I grow Indigo, Mme Hardy, Rose de Rescht and Duchesse de Rohan. Indigo is such a fantastic rose for me, in this climate. I feel the same about Rose de Rescht- I love the incredible scent and the abundant foliage and the way the flowers seem to float above the leaves. It's also tough as nails, and the flowers never ball.

I've been wanting to add Marbree to my garden, but it hasn't been in stock. Someday!

Zachary.

jannike

Damasks -- 'Botzaris' and 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux'

Portlands -- 'Blanc de Vibert', 'Indigo', 'Rose de Rescht' and 'Rose du Roi, original'.

Unfortunately, my 'Marie de St. Jean' from Labrea didn't make it last year, and I'll have to hit up Greenmantle one of these days to get another. I'm also looking out to get "Pickering Four Seasons" from Rogue Valley Roses and "Damascena Semperflorens" from Heirloom (when they become available).

As far as pics of what I have, there's not many, and they're not great, but I'll post them anyway.

Mossy buds not-yet-opened on 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux'

Pegged 'Botzaris'

"Rose de Rescht" before buds opened (last year's thin baby canes flopped down this year)

And opening

'Rose du Roi, original' is REALLY awkward this year -- leaves and buds at the tips of last year's thin baby-canes toppled most of them to the ground. Today I propped up the canes a bit, but this was taken before that.

Bud about to open

And the next day, it opened

Today, one flower on 'Rose du Roi, original' opened on the tall upright cane, and interestingly faces the entrance to the back yard. I think it's smiling at me.

I'll take better up-close shots of open flowers tomorrow. We're getting rain again tonight, and I think 'Botzaris' will have something open by morning.

:-)

~Christopher

jannike

Rosa damascena semperflorens. More to come about this wonderful rose in a few days when I have time.

Diane

:-)

Catspa -- THANK YOU for such a wonderful, close-up shot of 'Rose du Roi -- of commerce'. I've seen it listed for sale at a few nurseries, but the pictures provided weren't very clear. I nabbed the "original" from Vintage last year, figuring it would probably be my only chance at it (since the "of commerce" seems to be the one available everywhere else). I just may have to find a spot to put that one. Do you have any whole-plant shots of this one? My "original" is very floppy right now, but I'm hoping some cane-trimming after the first flush will encourage branching further down rather than at the tips, making them top-heavy. It's as though it's trying to make Damask-length but Gallica-diameter canes. Was yours the same way? Did it grow out of it on its own, or...what did you do?

:-)

~Christopher

It's been a while ago but, as I remember, the earliest growth was more horizontal than upright, a clump of wimpy canes, and eventually sturdier, more vertical canes grew up from the horizontal canes and from the base without me doing anything special other than a little overall shaping and deadheading. Two years ago it started putting out runners a foot or so away from the main plant which are also sturdy and vertical. It's a rose that I have done little with, pruning-wise. I think, given time, yours should show sturdier, more vertical growth on its own.

My "Portland from Glendora", entering its second year in the ground, has just put out a single, robust 6' tall cane, with a cluster of blooms waving around at the very tippy-top, from a plant that is otherwise a 2 1/2' tall clump of wimpy canes. Talk about awkward-looking! I know this one is naturally tall, to 8', but I am thinking I'm going to keep it pruned a bit shorter, if I can, to around 5'.

'Rose du Roi -- original' as an awkward adolescent (its second year from an own-root band). I gently propped its canes just enough to keep the flowers out of the mulch...

...because who could let something that smells so sweet get covered in composted manure and mulch?

"Rose de Rescht" gave itself a skirt of thin baby canes from last year which self-pegged under their own weight.

"Rose de Rescht" up-close -- flowers on the upright canes are slightly fewer in number, but also slightly larger in size.

I pegged the one main cane on 'Blanc de Vibert' last year, and it has buds along its length this year.

But I think its first flower to upen will be on a new shoot which sprouted from the base.

And that's all I've got as far as Damasks and Portlands for now...unless you want to count Kim Rupert's 'DLFED 3' as a Damask "remake."

First two blooms from last week:

And the last of the three buds it put out this year opened today:

:-)

~Christopher

I also appreciated the photo of Indigo, Carol. I considered it many times for purchase, but most of what I read indicated that it was more of a Zone 8 as an upper limit kind of rose than a Zone 9 kind of rose (Livermore's kind of Z9, anyway). It does have that enticing look of fragile beauty in your photo, and what a color.

Jannike, I continually tell myself that my driveway must go. The house, the drive,.... One must prioritize, after all.

Christopher, your garden is really maturing! Even your baby roses are putting on a colorful show. It's so exciting to share in the early stages of your slice of paradise.! You and I, as usual, have wish lists of the same OGRs: Marie de St. Jean, Rosa damascena semperflorens (thanks to Diane), and Pickering's Four Seasons. 'DLFED 3' is lovely! Mine is healthy but has yet to produce buds, so I'm satisfying my curiosity via your pics.

Catspa, beautiful Rose du Roi photo! A perfect swirled bloom. Someday, someone should post comparisons of the two varieties--in commerce and original.

Diane, R. damascena semp. is on my list now. I'm looking forward to your detailed report. I'm working hard towards completing my garden redesign. If or when you visit friends in PDX, it might be ready for a tour. Film noir, art and growing damask roses--not much is better than those activities! :-)

Carol

:-)

~Christopher

Marie de St. Jean is lovely!

Thank you, I love all your photos, I swear I can smell the dew-sweet scent of Damask rose rising from the computer screen. Olfactory hallucination?

Lux

Organic Tosca, Botzaris is a wonderful old rose. I love the blush-red on its guard petals and the informal froth of its bloom. Botzaris smells delicious, too. Rogue Valley Roses carries it.

Luxrosa, I don't live in your area, so the ones that work for me will probably fail in your area. I never realized that SF is terribly hot...probably because I grew up with TX summers. Maybe Diane (Fogrose) will have suggestions? I'll be curious to read what forum members near you in CA have to say.

Carol

Lux- Reine des Violettes, Old Town Novato/Ardoisee de Lyon, or Barbara's Pasture Rose/La Reine perhaps?

Jay

Of course, there is Grandmothers Hat which seems to be (from what I've read here, at least) the quintessential Ca rose.

Good luck on your bed--I can smell it already!

Anne

Masha

In your photos Amanda Paternaud is beautiful and appears to have large flowers. Does it, is it fragrant and is it repeat blooming? HMF does not list it. Do you know where it can be purchased?

Cath

Indigo survived its first winter here. near Dayton Ohio, with minimum to no cane loss which is a lot more than I can say for most of my roses. Most were dead to a few inches from the ground. It still has very thin wimpy canes but has suckered a little and bore a few blossoms earlier this Spring. Roses grow slowly here so it will be a few years before I can tell what I can expect from it. It is near an East facing brick wall, so somewhat protected, but all the other roses in that bed were in worse shape and some were closer to the wall.

Cath

Wirosarian, beautiful pics! You are growing two of my favorite roses. I've never seen evidence of spider mites and don't recall them in my former Minnesota garden; however, my Portland neighbor suffers attacks of them on her boxwoods. They certainly can attack roses as well as many other plants. I recommended a regular hosing off to my neighbor and that tactic has helped a great deal.

Carol

Ingrid

Cath