These 5 are puny, disease riddled, never blooming and the blooms ain't much to write home about when they do!

Oklahoma
Black Cherry
Fragrant Cloud
Intrigue
Snowfire

Now I know some of you are huge fans of a few of these but in my garden they're dogs! I'm terrible at shovel pruning so they've hung around for a while. But all of them went out to the new bed last summer and if they don't shape up and preform better there I will get rid of them!

Orange does not often go well in my garden. Westerland was a very pleasing shade of orange, and that is why I tried so hard for it to succeed. Trumpeter just did not work. I had two or three of them, and even tried to put them in a pot, and put them with purple or blue. It did not appeal to me.

Sammy

In my garden, shovel pruning consists of haphazardly digging up the roses, and moving them to the field behind my house to fend for themselves. Someday, someone will buy that land and inherit a rose garden filled with so-so roses (or a lot of thriving rootstocks...lol)! So far it has a lot of "mystery" roses that I purchased at big box stores before I really got into rose gardening. There's also a lot of perennials that have been relocated there when the roses explosion happened!

But, here are my 5 that are at risk of the shovel:

1. Bella Roma (grafted): Hasn't done a thing since I put it in the ground last spring!! One so-so bloom that blew by nightfall, and hasn't sent up any decent canes...just little twiggy things.

2. Eureka (grafted): Same reason as Bella Roma...but add in a bad case of BS!! (It surprises me that someone on the other thread listed this as one of their top 5...maybe I just need to break down and spray it!)

3. Jeri Jennings (own root) ...I'm sorry Jeri if you read this :( Started out great, but then hasn't done much. I've moved it to a more shady location...and still just a couple of leafless twigs! Il love the couple of healthy blooms I did get in the beginning!

4. Blanche Moreau (own root) Stuck it in the ground two years ago...hasn't grown, just a couple of yucky/brown leaves...but I keep it because I know if I figure out what's wrong, she will be beautiful!

5. Snowfire (grafted) Seil...yes,me too! I keep it because it was the first named rose (along with Christian Dior) that I planted at this house. Thorny little monster!!! Its blooms start out so beautiful and unique in the spring...and then the shrinking begins.....

...also would like to make an honorable mention to my top Blackspot roses: Ink Spots & April in Paris.

~Tammy

No disease problems with any of them; we just didn't care for each other....

2. St. Swithun - I'm not sure why Maurizio and Paul both like this rose. This rose gets black-spot in my country. The canes are stiff and the thorns are very prickly. The scent is light. Sporadic repeat blooms. I just started spraying fungicide, hoping this climber looks good in autumn. I like the name, 'St Swithin' though.

3. Nahema - I got rid of this rose immediately when I had recovered from a nasty cold last winter. Those balled cupped blooms that never quite opened up made me feel so depressed and misery when I was sick.

Applejack, won't repeat although I got it as a remontant lookalike companion for Complicata.

Amber Queen, blackspot magnet, inferior to Bernstein-Rose of the same colour in the same bed. And so puny that visitors think they are my own newly planted little cuttings after years in the ground. The problem is that they are too many to remove and replace, maybe a dozen plants.

Mme Caroline Testout, growing backwards now and too weak to produce more than one flower per season. It used to be good so perhaps I will give it another chance when I make over the bed.

Rose Gaujard, a pink with silver reverse HT with one or two cabbagesized flowers a year. The plant is so small that when you look at it from above all you see is the flower, with no leaves under it. The archetypal lollipop on a stick. My excuse for having it is that it came mislabeled and amused me at first but the amusement is wearing off.

Morden Fireglow: I knew when I got it there may be blackspot issues. Its not just inclined towards it, it invites it home for dinner. Blooms are okay, but they dissipate quickly. Color is great though. Love those orangey, poppy-reds.

Toro (Uncle Joe)
Marilyn Monroe
Falling in Love
Double Delight
Colossus

Pascali- I had three, and they repeated for me like crazy! The blooms were ugly and didn't smell nice, so I replaced them with PJPII. No regrets!

Crimson Bouquet- Flowered often and So pretty, but OMG covered in disease constantly!

This one isn't realy a hate, but I gave Peace to my mother because it never grew or flowered much. She's had it for a year, and it still hasn't.

