also would like to know about climbing roses... i try to color coordinate areas of the garden, so that there are more yellows here, reds, there, etc..

i am really looking for yellow climbing roses, but i dont know what is out there...

One of the main requests when I talk to a garden center is that the flowers must bloom a lot and long.. I like floribundas and grandiflorias... not really happy with teas... i like roses that bloom from march till december, and flowers as big as dinner plates... and lots of plates... i know.. i want a lot..

See.. Ive been a wedding photographer for 20 years... and avalon started as an outdoor studio. So the roses are backgrounds.. need lots of color often...

darrin

Modern roses bloom on a (roughly) six week cycle, so you need a lot of them to have constant bloom in your yard. But, by pruning roses at just the right time, you can have your whole yard blooming for a special event,like a wedding. You can also stagger the pruning, for the constant bloom effect. With 50 bushes, you start to get the constant bloom effect. With 150 healthy bushes, there always seems to be a good display, even in Connecticut, where the roses have to recover from the effects of winter each year.

yeah.. i pretty much spend the summer weeding and dead heading.. I just cut off any spent blooms, but dont know if i should do more..

d

How fun! Seven acres?!!! Wow, what I could do with that much land! LOL You can purchase CHIHULY by mail (online) from several sources. While it's good to patronize the local nurseries, you often can't find the best roses there. You'll have to learn all about mail order and online ordering. And we here are sooooo good at enabling and showing you where to find certain roses. You should start off looking at our favorite rose database Help-me-find, or as we call it HMF. You can look up roses and they will list possible sources for them, list disease resistance, scent, petal count, etc. Ya know, for weddings, the David Austin roses can be quite lovely. And many of them are climbers in our climates.
Well, good luck, and welcome to the GW forums! Be sure and check out the Gallery where we post pics too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Help-me-find

Darrin,

Congratulations on your new business project. You have quiet an undertaking on your hands! Here are a few things that came to my mind when I read your post:

* Study your roses by purchasing books like the Ortho book on rose growing. They have a great selection of contemporary and time tested novels that are readily available via nursery or mail order (my favorate mail order is K&M and S&W Greenhouse).

* Mix your Floribundas with your Hybrid teas for longer color and increased color pallet. The floribundas tend to be shorter so place them in front of the Hybrids that grow leggier.

* Consider highering a part time gardener that knows about roses. The art (yes, I mean art) of rose keeping is striking that perfect balance between fertilizing, watering, spraying, and cutting. Otherwise plan to spend hours a week cutting back roses and spraying them. Nothing ruins a picturesque shot like a blackspot or thrips infestation.

* I'll assume that your 7 acress will have other trees and plants. With that assumption I will caution you to keep your roses in the sunniest spots. Roses need hours of sun a day. Have a climber? Keep it in the sunniest spot on the property for maximum growth and blooming.

* Lastly, my recomendations for roses not listed in your ledger: Veteran's Honor, Hot Princess, Moonstone, Elina, Alec's Red, Brook's Red, Raphaela, Granada, Memorial Day, Gold Medal, Affirm, Denali, Bride's Dream, April in Paris, Nightingale, Fragrant Plum, Fragrant Cloud, St. Patrick, Mcartney Rose, Pearly Gates cl., Don Juan cl., Big Ben, Melody Parfume, Olympiad, Love and Peace, and Red Intuition (shockingly different).

Good luck and keep us posted. We'd love to see some of your nature shots.

Adrian.

You might also want to check out the Antique Roses forum and the Antique Roses Gallery for more inspiration.

just picked up 6 golden showers and 4 penatas...

If you are looking for a good yellow large flowered climber I would suggest taking a look at Roberta Bondar. I planted two last year and they took off and bloomed like crazy the first year. I am anxious to see them this year now that they have a year under their belt to get established.
Good sources for bareroot roses are Palatine Roses, Pickering Roses, Wisconsin Roses (bareroot maidens)and Regan Nursery.
For own-root I would suggest Roses Unlimited, Chamblee's, Rogue Valley Roses, Heirloom Roses...
Good luck!!
John

Check out polyanthas, teas, chinas, noisettes. You are fairly near the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham - go during April, you will be enchanted! They have a gazebo similiar to yours that stays in full bloom with roses, annuals. It would give you lots of ideas! Chamblees Nursery is wonderful, they have lots of antique roses priced at $8.95, compared to $18.95 at ARE. I have Roberta Bondar, ordered some years ago from Hortico, and its a good rose. Cl. Pinkie is good, as is Clair Matin. Caldwell Pink is a smaller rose, but blooms all the time, as does Old Blush for me. One of my very favorites is Crepuscule - it is a bushy climber, blooms in peach and is a constant bloomer - one of my very favorite roses [Chamblees].The Griffith Buck roses [you can get them at Chamblees] are excellent bloomers. I especially like Bright Melody, Quietness, Earth Song. These, you should definintely check out. I am in east Texas, and 2 hours from you, so the same roses that bloom for me will do well for you. Also, the Knockout roses bloom constantly and come in hot pink, softer pinks and a Sunny Knockout that starts yellow and turns white. You can fill in with them. I think you will find there will be lots of choices. I was just at Chamblees last week and the roses are cut back but if you visit there in April, they will all be in full bloom and it is gorgeous! I, too, was saddened when Teas closed. Robertsons Roses had closed a couple of years previously, they had the very best potted roses I have seen, now Teas is gone....You can always check out the David Austin roses. Their plant is in Tyler - I make my order then go pick them up and make a day of it visiting Chamblees, Harris Nursery [near Chamblees, they also have roses] and Blue Moon Gardens and Hand Nursery. Also, ask on the Antiques forum - you will get lots of suggestions.
Judith