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canadian_rose

Blue Girl - bush

canadian_rose
10 years ago

I'm starting to think about culling out the noncontenders from my pot collection. Most of my roses look like lovely bushes. I got a Blue Girl rose last year. But Blue Girl blooms (always seems to be at least 2 blooms on it) only at the top. It seems to be thin and tall. Is this just the way this bush is, or might it come into its own in a few years?
Thanks,
Carol

Comments (30)

  • prickles
    10 years ago

    Is your Blue Girl--own root?

    Mine two own-roots are growing at a snail's pace--even in SoCa!

    The three grafted, on their 3rd year, are more tall than wide. This year each shot up a 6ft candelabra full of fragrant flowers, but the lower part, the base of the plants, alas remained bare of blooms.

    Carol, give your BG a little more time and then wait and see.

    Here's a pic I already shared--it's Blue Girl with Jude the Obscure.

    This post was edited by prickles on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 19:37

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hmmmm....thanks for your input :)
    No, mine are not own root.
    It also has black spot. Which very, very few of my roses do have. Although we had soooooo much rain and flooding this year. I think the cool weather and constant rain affected a few of mine.
    I'll think on this some more. Thanks!
    Carol

  • prickles
    10 years ago

    TO be perfectly honest Carol--all five of mine are on Shovel Prune Watch for some time now.

    Although BS isn't a problem for SoCa, Blue Girl does mildew and rust. I've been wanting to dig them up for replacements, for some more austins perhaps, but when I smell BG's scents I just simply can't do it--those fragrant blooms make me go weak in the knees, and I'm all jello.

  • bluegirl_gw
    10 years ago

    Mine's a body-bag, couple of years old. It has the typical bare legs so many HTs are criticized for.

    Not a heavy bloomer, but the flowers are beautiful. I have a couple of rooted cuttings from it. I'll eventually plant them in a sunnier spot & see how they do.

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Prickles - your beautiful picture didn't load for me last time I looked at this thread. Those two colors look fantastic together. Wow!! And, yes, the fragrance is really nice - but I also love the color. I just expect more of my roses than that one, since all of my roses are in pots and have to overwinter in the garage - space is at a premium.

    Bluegirl - you MUST love this rose since your "name" is Bluegirl. :)

    Carol

  • prickles
    10 years ago

    Thank you Carol. I was hoping to show off the color contrasts better, but I have a lousy camera and am a terrible photographer. The picture looks a little too soft and hazy.

    Oh the reason you didn't see the pic is because I added it later when I edited the message, after I clipped the two candelabrum and took a picture of them. The scents from BG and Jude the Obscure are deliciously heady!

    Yes, space really is a premium: I too have a large pot ghetto. Right now I truely wish I'd grown the three grafted BG in pots and better utilize the 3 by 6 coffin-sized bed for some better disease resistant roses. I think I'll wait until the weather cools down and then dig them up.

    Cheers.

  • bluegirl_gw
    10 years ago

    Haha, Carol. Yeah, when I first got on GW,

    most folks had rose names for handles
    I do like the 'blue' roses
    sometimes I tend to be a gloomy person, sooo

    BLUEGIRL

    I can't say she's a lovely bush, but the flowers are really special. What a beautiful color--and so fragrant. I have her in a partial shade area & the blooms open slowly & last long.
    I might move her to a more full-sun position since the couple of roses I've tried in that area seem to need more sun. Maybe I'll get a few more leaves clothing the plant (or SOME, I should say--right now she has about 3--all on top)

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    That's really funny - coffin sized bed. I have a story about 2 coffin sized beds. In one of my other houses, I was just getting into roses and I wanted 2 roses beds side by side with roses on trellises above them. Now keep in mind that I was in zone 2. I was a little niave (stupid). So anyway the neighbor looks down from his deck and says "who you got buried there." The beds looked exactly like 2 graves. I thought it was really funny. Husband not so much - he had to dig out the space between the "graves" and make a nice large squared bed. Of course my trellises never came to pass.

