I'm not familar with those roses but glad you had fun shopping for roses...

You've got some of my favorites there, and some real beauties! I think you're doing very, very well. I placed three (okay, four) small orders to replace some plants I lost, but most of them started coming back. And a couple of visits to the big box stores brought home a few more.

And hey, I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself from getting the Valencia.....

Hey, is this Xmas in May? Sounds like you are having fun!

I'm not familiar with most of the roses you listed, but let me say that anyone who passes up Valencia definitely has problems! Aside from the big beautiful long-lasting blooms on Valencia, she is also a good smeller and has above average disease-resistance.

My one complaint is that Valencia is a bit slow on the re-bloom, but on the other hand, she has some of the longest lasting blooms I've ever seen.

Get back to that nursery and grab Valencia before someone else gets her!

: )

Kate

I really love Valencia! She is worth saving a spot for!
Susan

I'm sure you've made some good choices, Seil. Sounds like so much fun! I'm definitely a fan of Pink Peace, Tiffany and Love Song. I planted a Valencia, but it hasn't bloomed yet. You've also listed several others I've wanted to try, you have good taste.

I love Bella Roma, it does smell great. I am getting Power Point too! I am getting my first minis. I keep seeing them at shows and I am hooked. I will have to check out Valencia.

Congratulations, Seil. Looks like you will be ready for the alphabet game on the rose gallery :) There is only one photograph of Mary Pickersgill on HMF. I hope you will add more. It looks like a beautiful rose.

Hi seil, the only plant I can comment on is grace seward. it has been quite a few years since I have had this plant but it was one of my favorites. bloomed its a** off. it had a unique fragrance I could never discribe, almost citriscy( not sure if that's a word, lol). Idon't remember any blackspot to speak of, but it did mildew some in early spring, but always straightened itself out when the nice weather settled in( I never spray by the way ). One of the things I remember was the rose pedals always closed up at night.it is the only single rose I ever had so I don't know if that is unusual, but I thought it was cool

This post was edited by bobbyb123 on Fri, May 30, 14 at 7:30

So far,great Now you need to add Daddy Frank, Pierrine, Odessa, Black Jade, Tiffany Lynn (one of my top 5 roses), Reginna Lee ( suffered 0!! damage from this winter), Good Old Mountain Dew. There's a few others but I can't think right now. Just a little tired.

OK, now I'm mad I didn't get Valencia! I see another trip in my future, lol!

Lol, Ken, PM me a list! I'm always looking for good show roses, particularly minis and minifloras. I lost all but 3 of my minis this winter and 10 of them were Frank Benardella's. I need to replace a lot of those!

I had most of my show roses in the pots because when I planted them out in the beds I had people steal blooms. Most of the time I didn't really mind but when they did it the night before my show I was LIVID! So I potted all my best HTs and minis up so they wouldn't be accessible to the public. Unfortunately they all croaked this horrid winter so that's what I'm trying to replace. Mind you most of them won't have blooms for this year's spring shows but maybe for the fall show I hope. For the first time I got a few of the show "bankers" around here like Gemini and Moostone. However, I'd like to get some that aren't shown all the time too though. I think it's important to have some of the odd ball roses on the tables at shows for the public. But I can't get those locally and will have to wait until fall to place some orders on line.

Jasmine, I forgot to add that I have every letter except "N" again. I bought two last year, New Day and New Zealand, in the hope that I'd be able to keep it least one alive. Nope, they both died! So now I'm looking for another "N". Hmmm...maybe Nancy Jean...I hear she shows well!

N = Neptune. Nemesis

Oh, wow. It sure sounds like you had fun. Did you shop locally? I wish there was a rose nursery in my neighborhood that I could drop in on. There's something so satisfying about seeing the plants in person & choosing the ones to take home.
The only rose my local Lowes had was Europeana (which may be a great rose, but there were about 30 of them & nothing else!)

Seil, enjoy the rest of your shopping & post pics when those buds open.

Where are you getting them? Locally? On-line? I recommend the mini Crazy Dottie. It laughed off winter here. Own root last spring from Heirloom and I plunked it in the ground and said que sera sera. Did great and jumped back this spring.

I think that Soroptimist International is one of the late Frank Benardella's finest roses. I have two. One (own root) was hacked down to less than nothing by the lawn service last fall, it came back nicely, and is about to bloom. The other one (grafted on R. multiflora) is loaded with buds, excellent form.

I have two each of Gemini and Tiffany. Give Leading Lady room, it gets to be the size of a small floribunda here.

Enjoy!!!

'Gemini' is a nice one. You'll enjoy it. Good to see you are forging on with roses despite the terrible winter losses, because you are such a skilled grower. Looking forward to some beautiful photos!

Yes, for the most part these were all bought locally. I've been to 6 local nurseries so far and there are a few more I would still like to get to. Some of them are better than others, and I've noticed that for the most part I'm only seeing Weeks roses, but at least I'm lucky to have some within driving distance.

A couple of the minis were sent to me by some very nice people on here (thank you guys!) and 3 were ordered earlier from For Love of Roses. Then I bought 8 minis through another rose society in Grand Rapids. They order a big bulk order of minis for their annual fund raising rose sale. Which is good because even though I have all those good nurseries, close enough to go to that carry a good rose selection, none of them carry any minis. So if I want those, and I do, I have to order them. And I like to help support the other societies anyway.

