21,402 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

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"

Mine came from Palatine so it is on multiflora. Check RU for own root. This rose has a slight fragrance to me. I have never had blackspot or thrips on it. It grows large 5 ft by 3 ft. Never without a bloom. I use Rose tone or Holly tone and I spray with Monty`s Joy Juice for foliar feed. Hope you order one...I believe it will bring you joy! Lesley


Thanks for the fertilizer tip Kippy.
Appreciate the creative suggestions. I think Alfalfa would fit aesthetically and it is a Mediterranean native, but I also agree with fduk that it would be competitive. As a crop it is about 2' tall in Pennsylvania, which would be a bit too tall but I don't know if there are short varieties. Dry gardeners in soCal and South Australia who want to use alfalfa may want to get the Dormancy 9 varieties which are very winter-active and would go dormant in summer. Maybe thereby mildew could be avoided because of the seasonal differences from conventional alfalfa. Don't know.



A gal I used to work with never fertilized her roses and brought in gorgeous bouquets all summer long. Go figure. I think roses are remarkably tolerant of many conditions. Jackie, I am in a similar climate to yours. Your method sounds nice and easy--I like it!


I feel fairly confident in saying it is NOT Will2000. I don't know enough about the original to say--but I still think it looks more and more like Dark Lady.
You might send the pics to David Austin and see if they can tell which is which. If you do that, definitely let us know the answer.
Kate

Confusion. Accd to HMF there are TWO roses named 'Baby Romantica'. One is a miniature, and one is a climber! It looks to me as if the miniature would do fine in a pot (although it was MUCH bigger than what I would call a miniature in the pictures), as long as it was a BIG pot. I would never put a climber in a pot.
There are, of course dozens of "Romantica" roses also - they are much bigger, more shrubs or HTs, and I would get recommendations for them individually - I'm sure they do not all have identical growth habits, just as Austins do not.
Jackie








Oh, that's wonderful, Steve! Congrats!
Ours is in bloom too and looking thankful for a new location