    Bluegirl - Three leaves??? Really?? Wow. Maybe I misread and you meant 3 flowers?

    Yes, the color and fragrance make me hold back the shovel - for a little while anyway. :)

    Carol

  • bluegirl_gw
    10 years ago

    Yup, 3 (three) leaves. She's one bare-nekkid lady now. That's not real unusual for many roses in my climate during the
    hottest part of the year--especially specialty-type HTs.

    When the temps soar, they defoliate & rest until fall. Keep them watered & mulched, give them a shot of food at the beginning of Sept., & they bloom wonderfully fall until a freeze.

  • Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
    10 years ago

    I love Bluegirl, Poseidon, Neptune, Stainless Steel....all of em. I don't care how sickly they are. That fragrance and those shades turn me to jello too and they are just one of "those" roses that I can't get rid of...
    I love em even when defoliated. Mine are all grafted and I'd like to try some own roots....
    Susan

  • prickles
    10 years ago

    Susan,

    I have this uneasy feeling about BG as an own-root IS a slow grower. I rooted 2 plants just to see how they compare with the grafted ones in terms of mildew and rust resistance. Although the 3 grafted ones aren't terrible or chronic with diseases, I would like them even better if they were cleaner!

    Yep, Neptune and Stainless Steel are wants, but can't have because I'm running out of space :(

  • bluegirl_gw
    10 years ago

    After reading all the raves about Nimbus I finally snagged one from Vintage's last sale. Let it open a bloom this week and it is so pretty. Also got Grey Dawn & Lilac Dawn--what a neat colors. So far the babies look healthy.

    Yup, I'm a sucker for trying every lavender. Don't actually have very many now as my grafted plants tend to fizzle out. Every couple of years I try an Angel Face but no luck. And I bet most are middlin' plants as own-roots, too. Vintage said their Stainless Steel (or was it Sterling Silver?) was from cuttings from a strong plant Kim provided them. Should have gotten one.

    I also just got JACtan (Butterscotch) this last sale. It has the coolest tan bloom--really interesting. Gimme a year or two & hit me up for cuttings (I hope!)

  • QuestioningSerenity
    10 years ago

    I love my Blue Girl, most of the time. With the heat lately, the last few blooms have balled up and not properly bloomed. But when she does, she always gets compliments. She GROWS too! I got her at the beginning of spring and she was knee high in her pot and now she is taller than me!

    It does the same here too, The higher branches have quite a few leaves, but closer to the graft she is naked.

  • kentucky_rose zone 6
    10 years ago

    My 2 Blue Girls are on my SP list. Love the bloom and fragrance, but don't get enough good blooms. The thrips love them, too. The stems are pretty bare.

  • Molineux
    10 years ago

    Cologne, Lagerfeld and Paradise are all supposed to grow well on their own roots. Of these I've grown Lagerfeld and can definitely say he thrives own root.

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Wow! Lots of comments that I've missed.

    Bluegirl - Three leaves - that's hard to imagine! Nimbus, huh....hmmm....I'm going to have to look at that one.

    Poorbutroserich - I've been drawn lately to the POW colors - bright yellow, fushcia purple, bubblegum pink, etc. It's interesting how everyone is drawn (quite powerfully) to colors. I agree with you - the lavenders do smell wonderful. I really like my Neptune.

    Prickles - yeah, that darn space problem. :(

    QuestioningSerenity - I didn't know that blooms could ball up from the heat. I thought that would only be from rain. Live and learn.

    FoxGardenerUGA - do you have any pictures you could share with us?

