I have a brand new Firefighter and rose bed. The bed and roses were put in on 6/10/13. FF has buds just ready to open, and as soon as they do, I'll post a photo of the new bush. It's not really a new bush, it is rather developed for having just been planted. But I will post photos anyway.

Is your FF grafted or own-root? Thanks
Pics would be great! :) Thanks!

My firefighter is from Fremont Nursery and is grafted.

FF had one large, close to opening bud when I planted it. When it opened, I was very disappointed. It was a very washed out color.

As of this morning, (11 days after transplant) 3 more buds have opened. And the color is glorious. It is the same as the pics on HMF show. The blossoms are rather small but I feel certain that they will become larger when the bush is acclimated to it's new home. The first blossom was much larger.

My camera batteries are charging as I post this. I will send a photo when they are ready.

andrea

Thanks a million! It looks great andrea! :)
How long do those blooms stay on the bush? What's your average temps this time of year?

Our climate is probably cooler than yours on average but today was 90 degrees here with more to follow...

Anybody have Firefighter in a cooler climate?
I'd like to know how much winterkill FF gets, etc. Thanks!

Jim,

As I said, the first bud was nurtured in the nursery, so I can't really say how long one of these will last on the bush. They just opened. But I don't think I will really know for some weeks or even months. They change as they settle in. Our temps here get mostly to the high 90s several times a summer. But our winters(?) rarely get below the 30s. HMF says FF is heat resistant, but it says it is good from 6b and warmer.

I hope you can find someone that has raised it in a colder climate.

Let me know later if you want more photos or info when it's settled in.

andrea

Here's mine, unfortunately my 'Laguna's support broke and 'Laguna' fell over onto 'Firefighter', so they are mixed. The wall right behind it is 6 feet tall, you can see how tall FF will get here (very tall).

However kind of gives you an idea. My FFs grafted or own-root have been slow to establish.

Hi Jim,
I'm in KY zone 6 which is somewhat closer to you. My Firefighter is 2nd year, came through last winter with almost no dieback. It's grafted and I did throw a bit of straw round it for extra protection. It gets 8 hours or more of sun and currently has about 15 blooms on it. They seem to last several days if not a week and don't fall apart, rather they go dry on the bush first. It's been around 90F here too all week! Gorgeous red color, deep and velvety, that was the right word that was used above :)

Thanks for the pics & descriptions of FF everyone! :)
I think I will transplant ML to another location and
try a firefighter next Spring... Thanks!

Here's a pic of my grafted FF from this spring...much bigger now...gets at least 6 ft by end of season here, but stays fairly narrow. In the pic, I had just lost 6 canes on it from strong storms due to it's tall, narrow structure...but it has put out so many new canes already to replace those...new ones are constantly shooting up. It's in full sun from sunrise to sunset and handles that just fine. Flowers stay on the bush around a week and don't crisp too much on the edges. Holds it's fragrance until the end. Also a great long lasting cut rose. Mine has big flushes (it has at least 50 buds on it right now even with our current temps in the upper 90's), is quick to repeat and keeps quite a few blooms on it in between the big flushes. Not sure if it applies to you, but an added bonus for me is that out of my eighty roses, it's one of only 3 that has had no Japanese Beetles on it so far this year.

I have both and think Mr Lincoln is a much better rose

Great description & pic of FF pat_bamaZ7... :)
Glad to hear your Lincoln does so well dmoore66 ....:)