with less damage, and the lower the potential for water to spoil it. Not that water WON'T spoil it, just not as easily.

6. Last summer when I deadheaded the roses I just pinched and twisted the blooms off instead of cutting the cane down to an outward facing 5 leaflet side bud. The roses grew new foliage on canes too thin to be productive. Is this something only done with Tea roses or other antiques roses?

There seems to me to be something else at work here than just snapping off the spent flowers. I have traditionally snapped off the spent flowers in my garden at the point of abscission for many years with no real ill effects. Anything which is too thin to support the expected flowers gets taken care of at the usual pruning time. What kinds of roses have you experienced this issue with? Were they situated where they received sufficient sun?

7. I've discovered that some of the pots (24" wide x 18" high) I'm using only have a capacity of 17 gallons. Is this enough for a rose that grows 4-5 feet tall?

Perhaps...but only with excellent drainage and religious watering, and insulation from extreme sun/heat exposure directly to the pot walls. If those pots are protected from extreme sun directly on them, and/or if you're in a milder, more coastal environment rather than an inland valley heat type, your chances are better. If not, no, extreme heat/sun will probably yield problems due to cooked roots and quickly dried out root balls. With roses, usually, if you have five feet of top growth, you have about that much root under it. For that much root to be squeezed into that size soil mass, there is probably not a lot of water holding capacity left. I'd also expect the pot sides to be lined with a fairly thick mass of root tissue, right where extremes in temperatures can more quickly and easily affect them adversely. Something the size you suggest is probably going to perform a lot better in the ground, presuming decent drainage and other acceptable cultural practices. Kim

There's a resource on the Web called Kuler. It's mainly intended for designers, I believe, but it really helps to show you how colours look when combined in different ways. It's a bit overwhelming but very inspiring. There's also a terrific iPhone app called Color Expert that lets you manipulate a colour wheel. You can photograph something- a wall you like, say, or a flower or a paint chip- and it will suggest complimentary colours and allow you to combine and manipulate them. don

Here is a link that might be useful: Kuler

Here is a link that might be useful: A blog entry on how fast Clems grow in spring

Here we have outrageous black spot, rare mildew and no rust. My personal experience on clay subsoil: The best roses have been Mme. Plantier, White Rose of York and Stanwell Perpetual with no black spot and good bloom. Souvenir de la Malmaison, Zephrine Drouhin and Gruss an Aachen have minimal black spot and not much bloom. In their defense, they are in shady locations. Cecile Brunner and Blush Noisette have bloomed well in full sun. It has been a long time since I have seen them but I do not remember them having black spot so if they did, it wasn't much.

If I were you and wanted a more complete survey of roses that grow well in this area, I would contact: Garden of Roses of Legend and Romance in Wooster, Ohio, Telephone Kelly King @330-263=3612 or email her @ king.1364@osu.edu

Cath

Munstead Wood

Princess Alexandra of Kent

Elle (HT) looks so charming here--a bit of bright red Dublin Bay climber showing on the right.

Here's four lovely pinks in a cluster--starting on the left, Austin's Mayflower, Cora Stubbs peony, floribunda Our Lady of Guadalupe, and behind it, Austin's Mortimer Sackler.

Here's one I'm going to miss--Love & Peace (HT). For some strange reason, it really declined after its big spring bloom, and given that it is prone to BS at the end of each cycle, I ruthlessly spaded it--but I will certainly miss its beautiful blooms.

But I still have this beauty to drool over: Chrysler Imperial (HT):

This is my Perfume Path--all the really good smelly ones, including the Double Delight you see in front there, are placed along that path:

Three of my favorites: That 3 Molineux (Austin) planted close together on the right, plus the vivid blue/purple larkspur that grows back wild each year and the new lilies called Silken Road. I liked them so well that I ordered 3 more to plant in there also.

I'll miss this one--Golden Showers climber that I've been growing for years. Fell victim to RRD this summer--alas!

I love my bright red Braveheart shrub--with my favorite climber--Dublin Bay, of course, in the background:

I have often bragged about my 7 darling minis called Sweet Diana, but it just occurred to me that I rarely show them. Well, here they are.

How's this for big, fat, and gorgeous? Peter Mayle (HT)--I have several of him and am crazy about this show-off!

I lost my beloved Buff Beauty during the long, drought-ridden, oven-hot summer. Bout broke my heart, but I already have an order in for its replacement to (hopefully) sprawl along the back fence like its predecessor did:

Let's end the nostalgic tour with some other kinds of beauties also--columbine and iris from last spring.

Hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did. Unfortunately, it is still chilly and rainy outside!

Kate

Marijke Koopman is outstanding as always. Winter hardy, disease resistant and vigorous. What more could one want?

Julia Child is amazing. Very healthy, and always loaded with flowers. This has got to be one of the all around best roses in recent years.

Artistry is doing very well. Perhaps my favorite coral orange hybrid tea.

Love and Peace seems to be indestructible. I'm not a big fan of the flowers, but this rose grows too well to get rid of it.

Now for my number 1 dud: Chris Evert. Beautiful melon colored blooms with nice form. The only problem is you only get them once a year. Then it spends the whole summer just sitting there doing nothing. What a tease!

The stars: Iceberg has lots of blooms, brilliant pink Iceberg has over 30 (got tired of counting) with good pink flush to them.
La Marne has bloomed nonstop & is still at it, same with "Caldwell Pink".
A big-box store Chrysler Imperial & Love have also thrown blooms steadily. All these are in full unrelenting sun.

Peach Belle has lush foliage & about a dozen blooms tho they are smaller. I quit fertilizing late June because it's so dang hot & dry. A couple of Tropicanas have been steady, too, but their blooms are small right now. These guys have some early shade but full blast sun the rest of the day.

A baby Talisman & a bigger Nasturana from Greenmantle. have bloomed since I got them this spring. Nasturana stays covered in bloom. They are in pots.

All of my other mauves are surrounded by cream, light pink, or deep red roses & the effect from a distance is that everything looks pinkish.

I agree that golden, warm tones look best next to purples.