22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

I got to talk to Linda Chalker Scott a few years ago by phone...

Roses need 3x as much nitrogen as phosphate. Phosphate stays in the soil indefinitely, but available nitrogen leaches out in a month or so. If you use a high-P fertilizer like 5-10-5, you have to apply a 6-fold excess of P in order to get enough N. The dosage instructions on fertilizer labels aim at supplying the right amount of N without overdosing N, which does indeed burn plants.

Dingo do you know if Lowes has any roses in yet. I have to drive up your way to get to one of their stores. You know Knockout are fine but give a person a choice.

Did fined Flower Carpet at Home Depot. Rural King has Kordes roses the Kolorscape series but so far the same ones as last year. Obviously already bought those.

Patty they had knockouts and a bunch of the Easy Elegance roses. They had them inside still, so if you don't see them outside, go in and look! EE were like $17 I think. They had Music Box, Champagne wishes, Pinktopia, Superhero?, one with an elf name - sorry can't remember!, All the Rage , and maybe 1 or 2 more. I have Music Box now and really like it, and it did ok over the winter - died back pretty far but it's up and growing now. Seem to recall someone on here recommending Champagne Wishes, may go back for that one. Was at Menards, they have some of the same varieties potted and blooming as they had as bare roots. Looked healthy, $10? No Kordes that I've seen so far.

Strongest to my nose - Ebb Tide

favourite scent - Barbra Streisand/Papa Meilland/Frederic Mistral/Fire Fighter

Different Scent - Chartreuse de Parme/Big Purple

Strongest for me is Oklahoma. Not my favorite scent, it's so heady and strong. But absolutely the strongest.

Mr Lincoln is another very strongly scented rose that I find has a similar scent

Jude the obscure is my favorite scent. It has a delicious smell the I can just drink in all day. I never find it heavy or overpowering.

Tiffany is very nicely scented, similar to mr Lincoln albeit not as strong

Princess Alexandra of Kent is also a great one with a nice, sweet scent, perhaps similar to Jude, but not as strong.

Belinda's dream has a nice fruity scent, somewhat like berries

Those are great roses summer. They are gonna be huge. They look like my cape diamond roses. I was happy to get the only mister Lincoln at Walmart. Its fun to sort through the table of roses there. My yard is full. I hope you have a lot of room for all those Therese Bugnet.

Thanks Sam, I have been moving them around every night after work, I have to move 2 of them again tonight to bigger spots.... more ramblers, climbers are coming too. Something to do at lunch time, designing my back yard gardens. :-)

Thanks for the replies!

Diane - so Frederick mistral is the most scented from all of the ones you mentioned? Even more than BC? Wow I'm happy that's on my spring order! And I get a similarity between evelyn and jude the obscure, I don't know why!
How's FM as a rose?

Sell - you're right, you can relate many scents to a memory. Probably why I favor more over some. I love the fragrance of golden celebration, but I have to say the only fragrance that really caught my attention was Jude, evelyn and Sharifa Asma.

I have gertrude, but I only got one bloom off of her from a gallon sized plant last leat, so I'm hoping it gets stronger with time, the bloom was smaller and smelled nice but wasn't as strong as I read about. Hope that changes in the spring.

Drew

I find many of the Myrrh scents of DA roses are very similar (which I don't like). I agree there is a similarity between Munstead Wood and Frederic Mistral, but I find Evelyn quite different to my nose. Happy Child and Freisia smell similar at times. Papa Meilland, Firefighter and Barbra Streisand can smell very similar and totally delicious. Ebb tide and Crimson Glory are sometimes similar as well. I love the smell of Felicia. Is there another rose that smells like it?

For me, World War II Memorial was a blooming machine.

I only like the super fragrant ones so my favourites are New Zealand, Barbra Streisand, Frederic Mistral, Firefighter, Double Delight, Memorial Day, Beverly, Papa Meilland, Blue Moon, Fragrant Cloud and Stainless Steel. Augusta Luise is beautiful and fragrant but does not look like a HT to me. The bush and flowers are more like the Austin type roses.

Update: After some major babying and some great sunshiny weather (we had been socked in with fog for for a couple weeks) my DD is now blooming. it has 8 long stemmed buds and the couple that have bloomed are beautiful and heavily scented. :) thanks for the tips and the cheerleading!