    Kentuckyrose - yeah, a friend of a friend wants this rose - so I'm giving it to her. The fragrance is amazing - but I want better roses for my buck - where buck is space. :)

    Molineux - I have Paradise. This is it's 4th summer for me, and FINALLY I like it. I kept it because my daughter loves it. It would only give about 2 blooms a season. Blech. Also, I never go the bicolor. Now...it has tons of blooms that look like they're supposed to look like. Plus there's even a bit of fragrance. No I really like it. :)

    Carol

  • foxgardeneruga
    10 years ago

    I don't have any current pictures of this season's growth, since I've been away for a large portion of the summer (vacation trip out West). But here's a picture I took a while back of what very well could be the perfect bloom!

  • kentucky_rose zone 6
    10 years ago

    Yesterday I removed one Blue Girl. The area looks better!

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Kentuckyrose - yeah, mine's gone to a friend's home. I'm really glad it's gone.

    However - if it had EVER remotely looked like FOXGARDENER's rose, I would have kept it. That's an incredible picture!!!1 Wowza!!!

    Carol :)

  • alameda/zone 8/East Texas
    10 years ago

    Prickles, love your photo of Blue Girl with Jude! Lovely! I bought a Blue Girl this spring. As I know many lavender blooms can fry in hot sun [and we have plenty of that in Texas] I planted mine behind my horse barn, where it gets afternoon shade starting about 2pm. At first, it grew tall, not as leafy as most of my roses, but had a few great blooms. It has been mulched and watered well but I haven't fertilized it yet. Now I notice that it is putting on lots of fresh topgrowth. Think I read somewhere that when roses started putting on new growth, they were making roots. Think I am going to give it some light fertilizer and see what happens. I think mine looks like it wants to grow tall - its not going to be a short bushy rose. As long as its healthy and gives me those lovely blooms, I will be happy. I am also growing some other lavenders, these are just bands from Vintage, like Nimbus, Lavender Princess, Lilac Dawn, St-Expury, Poisiden, Pacific Blue, Royal Airforce. These aren't large enough to produce many blooms, but have had a few small ones and they look nice. I think its probably personal preference regarding growth habits of roses........I will plant a lower growing rose, probably a floribunda, in front of Blue Girl to cover her long legs and let her be a background rose.
    Judith

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    You really like the lavenders. :)
    Any pictures?? Lots of those I haven't heard of before.
    Carol

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    10 years ago

    Here is my favorite lavender, Blue Bayou, a very blue one. Diane

  • canadian_rose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Oh Diane!!!!!
    That's incredible!!!
    Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! I WANT IT!!!!!
    That is the prettiest lavender I've ever seen. It's like a jewel. Tell me more about this rose - please, please!!
    Carol

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    10 years ago

    Well, thank you, Carol. BB is a Kordes rose, and I think your country's great rose seller, Palatine has it for sale (or did; that may have changed). I got mine from Hortico about seven years ago. It's a very vigorous rose, and quite tough, that blooms mostly in clusters, but also produces quite a few single blooms. So I use it some in bouquets. The biggest drawback for me with BB in the heat and punishing sun of summer is that its color fades to a pale steel blue almost. But in your climate I don't think this would be a problem. I still love it, and plan to have it always. Diane

  • Molineux
    9 years ago

    Those BLUE BAYOU pics are gorgeous! I've had my eye on this rose for some time. I only have one question. Is it fragrant?

  • Sow_what? Southern California Inland
    9 years ago

    A client of mine is growing Blue Girl, pictured below. I thought the color was very pretty, and there were plenty of blooms on the bush for our spring flush. But the blooms seemed to crisp some in our "hot way too early this year" spring (temps straddling 80s - 90s).

    jannike

  • marhelm
    9 years ago

    Now it blooms. It is planted in the fall. I love her very much.Bush 4 years
    {{gwi:314378}}
    {{gwi:314380}}

  • kentucky_rose zone 6
    9 years ago

    I almost bought another Blue Girl today. Last year I sp'd my 2 BG's, but I do like the bloom.

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    9 years ago

    OK, all you people who are still having troubles with Blue Girl, end your misery and get Love Song. I'm sure you've read its praises in this forum. Blue Bayou may be exquisite, but is has its problems. I haven't found any problems with Love Song. Diane