I will be attending the Great Rosarians of the World program this Saturday at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in California. If anyone is interested I can bring the roses below that aren't appropriate for my garden, and you can take them home with you. Free!

My garden is concentrated on low maintenance, drought tolerant plants, with lots of California natives, including native roses as well as those from elsewhere that are similarly adapted. My roses and other garden inhabitants are expected to get along well with one another and really live in plant communities where they are often mutually beneficial. Many of my CA natives find having moist roots in the heat of summer and much/any fertilizer to be a deadly combination. Roses that like and/or need these things simply can't live under local conditions--making them happy means the demise of their neighbors and going to a less energy-efficient style of gardening for me. If I were to keep them, they'd be limited to growing in pots and would require me to give them lots of special care and attention. Thus we are not a good match. For those who have a more typical rose garden which gets frequent water, mulch, and fertilizer these may be more pleasing roses to grow.

Napoleon (china)--from Eurodesert via Antique Rose Emporium. This rose is unlikely to have RMV as I don't think ARE sells roses with RMV. Napoleon mildews heavily here *unless* given high amounts of fertilizer as compared to my other roses (like 15 times more at least) and heavy supplemental water, particularly in summer (seems to like WET feet). Very large plant, in a big pot (20+ gallon size).

Niles Cochet (tea)--sold to me as Niles Cochet but he is unlikely that rose. This plant has dark red flowers with black highlights (never a hint of cream or pinkish shades), strong upright stems (never nodding flowers), and strong damask scent. Looks like a dead ringer for Barcelona/Francis Dubreuil. Acquired by auction. RMV status unknown but no symptoms seen. This rose wants more humidity and water (low to moderate amounts lead to unattractive appearance and decline).

Tipsy Imperial Concubine (tea)--from Greenmantle which avoids RMV infected stock so she is likely RMV free. One of only a few roses that has ever had blackspot in my garden. Needs a great deal of supplemental water in the summer, so much so that neighboring CA natives perished. She has been replaced by Rosa pinetorum, Kraskoje Kawaskole (gallica), Eriogonum parvifolium (seacliff buckwheat), and Salvia eremostachya (desert sage).

I have seen these 3 roses growing elsewhere and in pictures on the web, and they look beautiful and happy. They are just not suited to my garden conditions.

Melissa