1. MIP So -- let's start with the immortal 'Mme. Isaac Pereire,' a beautiful bloom on a plant that was never, EVER meant to live in Coastal Southern California. It suffered from every fungal disease known to modern man, and has been gone now for many happy years.

2. Henri Martin -- This famous old Moss Rose taught me that mosses are not well-suited to my conditions. It was only with us a couple of years -- and note: This is when we sprayed, REGULARLY. It did bloom, but I can't tell you what it looked like, because the blooms were ALL mis-shapen lumps of crusted powdery mildew. ICK ICK ICK.

3. Touch of Class -- Rightly famous for its extreme exhibition form, this Hybrid Tea has been widely praised. As I said -- Back then, we sprayed. Nevertheless, I NEVER saw this rose that its foliage didn't look blow-torched, so extreme was the mildew. ICK ICK ICK.

4. Midnight Blue -- The ONLY rose which has ever completely defoliated from blackspot. Over Night.
It might be a rare occurrence, but it's one I don't need to repeat. Leaves laying in a neat heap, all around the rose? Nooooooo ... The plant went from nekkid in the rose bed to nekkid in the trash bin.

5. City of San Francisco -- Another first -- the first completely healthy, continuous-blooming rose we have ever removed after one year solely because both of us loathed the color.
Light bright colors? This rose may be the one for you! It was on our hillside. It was almost never out of bloom. The color was so jarringly, SCREAMINGLY vivid that you could not avoid looking at it, though it was almost painful to do so.

So, that's my 5 -- but a list of roses we have purchased, planted, and subsequently removed would take much, much longer.

Jeri

Jeri

Shovel pruned the past 15 years:

1.) Eclipse - noted for beautiful buds and fully blown blooms of no substance.

2.) Old Timer - same as Eclipse with Powdery Mildew 11 of 12 months in arid desert.

3.) Golden Celebration - Burnt from the ground up every summer, rarely bloomed, so I moved the water off it. Didn't come back after that.

4.) Rise 'N Shine - aka Mr. Ugly. There are 100 other yellow minis with better blooms.

5.) Lowe's Eglantyne - same as Golden Celebration but didn't have to move the water off. Root structure was more impressive than bush. Literally needed a backhoe to get the carcass out of the ground.

We don't have blackspot or rust so non-issues in this area.

Its not that I don't love 'em. I just can't beat blackspot, midge and beetles!

So the meager group of survivors is lined up in the back row with Siberian Iris and mums in front to hide the gnarly, bare legs.

Geoff Hamilton. Rummor says it is pink. I wouldn't know, it never bloomed.

Glamis Castle. Covered in mildew. The leaves were the same color as the flowers.

Heidelberg. I can't say why I didn't like this one, but I really didn't care for it. There is something about many of the McGredy line which simply does not appeal to me.

Lilac Rose, blooms in clusters, and the flowers are waay too close together.

Heritage. Lovely flowers for about 30 min., then they start shattering. Floppy, shapeless bush.

And, the ever popular and greatly overhyped and oversold Galloping Gert. A bush ten feet tall with a fringe of flowers decorating the top I don't need.

Never Again Roses

1. About Face - tried it at two houses for about 5 years total. Saw maybe 2 flowers.

2. Heritage - ditto About Face, but never bloomed once.

3. Veteran's Honor - tried it for 2 years - no blooms.

4. Champlain - total blackspot magnet which is a rarity here.

5. Distant Drums - detest the myrrh fragrance. I could smell it all over the yard. Blech

Carol :)

Looking back on it, I think I'd plant Heirloom again, but treat it like a HM, and never really prune it. Treat it like Iceberg -- for the same reasons.

Jeri

Tropicana, mildew magnet

Double delight, I have 2 and neither ever took off

Laura Bush, It just hasn't grown much

Memphis music: slow grower, mildew

Sandra, mildew magnet

I'm not going to restrict myself to just roses I currently plan to get rid of. but I'll start there.

King's Ransom: and I had just high hopes for this one. But the blooms are not as big or shapely as advertised worse, it has weak necks that usually don't grow straight; it blackspots worst than most of mine, and it just is boring. I'm always looking for a great yellow, and I've been disappointed so many times. So far, Helmut Schmidt has remained my standby. just wish it had more fragrance and that the heat of summer wouldn't stunt the blooms as much. But it's been easy to care for and prolific and bright yellow with decent form.

