I need pictures like this. Today we got half a foot of snow, then the snow turned to rain which is supposed to continue for the next week. It's not cold for the time of year, and we're marching toward the spring equinox. But I can't see or think anything but gray.
Inspiration. Inspiration.
Thanks for posting.
Melissa

I love the Explorer series--especially climbers. Your John Davis is like a breath of cotton candy. I can remember waiting and waiting for snow to melt and roses to bloom. I used to live in Minnesota. Brrr. Carol

Thank you! Now, I know what my little one will look like in a few years :)

It's gorgeous, Vicky, thank you!

That picture is a bit of magic. It immediately made me feel happy, and fortunate that such beautiful things exist. Just the thing to get by during a season of almost no roses (although at least mine aren't buried in snow!)

Ingrid

Oh this is so lovely. Just what I needed to get over my winter blues. I miss my roses so much. I cannot wait for the Spring!

Hey, thanks everyone for your kind comments! For me, every day is a good day when I have a rose like this to look at! God is so good to create such beauty!

Vicky, I disagree with you about the individual blooms being nothing special. Looking at that gorgeous, yummy photo, I love the circle of slightly, frilly, pink petals, with a nest of golden stamens in the centre. Just right for getting your nose into.
Lovely.
Daisy

I was debating getting John Davis when I made an order last month, and finally culled it from the list. It's such a pretty rose! Your photo is making me wish that I had ordered it. :-) But, I wonder if it has any fragrance? That is usually a deal breaker for me, because I have so little full sun, and not very much room for roses.

I agree with daisy, I love the blooms. Pink is not always my favorite color but some shades of pink make it my favorite color. This shade is really nice. Not too pale, not coral. And the habit of the plant, the way the blooms are held on the bush is so full and lush. Wish I had more room, that's one that would make my list.

Because I have not read much about this rose on the forum, I will tell a little more about it from my perspective. I have never noticed much scent....at least compared to the Austins and Old Garden roses. If there is, it is faint. It is definitely very floriferous in its first bloom...a real showstopper. It first arrested my attention when I would see it at the Chicago Botanic Gardens...a stand-out among hundreds of roses because of it being literally covered with blooms, many of them rather old-fashioned in shape. I could not believe there could be SO MANY BLOOMS on one bush!!! I just stood and stared and stared. (Of course, I have not seen many of the old once-blooming roses in their full glory except in pictures and the descriptions of gardener-writers.)

Although some grow it as a climber, I have chosen to use it as a self-supporting shrub, and as such, it excels. I love the way the branches hold the roses very strongly. The foliage is mostly covered up in first bloom, but I still get more blooms throughout the summer, just not nearly as many. The bush is very attractive when not covered with flowers because the foliage is very dense and healthy, and the canes sometimes take on a reddish appearance which contrasts nicely with the green leaves. It is growing, as you can see in the picture, in partial shade from a maple tree that is about 30 feet away, and is also tolerating competition from its shallow roots....I suppose because it is a vigorous grower.

Prairiemoon and Daisyincrete, I agree with you about the color pink....that is part of the reason I chose it, because it is a very true, clear pink, no shades of salmon or coral or anything else. Portlandmysteryrose, yes, it is something like the color of cotton candy! When you stand and gaze at it, it just kinda takes you away!

How is it regarding thorns?

Your picture is lovely.

Irisgal, It's funny, I couldn't remember about the thorns, so I looked it up online...apparently, it is "almost thornless". I think there are some, but not bad ones.

Irisgal, It's funny, I couldn't remember about the thorns, so I looked it up online...apparently, it is "almost thornless". I think there are some, but not bad ones.

Vicky, how big does he get for you grown as a self-supporting shrub?

...Still working on my wishlist this year...hard to buy when you don't know what you'll have to shovel prune after this winter of garden attrition.

Cheers!
~Anika

Anika, isn't that the truth?! I don't know, either, what to expect after such a winter as we're having in the midwest. Anyway, John Davis for me, after maybe 8 years or so, is about 4 feet wide by 5 feet tall. I do cut it back pretty low most springs...otherwise I think it would get even bigger.

Nearby is The Dark Lady (Austin rose), which has just been limping by year after year, not doing nearly as well...although I have to say, last year, it showed more promise and grew up as well as the wimpy, mostly sideways, strange laying-on-the-ground kind of growth it had been putting out.

Thanks for the size/hacking info!

I would love to add a bunch of the Canadians after this winter is done doing its dirty work (really though, I am glad for it...I've done too much zone pushing, it's true, dose of reality is good), but I am worried that they'd get 'too big' for me.

Personally I don't think you can ever have too many pink roses...they're all *slightly* different, right?

{{gwi:222955}}

Cheers!
~Anika

Vicky, I adore your John Davis blooms. What a lovely, cheerful display. Where can we purchase John?
Thanks for the beautiful photo. Diane

Thanks! I think I purchased mine years ago from Jung Seed Company, but they no longer sell it. I did a search and saw that a number of online companies stock it...Heirloom Roses, Spring Valley Roses, Pickering, High Country Roses, Northland Rosarium.

Thanks for the info, Vicky. Diane

Anika, thanks for posting the photo! To me, it looks like a big, happy "family" of blooms..."Papa" on the left, "Mama" on the right, and the 9 "kids" in between, each one looking a bit different from each other but still with that "family resemblance", hahaha!

Yes, one can never grow too many pink roses! Beautiful pics to brighten a winter day.

I tried John Davis but it had horrible mildew for me. I really wanted it badly..Soooo I tried John Cabot which turned out to be a whole different experience....If you want small don't plant JC..
John Cabot on the left, Konigin von Danemark on the right..
Love both, but they are large and thorny....