Let's enable each other for some final Vintage purchases!

10 years ago

Hi folks

Gregg from Vintage Gardens recently sent out an email saying they have sold a lot of their current inventory prior to (sob!) closing, but they will stay open for web sales the rest of the summer to sell off some additional roses they have in stock. Their current listings have some very very nice roses, and I thought it would be helpful to share our personal experiences with some of the roses still available to encourage folks to continue to seek them out. Vintage always has strong healthy bands, and you can't go wrong by ordering something that catches your eye.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll start by praising a few that have started blooming for me this year. I have many more roses from the current Vintage listings, but a lot of them are first year plants that are too young to be blooming (since I now pinch buds faithfully).

Below is a 4-year-old Illusion own root rose growing up the arch, with Sunrise Sunset in front and Hot Cocoa to the side. Illusion is a fantastic climber for those of us in cold zones - it laughs off winters and blooms more or less steadily all season, with disease resistant foliage (to BS at least). Highly recommended.
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The next is a Valentine bloom, also own-root, this one from Ashdown. Valentine wins my personal prize for "survivor", since it had died down one spring and I didn't see anything all year, but left the tag up because I had an outside hope it was alive. Against all odds, after being dormant a whole year it came back from the dead, putting out crimson soft blooms like this one. Also BS resistant and does OK in my part shade bed.
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This is just a 2-year-old plant of the climber The Prince's Trust, but I have been very very impressed with it so far. Gregg says it's a rose that "wants to grow", and BOY is that true! As a new band, the plant was easily 4 feet tall and it hasn't looked back since. It's also cane hardy in zone 5 and has already spread out nicely on the fence - if this is its "creep" year, I'd better batten down the hatches next year!

And of course, if you want a hardy, fragrant, reblooming disease resistant tough climber for zone 5, what better plant than Aloha? I know other fans of Aloha in my zone, and this shows why we all love it. What's not to love?

C'mon everyone, chime in with your descriptions and pictures of roses Vintage still has for sale and let's help Gregg and Gita move those terrific roses to good homes! Put on your enabling hats, and tell us about your experiences!

Cynthia

Comments (6)

catspa_NoCA_Z9_Sunset14
10 years ago
There's still some great roses showing as available on their list.

Here is part of my Buff Beauty from Vintage -- trained along a 6' tall fence, takes up maybe 3 ft. of width. A VERY mannerly climber.
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Golden Wings -- peeking from the left side of this photo of Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux, so not a great photo of GW, but what a great rose. Tough as nails, impervious to all assaults, wonderful show of stamens. Have it planted on the edge of the "wilderness" area of my yard. Unique brown wood of interesting texture and numerous, huge, bright orange hips create a beautiful show in winter all their own.

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Not quite topical for this forum, but here is Old Red Runaround, a little velvety purple Gallica often found in cemeteries in Northern California, growing on its own and untended. Will take care of itself.

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alameda/zone 8/East Texas
10 years ago
I have just ordered the following:
Marlowe Soft Orange
Smiles
Sonoma
Contempo
Schone Dortmundin
Rosalinde
Pink Puff
Pink Bountiful
Cathedral
Bon-Bon
Souv. De Mme. Boulette, Cl.
Professor O.L. Kunz
Golden Wings
Peach Beauty
Nocturne
Helene Schoen
Carrousel
Akebono
Green Fire
Verona
Jiminy Cricket
Lavender Princess
Lichterloh

I dont need anymore.....but if there is something interesting, I probably will place one "last" order....I dont know much about the ones that are left but would be interested in some enabling.
Judith
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jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
10 years ago
Great pics everyone! :)
nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska
Original Author
10 years ago
Wow, catspa - that Buff Beauty picture is stunning. My Buff Beauty is in part shade and doesn't reach the magnificence of your photo!

Judith, you have some great roses already on your list. Earlier this year I also ordered Pink Puff, Pink Bountiful, Sonoma, Cathedral, Bon-Bon, Peach Beauty, Helene Schoen, Carrousel, Akebono, and Verona. How did I miss Nocturne?? See - the enabling is already rebounding. I also have to heartily encourage Marlowe's Soft Orange. It snuck in a bloom when I bought it this year and it's the loveliest apricot I've ever seen in a climber. Don't let the word "orange" scare anyone off - it's a keeper.

If you want a great dark red, Karl Herbst has been surprisingly vigorous for a second year plant. I missed its first bloom cycle for photos, but I'll see if it has recycled and post a photo.

Cynthia
ratdogheads z5b NH
10 years ago
Here is a rambler to be preserved - America (Walsh, not J&P). This still available and is sold nowhere else.

It was in bloom upon arrival and it was such a surprise and delight. I had been uncertain when I bought it because there are few clear photos of this rose online. But wow, was I thrilled at my choice.

I took this picture which doesn't do it justice. Then the next few days it rained and I never got a chance at a better picture before it lost the petals. I wish I could show everyone how really special it is. I stuck it straight in the ground and it's growing like a weed, waist high at least.
catspa_NoCA_Z9_Sunset14
10 years ago
Very nice rambler, ratdogheads. One that I got just recently and still listed as available is 'Mary Lovett' -- perfect quite double creamy white flowers, nice scent, excellent foliage. Even more unusual for a rambler, it's listed as "fair" rebloom. In fact, my band of it bloomed a day or two after I got it about a month and a half ago and now has a half-dozen buds and is set to bloom again. Vintage sole source, it seems, in U.S. (another nursery listed, but it looks defunct).

I got the "Marlowe's Soft Orange", too, Cynthia, but no blooms yet, so glad to hear the good report.