Ambiance: this miniflora looks gorgeous in pictures, and very occasionally, it is beautiful in my garden as well. But the subtle, delicate blend of champagne and soft pink is so variable depending on weather and usually so bland as to not be noticed. The bush has been a lopsided grower, though maybe two years is not a fair length of time to assess that. The blooms don't stand up to rain well, which in my climate spells disaster. Even many roses known to be best in dry climates have fared better for me. Worst of all, the bugs can't get enough of these blooms, whether its the thrips or budworms or cucumber beetles, or whatever. Anyone in New Orleans who wants to take it off my hands after my "glowing endorsement" is welcome to it. But I'm not going to bother shipping it to anyone. That goes as well for King's Ransom. Better hurry, as I'll have shovel-pruned them in another week.

Past rejects for me include:

Barbra Streisand: I actually really like the singer, but this rose is definitely better in some regions than in others and doesn't do well here. The blooms are shapeless and short-lived, and the bush is blackspot city! Nice color and fragrance, but not enough to make up for those problems.

Dream Yellow: This rose was from one of the most over-hyped lines of roses more than a decade ago. To be fair, I never grew the Dream Pink rose, which was supposed to be the best. Dream Yellow was a horrible (or actually, terrific) blackspot magnet, with forgettable blooms.

Darn! I only get to pick one more? Let's see, I've dumped so many. Hard to choose. Some that were awful were not necessarily the most disappointing. The most disappointing would be ones with some great attribute that is outweighed by maddening flaws, like Papa Meilland, or Erotika, or Double Delight, or Scentimental, Sunsprite, Granada, or Rock and Roll.

But I'm going to say Mt. Hood. A white grandiflora, its off white, sort of dingy white, unbelievably blackspot-ridden. blooms very prolifically, but bland enough that it doesn't matter. and did I mention the blackspot?

Mike

I've given some away too, Peachiekean. I got Winner's Circle last spring and it didn't even make the whole season. BORING! Flowers with five scrawny twisted petals that never dropped clean so it always looked a mess. And Sunsprite I had for a couple of years. Everyone raves about it but it bloomed reliably but they blew so fast that I never got to see them. Blown they just looked like used Kleenex. They went to a friend who just wanted color in her landscape.

Arcadia Louisisana Tea - It didn't do much last year or the year before. In recent months the blooms have balled a lot and there haven't been many of them.

Nur Mahal - Very few leaves and not many flowers and not very often. It's my last surviving HM.

Full Moon Rising - It blackspots, and the squirrels are chewing it up badly.

Quietness - Not much bloom and a two-cane wonder. I moved it today to the west side of the house, right up against the house. I'm sure I might as well have put it at the curb.

Rose de Rescht - Gasp! So far it hasn't done much but it's only a year old.

Oh!! Baronne Prevost should have been #1 of the bad five. Horrid black spot.

Sherry

Nothing else comes close to #1, but roses that left my garden unlamented for lack of performance include: 2-4. Grace, the Mayflower, and Noble Antony-twiggy little things with non-descript flowers and 5. Charles Austin-monster that essentially was once blooming at the ends of long canes and then became an octopus the rest of the season.

1. Medallion. OMG - what a loser it has been for me. Two years after planting. Foliage isn't bad if you don't mind looking at nothing but foliage, although the bottom 1' of canes are bare. Got a whoppin 3 blooms last year. All were pathetic - loose, big blooms whose pedals lasted about a day, and didn't even look good for that day.

2. Europeana - straggly, covered with mildew. Gets lots of blooms - heavy enough to drag the blooms to the ground mostly just showing off all that nice white mildew.

Had two others: Pink Supreme carpet rose and Proud Land. Almost gave up on both, but after moving them, they are each starting to thrive.

Medallion, tho -- She can be a real winner, if she's in a warm environment. I think she's a Pernetiana of sorts -- so she wants some dry warmth. My old boss, 25 years ago grew her, beside a swimming pool in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, and she was terrific there. No vase life tho. And I really do like Brandy better. (And I wouldn't again try to grow even Brandy, where I live!)

Jeri

Hopscotch! Horrible miniature rose! I bought it bareroot this past summer...never did grow much, and what did grow, was quickly defoliated by BS almost immediatly (all the roses near it only had minimal BS) & most of the canes would die back as fast as they grew ...and the blooms: eeh, not much to say. The good news is it looks like it may have already become a victim of winter. It's too bad because I really do like the color of the blooms, they just lack in quality, at least for me :(

Funny thing is, every picture on HMF is mine...so I guess nobody has any raves either.

