I went yesterday, and got a sunburn. Beautiful. Took a look at Ebb Tide, which I really like in the online pictures. Ugh. Don't like and glad I didn't get it. Took a look at Firefighter and Dark Knight, which again, I really liked online, but not at all in person. Plus, they looked like they got hit with a torch - they're brown and kind of burned looking.
My new want list is:
Drop Dead Red
Midnight Blue
Silver Star
Scentimental
Yves Peaget.

I do have a question about Scentimental - I noticed that some bushes had blossoms that were mostly white with a speckling of the pinky red, and one bush had blossoms that were mostly the red with barely any white streaks. What determines what the blossoms look like, and are they consistent to each bush, or do they vary with temp and sun exposure and from flower to flower?

Minflick - that same bush stood out to me, and I was pretty tempted to buy it - it was so interesting as it still had a few normally colored white based blooms as well. Perhaps people familiar with striped color DNA may know what is happening. I have seen that same phenomenon with photos of the rare - Simsalabim.

OH, what a wonderful trip! I wish I could go too. All the rose nurseries anywhere close to me are gone now. Boo Hoo!

Regan's is my favorite nursery in the world. The first rose I purchased there about 25 years ago was (this is a repeat) a Pristine rose tree. It was my mother's favorite.
Last year was my first year with a small rose garden. And Pristine was my first purchase in honor of my mother. (gone now for 5 years) Pristine is a jewell.
It was suggested to me by the Forum Folks that instead
of putting in a raised garden over a cement patio, that I remove some of the patio and plant a new garden directly in the ground. I will be doing that next month.

My new babies will be:

Veteran's Honor
St. Patrick
Francis Meilland
Marilyn Monroe
Pope John Paul II
Midas Touch
Stainless Steel
and my newest love, Crimson Bouquet.

I live in the SF Bay Delta area. Zone 9B.

Any comments?

Don't you just love going and walking the rows! Our local nursery has a similar rose field (not sure about size) with a bunch of older plants trained on trellises and arbors. Even 5 foot standards. I will have to go and take a few pictures (and leave with only veggie starts-sigh)

It was a ton of fun, even if I did get burned. It will be even more wonderful in a month, when it's ALL in bloom. You could faint from the cumulative rose aroma. I sure would like to know what happened to those few roses that I thought would be gorgeous (the ultra dark reds) and instead looked like they had maybe sat in a hot car for a day and absolutely cooked. That part was sad.

Well, I missed you by a day! Lucky you to live so nearby! We drove down from Davis today. We spent most of our time geocaching at Quarry Lakes, nearby Regan's. (Any geocachers here?) Then about 4 o'clock, we finished up and drove over to Regan's. I love that place too! It has so many beautiful roses. I had to keep reminding myself that they have much better weather than I do and their blooming roses are perfection, while mine are wind-battered and too heated up.

Love the pictures you posted.

I picked out 3 roses and was told I got 10% off for three or more. Then, one of my three was an Eyeconic, unlabelled. I think it is E. Melon Lemonade. So, without a tag, I got it half off. DH paid for them for Mother's Day. What a deal!

I agree about Dark Night. It has a little glamour as a bud but open it's a brownish muddy purply red. Mine is terrible looking. My Firefighter balled and looked torched this spring also. Mr. Lincoln is doing the same thing. It has done really well in the past. Don't know what's going on. My other big reds are doing great. It's good to be able to see them before you them. I have only mail ordered from them. What a huge place.

Such fun! I always wait til the month of sales.

ill post a picture of what it looks like to go to a nursery here in the DR, that just happens to sell some roses......sad sight.

this on the other hand, is amazing. i would love to go visit one just like this.

Now you must go back when the have their sale. It lasts for a month starting Labor Day. All roses are half off. That's how I bought most of my Austins.

Andreark,

Crimson bouquet was almost in constant bloom here in Las Vegas and was a very clean plant.

Lynn

I'm green with envy! I wish there was a nursey like that near me!!