It's pouring rain here today so no chance to get out there and work with the new roses, boo hoo, but they'll be well hydrated for planting, lol!

Seil, I'm sure you're familiar with them, but just want to add that X-rated and Conundrum are fantastic here, and are must haves for me. Oh, and Lo and Behold is gorgeous too. I do love the minis and minfloras!

I just bought Foolish Pleasure, have not been able to get my hands on Unbridled. Maybe F.L.o.R . still had it and I missed it?

Silly me, just saw your photos of X-rated on HMF. I guess it didn't do well in your climate.

Thanks for the tips, Bunnicula! X-Rated is alive and well! It's one of the three minis that did survive. The other two are Snow Ruby and Iced Raspberry. All the rest of them died.

I had Lo and Behold at one time but it didn't make it here. I'd love to get Conundrum but it's usually sold out by the time I go looking in the spring. But this year I'll be ordering in the fall because I know I have roses to replace so maybe I'll get lucky. The other one I've been trying to find with no luck is Ultimate Pleasure. With all the nurseries that have gone out of business it's getting really hard to find the minis and minifloras and when you do they're all sold out.

Thanks for the tips, Bunnicula! X-Rated is alive and well! It's one of the three minis that did survive. The other two are Snow Ruby and Iced Raspberry. All the rest of them died.

I had Lo and Behold at one time but it didn't make it here. I'd love to get Conundrum but it's usually sold out by the time I go looking in the spring. But this year I'll be ordering in the fall because I know I have roses to replace so maybe I'll get lucky. The other one I've been trying to find with no luck is Ultimate Pleasure. With all the nurseries that have gone out of business it's getting really hard to find the minis and minifloras and when you do they're all sold out.

Hi seil, the only source for ultimate pleasure that I know of is two sister roses andthey are going out of business ( another nursery gone ). but I was just on there web site and they are taking orders till June 1st. move fast and contact them maybe you will luck out.
It is so true, mini roses are getting so hard to find. the only good sources left are Burlington roses and heirloom roses. burling is a one person nursery and she is not going to be around forever when she retires it will a HUGE loss.

seil, I just received Conundrum from For Love of Roses, ask Richard if he has one, or could put one aside for you.

A friend way up in the mountains north of Asheville and on a mountain top, at that, has grown Grace Seward successfully (as in lives through winter WITH viable canes) up against a wall (that is painted medium gray- divine colors together). She overwinters most of her minis in a greenhouse, but GS seems to do well on that south facing wall in what is probably zone 5.

I don't know any of these besides the well-known ones (Bella Roma, Pink Peace, Tiffany) but I hope they all grow and bloom their heads off for you!

Well done Seil, and that's the perfect antidote to winter rose death. Nothing like new plants to add excitement to the rose season! Among those you list, I've had good hardiness pretty consistently from Lady X, Legends, Pink Peace, Tiffany, and Valencia without any particular fussing. None of those bloom tremendously frequently for me, as many show HTs don't, but I agree with the enthusiasm for Valencia. The blooms are to die for and my plant has regrown well from the roots even this last winter.

Among the others, I've had Bella Roma and Cinnamon Dolce die on me once, but they were relatively late delivered bareroots and didn't make it through the summer. I've tried again with Bella Roma and also have Bee's Knees planted this spring, and so far so good. Gemini has survived reluctantly in my warm zone 6 pocket in the ground, so it might prefer some babying in your real zone 6 in pots.

Have fun, and if you want more "N" rose suggestions, I agree that Neptune is a good HT that has survived well for me, as does my preference Nostalgie (Heirloom now sells this one) and Nigrette (lovely dark red blooms, but not show worthy). If you go outside of HTs, the floris Nimbus and Nina Nadine are both nicely hardy for me, and Nimbus is a haunting russet-lavender color. Nymphenburg is a plant and forget Hybrid musk and Nicole would be an ideal choice as a Kordes flori except that most of the plants sold are really Hannah Gordon (hence no "N"). Neil Diamond looks very promising for a striped HT that has show potential, but I can't report on hardiness till next year. Of course, if you have room for a climber Nahema is a hands-down winner on all accounts.

Any "X" roses out there beyond X-Rated? That's the only letter I'm missing, and I'm not as much into minis if I can do that letter otherwise.

Anyway, enjoy your purchases and have a great time watching them bloom!

Cynthia

Wow! What a list. Congrats...

Dan

Thank you everyone for all of your advice and encouragement!

I tried checking with Two Sisters, Bobby, but never got a reply. I'll have to hope someone else gets it.

I did get 3 from For Love of Roses, Diane, but they're pretty picked over for the season so I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up some others in the fall for next spring.

That's very good news, Ann! I'm looking forward to Grace because I'm very partial to singles and don't have any single minis.

Thanks for all the great help, Cynthia! No, I haven't found any other "X"s either. There are some listed on HMF but most of them aren't available anywhere.

Two Sisters may have closed?

Yes, they're closing. It's on their web site. I did send an email but never heard back from them.

I picked up both Valencia and Veterans' Honor today at the nursery!

Two great choices, seil. We look forward to beautiful photos!

Kate

Congratulations on procuring beautiful roses!

It is hard to lose roses. I am glad that you are foraying ahead with fond memories of the past roses; and eagerness to enjoy the new ones. Roses are healing! :)