Heritage is quickly becoming one I could live very happily if something killed it one night. A landscraper installed it some years ago and the soil and hard scape around it are golden with rust. To think, I once liked it...Kim

Location, location, location, AND VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!

To my mind, the fact that some roses excell in places other roses fail (and vice-versa) is a wonderful, wonderful thing. It means that I can travel around the country, and enjoy roses I'll never see here.

And that's GREAT!

Jeri

Sherry

Kay

Zephirine Drouhin - completely solid white from mildew from bottom to top, left to right, 100% of the time for 4 years.

Madame Isaac Periere - bloomed heavily, but blossoms balled 100% of the time. I once saw 1 (one) open - it was lovely, but one in 4 years is not enough!

So, then I learned to stay away from magenta colored Bourbons!

I do agree that most roses can be lovely in the right climate, excepting personal preferences about what "lovely" means - such as color, or the scraggly/stiff/ugly habit of many HTs.

Jackie

Jeri

Hi Campanula: Queen Elizabeth is the best looking and the most compact bush at my zone 5a rose park - our winter helps to keep the roses short. It's interesting that a few people don't like Double Delight. It's even messier than Austins at the rose park: a jungle of canes, and the bi-color gets spotty in cold weather. I don't like Tropicana either at 7' tall and blooms at the top. Agree with Stgal on Knock-outs: I wish I didn't plant that many, Austins are way-better.

Strawberry, I'm like Jackie and rarely spade anything living unless I can give it away to someone else. So Intrigue went out to the new bed last summer with the rest of my shovel watch list. If these roses don't do significantly better this year I will yank them because I have a long want list and no space left!

You know the funny thing is that several of the ones I have given to other people actually did great for them! Lol, there's that location thing again.

Another one that is bugging me is Pretty Jessica. It bloomed when I first got it but now has just sat there for the past year. It is on my removal list.

My own-roots Austin in the Old Rose Hybrid Group: Mary Rose, Eglantyne, and William Shakepeare don't grow well in alkaline soil until I fixed the soil to make it more acidic. Tamora and Jude the Obscure are also in the Old Rose Hybrid Group, as listed in Austin's catalog. My other own-roots in the Leader and Musk do great on alkaline soil without any fixing.

I'm very sorry to hear about your shingles. I hope you get better soon. I had chicken pox when I was 31 years old and it was nasty - was bed-ridden for a few days.

What is your source for "Dr. Huey secrets enough acid to neutralize alkaline soil"?

Melissa

So I searched for more info. on plant roots and found the Canadian Agricultural site that stated nitrogen should be applied in the fall, but no need for phosphorus since wheat plants secret enough acid to extract phosphorus from the soil.

There's another site that explained how Dr. Huey secrets acid and is best for alkaline soil. I did not bookmark the above sites, but can re-search for them if you want the specific info. In previous forums there's another person who made the observation that David Austin roses in the Old Rose Hybrid is best on grafted, rather than own-root. His Leander group is from modern roses, and his Hybrid Musk Group behaves better than his Old Rose Group in terms of quick repeat and adjustment to alkaline soil.

I have one grafted rose on Dr. Huey, Pat Austin, that the nursery sent by mistake. She had the deepest green leaves, and the only one that went into the winter with many buds. The other 9 own-root Austins have pale leaves and can never measure up to Pat in terms of flowering.

Some of the best looking roses are the ones I've given away. I'll admire it elsewhere and ask what it is, only to be told, "YOU gave it to me!" Yup, always the way...Kim

SP'd for me: Cl. Pinkie, Memorial Day (balled - in this dry weather!?), Melody Parfume, Gourmet Popcorn (bleh, bleh, bleh), Night Owl (high hopes, low performance).

Thanks for the great information, as usual!

Multiflora wants more neutral to acidic soil and water. Rugosa wants close to that, with much less extreme heat and intense sun. I would also expect roses such as Ballerina (unless it's budded on Huey) to be unhappy there as it very closely resembles pure multiflora. That genetic line requires acidic conditions to absorb the iron it requires. In alkaline conditions, they become very choloritc, often to the point of having white leaves and very pale flowers.