I have grown DD in my dry and hot zone 10 climate for more than 15 years now and both my plants do great. They don't like my alkaline soil that much and can get chlorosis but this can be corrected with some citric acid and iron chelate. It's flower production is not as massive as say Firefighter or Perfume Delight or Happy Child or Sonia Rykeil but I've always got at least 1 or 2 every week in between the bigger flushes. it is consistently very fragrant in both cold and hot weather. It is one of the first to start flowering and one of the last to finish. It lasts well as a cut rose, opens slowly and looks good for a long time. It is one of my favourites of all time.

When the blooms are white, it looks like a gardenia. I shows up well in the garden, and looks very good paired with the red and pink colored KO's. Any nursery owner calling this rose trash doesn't know what he is talking about. It is a lovely shrub rose and has many uses in the garden.

Judith

My neighbor grows it, and I have often admired it over the backyard fence. If anything, I think the yellow KO is prettier than the cherry red ones you see everywhere around town.

My neighbor also has a pink KO that is very attractive--such a nice change from the inundations of cherry red KOs everywhere.

Kate

Anyone know of a hardy climber that has a fragrance, disease resistant and nearly thornless for zone 4?

Celeste, would love to hear from you. Hope all is going well with your family.

Very beautiful Celeste. You have a beautiful garden.

Midnight Blue does the same thing.

This picture shows the three stages of color:

Your bloom is very pretty!

Thanks Jim. Rosecandy, that's a dramatic difference, beautiful rose.

Thanks Michael for the info, I planted two by the mailbox, and one by a tree next to the street, so BS stays away from other roses. I spray sulfur and dish soap water for PM and BS.

I've seen it -- I think in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden -- I've got a photo somewhere, too. But that don't mean I can find it.

I also have a row of coral sunset peonies as a mock fence between mine and the neighbors lot, trying to decide if I should choose a rose in the same color family or something totally different.

Ballerina might appeal - it makes a pretty container plant, sprays of apple-blossom flowers and the added bonus of cute little hips later in the season. You'd need to check with others re disease-resistance in your area. You can look these or any other roses up by name on a website called HelpMeFind/Roses (sorry I don't know how to post a link); read the description, then click on Photos and Members Comments in the row of tabs at the top of the page for lots of....photos and members' comments (amazingly). :¬D

Oh, sorry, I just reread your comment above - this fenceline is nearby, is it, so the porch roses will need to co-ordinate? I'll have to look up those peonies - Ballerina might not be so great with coral...

Comtesse :¬)

Hi Plectrudis - SS caught my eye when I first saw it in a local nursery. It was trained as a small pillar rose and I really liked its glossy apple-green leaves and lovely cheerful flowers. I also liked the idea of a rose in tribute and remembrance of 9/11 victims.

SS remained in its pot for almost a year as I tried to figure out where to plant it. It went into the ground earlier this year, and I have fanned the canes out to try and get more laterals.

It hasn't been a heavy bloomer for me, but then I hadn't given it ideal conditions for almost a year. I also suspect it may want more summer heat than I get here; I now have it planted in a warm spot against a south-facing wall so we will see if it's happier. It should do well for you with your heat, I think.

If you do get it, then do site it with some thought so it can appear to its best advantage. Mine is against a light colored wall and it is sort of lost against the background. It appeared best when I had it in its pot in front of a dark brown stained fence. It also looked lovely against a white trellis. I am going to get a white obelisk to put near it.

It isn't too vigorous a rose. This may or may not be a problem for you. I am thankful for its restrained growth after fighting with the exuberant growth of many of the Austins in my garden! Though I would like to see it a little more forth-coming with basal breaks - I have had no new canes since I got it.

Overall, I like it. Not my absolute favorite but I am happy to have it.

Apologies for a long-winded answer...

Jo

Thanks for the detailed response, Jo! Especially the point about considering the background color--we'll keep that in mind if we decide to go for it. We have a fair number of rather aggressive roses, so I think one with a more retiring nature would work for us.

All my old garden roses were planted over 25 years ago. I ordered tags and stakes and they didn't last too long. Today, I save everything on my computer. I suppose I could have created a map, but I doubt I would still have it. I couldn't find a hybrid musk. I broadened my search and this looks similar.

blush noisette

Is your rose that soft, cool pink? I thought it was white with pink buds! Jackie, yes, indeed, that's why I suggested AV as a possible alternative. Except that I'm not sure the flowers of AV are reflexing/ pompommy enough, and don't really know about the leaves... I had hoped the FP info might help help clarify whether it might be be a reversion (?) as you suggested.

Comtesse :¬)