22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

I have Solero V. & I like the color, a clear yellow but as nippstress says, "it fades". It is an ADR rose but last year it had a touch of BS in my garden but it seems to resist BS because the rose next to it had BS much worse as well as several other roses in my garden. The one habit it has that doesn't please me is that the bush tends to sprawl & open up in the center.

Solero Vigorosa is nice with good color and disease resistance, but it is still quite small (read "short") here. We'll see how it matures in the next two years.
Purple Rain may be moving out of my garden. Yes, it is healthy and a good bloomer but the color is not as it was described at all...and I do not like it one bit. The flowers are small clusters of a very odd shade of pink. Bleah! I would say that unless you've seen it in person and just adore it, don't waste your money experimenting on it.

Here it is, half-leafed out after a prune this year down to 3x3. Perhaps this shows the structure for you. As usual, blooming already. It would look fab for you underplanted with Geranium 'Rozanne'.

Keep in mind I never did anything but deadhead the first 5 years.

I had to look up whether my favorite 'heavy' insecticide kills leafhoppers, and it does. It's spinosad, so it's less toxic than Sevin. OTOH, it's still deadly to bees when wet, so make sure to spray only when the bees are in for the night. After it dries, it doesn't kill the bees! Don't spray it directly on beneficials and it won't kill them either (unless any chew leaves).
I do use Sevin for true bugs that really need killing, though. Spinosad isn't good on most of them, unfortunately.

My goodness! It was my first time watching a motorcycle race, I got goosebumps the whole time! I have never seen any bikes going that fast, more than 200mph at least. I hope all the riders dropped their bikes in the turns were ok, still alive, one of them went down the hill.....if I knew them I'd tell them "don't do it" many many times. I like their riding gears.
That's a beautiful island, it would be lovely to ride around (45-60mph), pack a picnic lunch...... there are not many scooters here, I saw less than 10 scooters on the road in my town last summer, so I ride with motorcycles. :-) Ride safe!
Cheers,
Summer

FWIW, Patty, I have grown Belinda's Dream for about 7 years here in zone 5, in the cold zone 4 parts of my yard, and she's resolutely hardy and pretty BS resistant. She's in part shade too, so I don't get the jaw-dropping profusion of bloom she shows elsewhere, but she's definitely a keeper and hardy for me. I don't think your conditions in IL should be that much different than here in NE, so I'd say go for it.
Cynthia

Gardenbug, Here are a couple of sites about using alfalfa in the garden, i bought a bag of alfalfa cubes and put a couple of cups in a big bucket and let sit for about a week before straining out the tea. Be careful about putting much alfalfa in the soil though as it really heats up, found that out the hard way!
http://learningandyearning.com/10-benefits-of-using-alfalfa-in-your-garden
http://www.rose.org/rose-care-articles/the-value-of-alfalfa/
Meridith, those three roses you mentioned are truly beautiful.

I just saw a Pink Eden in one of the catalogs I got a few weeks ago--maybe White Flower Farm? They are also online, so you might check there. The Pink Eden is all-over solid and bright pink, so would contrast in color nicely with the white Eden. Supposedly Pink Eden otherwise has traits very similar to white Eden. I haven't grown the pink one, so can't say from first-hand experience, but as you know, white Eden is a wonderful climber.
Kate

I once clambered about in a pretty undignified manner in a jungle of all four of the basic Banksiaes - the white single and double, and yellow single and double - in order to subject them all to a thorough sniffing.... I was thinking at the time it might be a good substitute for violet essential oil, since the real one dissipates very quickly. So I wanted to know whether they really did smell of violets and which was the strongest scented. I concluded that some of them at least did indeed smell delightfully (though not super-strongly) of violets, and I did manage to pick a 'winner' - but I've forgotten now which it was.... and that wonderful jungle is no more.
I may be mistaken, but aren't the petals of the single white pictured in Virginia's link just a little narrower than those of the regular R Banksiae normalis?
Re 'Rosa Trepadora'; I found it interesting that as well as simply translating as any 'climbing/clambering plant', the word 'trepadora' could also be used to denote a 'social climber', with some suggestion of climbing (the 'trep' part) over others to get at the gold/money (a d'ora?)... Maybe rather appropriate in this case...
Comtesse :¬)

Comtesse, you make me smile at the thought of you sniffing at four Banksias in succession... especially since I've had visions of trying that myself. I have rooted cuttings of R. banksia lutea (what old-timers in this area call 'Lady Banksia'), and R. banksia alba, though they are pretty small still. This new plant should- if the description is accurate- bring me up to a Banksia trio, but I guess I'll need a 'Purezza' or some other sort to get to a quartet.
I'm supposing that this rose was a seedling of 'normalis' as Kim says, and possibly one that is a result of an Italian tradition of selecting for fragrance and/or disease resistance? Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines there.
The description of 'Snowflake' implies that only well-established plants will flower, so I'm not expecting flowers anytime soon, but if I do get some, i'll report back.
Virginia

Thanks Comtesse, I looked into Mme Alfred Carriere and she looks perfect!
It looks like several folks grow her in my general area, so I feel hopeful she will do well and grow to the size I am looking for. I am thrilled with the bonus of a strong fragrance.
Roses Unlimited carries it so I am adding her to my order today.
I may have to find a place for Francois Juranville, tho, possibly a tree in the back yard to ramble on, he is just too pretty ...
Thanks for the great options.
Adrianne

This cracks me up. Not only is your life filled with roses, you want to talk about your life being filled with roses -- and now, I am talking about you talking about your life being filled with roses. . .of course, I do not stand in judgment whatsoever. I have chosen a life focused on roses as well. Have tried to find a Roseaholics Anonymous -- to no avail!

Ah, Patty - thanks for clarifying, though I wish your arthritis weren't the tricky kind that leaves deposits. Still, I expect that some motion is better than none on your joints, and gardening is definitely good for the spirit regardless. Life's always about a balance, isn't it?
Ha, Kentucky rose - I appreciate the encouragement to do a video or something, but I'm very glad Paul Zimmerman has done such terrific ones since I'd never really make the time. One thing I'm planning for this week is to work on getting my kids' baby pictures actually into albums. That doesn't sound too bad, but I have 12-year-old twins. Can we say procrastination? Well, at least I can rope them into helping, and they might enjoy it.
That's a hoot, cjrosaphile. I expect I'm even worse since I'm on my fourth posting in this thread. That means I'm talking about you talking about me talking about me talking about you talking about me talking about roses (I've probably missed a few). Regardless, that's what GW does for us - no one on this forum thinks endless talking about roses is weird at all!
Cynthia

I agree it looks like damage from the pesticide spray hitting the new baby leaves. Approx where are you gardening? Do you really have to spray poisons once a week? Can create all sorts of other bug problems by killing the beneficial insects, as well as damaging the roses you are trying to protect.
Definitely not rust - we get that here and it looks completely different.
Jackie


I love the joining hands!!! :-) In our last home I had all Earthkind roses in beds around the house that were already there when we moved in. I was pruning everything back in February. The spacing between the roses was irregular and I was grumbling about it. Two of the Sunny Knockouts were planted too close together and my granddaughter who was 3 at the time said "it's okay Grandma, they are hugging each other"







This winter here, the deer attempted to destroy everything. They chewed big hunks out of baby fir trees even!
Maybe you guys need to get a wolf/hybrid dog to patrol your yards. LOL
No, actually, that would be terrible to have to worry about deer damage. I've seen a squirrel or two move into the neighbourhood for the first time. I've read here that they like to take rose buds. Even if that happens, they can't be as bad as deer.
Carol