If you haven't already, buy a premium membership on HMF. One of the many benefits is the ability to search the lineage of roses you are considering for your garden. Research the ones which have been bad for you and note what's behind them, both varieties as well as closely relates species. Look for patterns, then research those which interest you to see if those patterns are repeated. Read the comments posted by those who have grown them. You will find MANY correlations between the roses which have not performed well for you where you are and those which have common breeding lines and haven't performed well for people who garden in similar conditions to yours. You can quickly learn what to watch for and avoid, saving you a lot of time, frustration, effort and expense. No, it isn't perfect, but it's a whale of a lot more accurate than simply buying another rose and having it offend because it's virtually the same as the last ten which failed.

I KNOW most roses closely related to multiflora won't be happy in my conditions. There are a few which have surprised me, but many more which have verified my conclusions. I know from experience, Rugosa will hate it here, and many Rugosa hybrids, no, MOST Rugosa hybrids will have extreme issues in my climate. The ones with nearly legendary cold hardiness and disease resistance in harsh, cold climates, WILL have extreme disease issues here and will eventually decline to one cane wonders. My climate is too long. My heat is too intense. There is no winter rest and the plants insist upon holding their foliage far longer than it remains disease resistant so it catches black spot and rust and CAN'T be sprayed. Rugosas will not tolerate chemicals sprayed on their leaves. They'll turn yellow and defoliate. I don't spray, won't spray, so why do I need roses which require spray here (whether or not they will tolerate it) to be happy? Being able to see what created the roses I am considering shows very much what I might expect.

We had a discussion about the various breeding lines in Austin roses. Strawberryhill determined the ones which didn't perform well for here were of specific lineage. Being able to SEE what is behind the ones she wants to try shows her what she might expect from them. Check it out and see. It's actually extremely interesting and one of my favorite site features. Kim

I did some searching and found why "Rose Replant Syndrome" is a problem in acidic soil and Dr. Huey. It's the aluminum toxicity with low pH, the info. below is from http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/acidity2_review.html

Problems in very acid soils
*Aluminum toxicity to plant roots *Manganese toxicity to plants *Calcium & magnesium deficiency *P tied up by Fe and Al *poor bacterial growth *reduced nitrogen transformations

We don't have the above severe problems in alkaline soil, but we have these minor problems: iron, manganese, and zinc deficiency. Phosphorus for flowering and root development is tied up with calcium and magnesium.

The acid phosphatase activity of Dr. Huey is described by Wikipedia as: "Some plant roots, especially cluster roots, exude carboxylates that perform acid phosphatase activity, helping to mobilise phosphorus in nutrient-deficient soils."

High rainfall helps to lower pH. I didn't know that the pH of rainfall is 5.7 - that's a lot lower than my hard water at pH of 8. Below is an excellent link on sources of soil pH:

I checked pictures of the root system of Dr. Huey versus Multiflora. Dr. Huey is more of a cluster root, Multiflora is more of a suckering and spreading root, typical of invasive species.

I just dug up and threw out 'Little White Pet', which I cannot really complain about except I just didn't get a thrill from it. Outstanding disease resistance, rebloom, plus fragrance, and it still didn't do anything for me. Sometimes, it's not the rose, it's the rosarian!

Diane, I hope you soon recover. I've been considering for the past couple of months getting the shingles shot, but it's not covered by insurance so would be a couple of hundred bucks. Is the misery bad enough to spend two hundred bucks to avoid getting them?

Here is my list. Mind you, I haven't dug any of them up. I'm afraid I'm like Jackie and can't bring myself to kill any of them.

Fourth Of July--miserable blackspotty three-cane wonder without much bloom.

Paul Neyron--tall, skinny sticks with occasional blooms at the top. Also blackspots.

Anna de Diesbach (sp?)--tall, skinny, few leaves, few blooms except in spring and blackspots.

Climbing Pink Pet--Visciously thorny, no blooms, and is climbing into everying--didn't realize it would throw such long viscious canes. Not a pretty plant at all.

Don Juan--nekkid canes, sparse bloom. They were a gift from my children, so I can't get rid of them. Trying to cover them up with Red Cascade.

You can still see what the immediate parents of the rose are on the description page, but if you want to look further back, you have to manually enter each one and for each generation. With premium membership, you click on lineage, then click parentage tree and it takes you back as far as there is information!

