Roses

[Carols Clucks]

I am hooked, okay probably stuck on the thorn, but I would love to hear/see your rose gardens.

I went to a pruning class and found some really nice roses, more my style than some I have seen before. Unfortunately, the one I like the most, the nursery could not get in this year. Never fear, I am obsessed and will end up with that rose! David Austin's Ambridge. I love the scent and the look.

Which do you like?

 

[baustin]

I have several favorites since I've grown roses for at least 50 years. I love Peace, Mr. Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Tiffany but I like Cecil Brunner in a climber and New Dawn. I had several David Austin roses where we used to live but couldn't bring them with me. I live in the high desert in CA and roses do very well here. We don't get a lot of bugs and diseases since it's so dry.

 

[galanie]

Oh Cecile Brunner is a nice one, even though it only blooms once or twice a year. We had one that was HUGE and just so pretty, even with no blooms. Nice thornless things. For myself, I like the "old roses" or "antique roses" the best. They are very hardy and need no fussy care like the newer ones do. Duchesse Du Brabant is my absolute favorite. There is another, nicknamed the "Sweetheart Rose" that I love too. I cannot recall the proper name for that. Right now, I have about half the roses I once did and I'm not even sure of the names of all of them. The tags are long gone and they were planted by my mother, also long gone. The killer was the exceptional drought we had this summer, the worst in Texas history. Even with watering, some still succombed to it. But the survivors, WOW. I've been letting the chickens take care of the weeds, bugs, and fertilization of them for the last couple months, an hour or so every evening, and I guess those roses must LOVE those chickens cause in 30 years I've never seen them come out an bloom their heads off like they're doing now. Here's one that I *think* is a Climbing Pinkie:

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It's really a large picture, click on it and you'll see full size. I am just thrilled with the way they are blooming and growing but I just hope we don't get much below freezing weather here when they are still having tender new growth on them. So far we've had a few light frosts and no damage. I want to add that I'm no rose expert, my mother was. I did soak up a tiny amount of her knowledge but not nearly enough.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Well, last year i gave in and got an austin rose, shropshire lad. We have bad winters, and i have been dying to have a peach rose. It is doing well, i kept it in my camper thru the winter just in case since it was it's first one. I only got 2 tiny blooms last year, but from what i've read that is because it is establishing itself yet. I got mine direct from a catalog i ordered online from austin. They have a nursery in TX that handles the US orders. Man was i impressed with the shipping, and with the size of the roots! way bigger than "store" bareroots. I am also currently trying to rescue a green mini from the store. Here''s what they are supposed to look like:

http://www.davidaustinroses.com/american/Advanced.asp?PageId=2063

http://kansasgardenmusings.blogspot.com/2010/09/green-rose-surprise.html

Anyone have tips on helping transplanted roses to do their best? The mini was getting burned by too much fertilizer in the store pot, i had to rinse the old dirt completely off the roots and repot.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Fuzzy, I just got my David Austin Catalog last night!


I decided to pull out a few hybiscus shrubs next fall so I can add to the English rose garden. My dad like hybiscus-I put these ones in for him, but they get white fly so bad so we are going to dig up and move. I am hoping chickens love to eat white flies....

 

[fuzzybutt love]

This is my austin shropshire lad rose, coming on it's second summer with very vigorous growth! I put a lot of composted manure in the bottom 3rd of the pot, and i did keep it in a camper over winter, as i wanted it to get bigger and stronger before i left him to the whims of nature, and pruned at the end of February, this is all new March growth! I am so pleased with this rose.