As you look back, you may click on each parent and follow their heritage or descendants in any direction you wish. It's fascinating!

When you find a combination which seems to have made roses which do well in your climate, you can easily search for others of that line to see what information there is about them growing where you are.

As has previously been suggested, you can look to see who is growing them where, then email those who grow it in climates similar to your own, asking how they find it in their conditions. It permits you to narrow your focus and (hopefully!) get more appropriate information about what YOU might expect from the rose from people who garden in similar climates and areas. Yes, we do it here, and you still CAN, but this can enable you to find more suitable information about many specific varieties you find interesting. Kim

Oregold (killed itself) - ugh, spindly, stunted, and pathetic, I called it 'daffodil rose' for its oddly shaped flowers

Don Juan (killed itself) - never wanted to bloom (and when it did, they were ugly), wouldn't grow, and was never happy, even in a prime spot

Reine Victoria (soon to be shovel pruned) - has only put out one tiny flower in the 2 years I've had it, and it won't stop growing

Pele (I would shovel prune it if I were allowed!) - spindly, very dingy, ratty looking flowers

Mr. Lincoln - never grows, one flower a year (and not a very nice one at that), has been moved and still does nothing

P.S. Heritage is one of the few own roots I've had that actually survived and flourished! It keeps its petals for a day or so and almost always puts out pretty blooms. About Face is the tallest rose in the garden and never stops blooming. Ever!!

I didn't get it all out when I moved her and now the two roses are together. At least the colors harmonize. The moved Mary Rose never was as nice as she was when she was in a 15 gallon pot. You are right strawberryhill. I didn't realize that the own root Mary rose would not take to my alkaline soil and is slowly deteriorating. Heavens my Shakespeare will suffer the same fate if I don't do something. These were both magnificent as own root potted plants. I can't grow azaleas except for in pots. As soon as I put them in the ground, they slowly decline. The others I have in the old rose group are all on Huey and growing strongly. ***sigh*** More work for the weekend but at least I know now.

Now I would like to speak up for Medallion which is one of my best roses. This is one of the most elegant and graceful roses I grow. The color is slightly changeable and the sumptuous extra large blossoms nod slightly on long stems. The late afternoon light makes the thin petals glow in a translucent way like dreamy fairy lanterns. When I first saw this rose it was at Cal Poly Pomona. The extra tall plants had been bent over by rain and the magnificent grand flowers were almost touching the ground. I held them up and photographed them from every angle and then went to the rose books hoping to identify them. What this rose needs is a warm situation and some sturdy staking up. Maybe a warm wall would do for some of you. It would be too much heat here near Anaheim unless it was a morning sun location. I used to have rust problems but no more since I moved her next to others that don't attract rust and by tying her up high and keeping the ground clean below I haven't had any problems the last 7 years.

I love this rose. It makes me so happy. In morning sun the flowers open slower and last a few days. Then just before sunset, the warm light kisses all the soft apricot petals goodnight.

On their way out this year:

New Dawn -- Ho hum. Stingy monster too. Although I love its delicate fragrance.

Jude The Obscure -- Still scrawny after 3 years. Well, we tried...

Yellow Knockout -- The blooms don't age well and the bush is really ugly when the blooms finish, plus it's hard to deadhead. Enough already.

Liv Tyler -- I wish I'd seen it in bloom before I bought 3. Blooms are a coral-pink, similar to Gemini. Nice vigorous rose, but a color I don't much like.

Ugh. What a stinker. So incredibly unhealthy. It was a disease magnet in my yard, plus the Japanese beetles had a field day on it also. I got one, count them, one measly good bloom off of it in 2 years (although it was stunning!). After the 2nd year in the ground, it starting losing all it's leaves although was pushing out buds that barely could produce a bloom.

I finally had enough and made my ex-husband dig it up. It was too much trouble. What bothered me was I specifically picked that rose because it reminded me of one we had in our backyard growing up; a huge hot pink. It was the closest I could find to what I recalled.

Maybe it was where I got it from, it's possible. I don't remember the nursery - it's years ago. I'd be inclined to try it again because I love the color and form of it but, geez it really was an aggravating experience for a new rose grower.

Pascali was awful for me.

Double Delight I loved in the beginning, but I'm sick of it and any other rose which resembles it.

I might dislike Tropicana. I have a bush which I think is Tropicana but not sure--it has mildew at the hint of moisture in the air.

SP'd or given away -

2 pink double Knockouts, that I tried in a mixed shrub border - they were OK but I need the space, and thought they were boring;

Charles Darwin - octopus canes that flowered well enough, but blooms that faded to an ugly sickly parchment that I just couldn't stand

Arizona - for a supposedly vigorous rose, for me it was a mildewed mess that never grew

French Lace and Just Joey - both had exquisite flowers but just limped along - sad as the flowers are so beautiful. Finally got SP'd as I couldn't stand the decline year after year ):

Anyway, wish me luck with the Medallions, they are getting prime real estate in my tiny garden - I don't have room for any slackers!

1. Harlow Carr - the one and only rose I've ever shovel pruned. In my yard, I had two of them from David Austin directly, and it was a scruffy, mangy, spiky bush with quarter-sized tufts of mum-like nondescript blooms. The whole effect was like something out of Dr. Seuss, and I even like mums! I know this one is on many people's favorite's list, but one was put in a pot to "survive" the winter (knowing it wouldn't) and the other was thankfully given away.

2. What a Peach. Otherwise known as "what a bore". It's a tallish column of a bush with peach-ish semi double blooms that blow easily, and are decidedly "meh". It only stays in the yard because it's undemanding and tough as nails, being one of the "east side survivors", but one day I'll replace it with one of the Canadian shrubs.

3. Fimbriata. Oh, the pictures look so lovely with fringed edge blooms delicately wafting off the ends of branches, but it's another "meh" of a bush that has little to no rebloom and an uncontrolled rangy habit. This one is in more prime location, so it's closer to meeting Mr. Shovel.

4. Rountuit. Much as it pains me to speak ill of anything involving the incomparable Ralph Moore, this one is entirely forgettable. I bought the rose when Sequoia went out of business, mostly for his name and the rose's, but this is another lanky leggy non-rebloomer with forgettable little pink scentless pompoms for a brief period in spring.

5. The Alexandra Rose. This one at least I have the excuse that I didn't order it - it came as a rare mistake from Ashdown, which they of course rectified as soon as they learned about the mixup. If mine ever looked like the haunting pink singles on HMF I'd like it better, as I've recently increased my appreciation of singles. Even after 5 years, though, its blooms are scattered and unremarkable. It's not in prime sun, which means it might not be the rose's fault, and it weaves around the neighboring roses for a spot of variety, so it'll probably stay unless I need the space.

Cynthia

first and foremost. knockout. yes, it is such a shame it is everywhere, even my kids know it is bad news. it gives roses a bad name, and there are SO MANY easy to grow beauties!!

2. new dawn. nasty thorns, worthless for the time, trouble and effort...and in a prime spot. so sad, such hopes. first patent and all...whoop!

3. distant drum. couldn't be distant enough for me. the color REEKS. mauve. with a brown current. awful. i tried to like it.

4. laura bush is crap. the rose, not the lady. twiggy, bad color.

5. oh, the possibilities...hmmm, zepherine drouhn (Spelling is off). i am reminded to sp this gal after her two blooms for the year are over. and to think i gave her 10 years, which reminds me of don juan, but, only 5. but you know where i am headed.

I have added Spirea and Viburnum branches along with corn cobs left from feeding the squirrels in the winter and made some of the most incredible steaks ever.

Best not to use too thick of steaks as the fire does not last near as long as regular wood.

Several years I grilled thin Lamb steaks and they were good beyond description.
People who I have had over to try them agreed fully.
RpR

JFK-Healthy plant, lots of blooms but they are so ugly to me every single bloom has brown crusty edges, yuck!

Tropicana-vigorous canes, good lord! but so thorny and quite frankly I find the color too brash

Ebb Tide-she's been in the ground for over 5 year & is still only 1 ft tall with thin yellow canes & little blooms, it's probably just poor stock other people in my area have decent looking ones, just not mine :(

Distand Drums-I love it's shape right after it's bud opens and I love the color, but the blooms shatter like crazy and it has no smell for me

Hot Cocoa-another vigorous grower but with a bajillion thorns and itty bitty flowers with no scent. I do love the color and if they were regular sized blooms instead of 1 inch across I might have kept it, oh well

~Rose

Carol