How tall/wide is the arch, and do you have any color range preferences?

jackie

Thanks for responding. I was about to just order A Stropshire Lad. It is one of those rusted metal arches. 3 feet deep, 6.5 feet wide entrance and about 7 feet tall. I had a 12 year old Graham Thomas and a 6 year old Cl. Autumn Sunset and decided I want an overall look... plus Graham Thomas had been planted in too small a gopher wire basket (I now hate them) and was girdled by its own roots. Both had more black spot than I will tolerate. I have finally learned to transplant or shovel prune.

@Campanula LOL! @jacqueline3, Sorry... I already made a mistake on my first post. I shovel pruned Cl. ROYAL Sunset. I don't really care about color... I DO care about disease resistance since I don't spray, and about lots of blossoms and healthy foliage. I will feed and coddle, and I will strip leaves. I actually ordered A StropshireLad... the David Austin employee recommended it over the others because it was the tallest of the 3. Thanks!

Let us know how it turns out. I don't grow any of the three roses you mentioned, so did not venture an opinion

I garden not far from you a bit to the south. I do a single winter spray (copper) when I prune in the winter, but otherwise don't spray either.

Rosefolly

@rosefolly... I will. Nice to year you're gardening not too far south of me. I always wonder about single winter spraying. I actually did it once but the worms were writhing around when I sprayed the ground, and the spiders were dropping out of the roses, and I decided I couldn't do that to them. I couldn't be good. Spiders and worms are good.

Good luck with a Shropshire Lad - let us know how it does. I am so jealous that you have that much space in the sun to plant new roses! I garden North of you in Marin County, so probably not too different, although we are zone 9.

Here everything, including Austins, get much bigger than the catalogues/experts say they will, so you might only need one rose! I have only every grown Graham Thomas of all of the Austins, so I have no idea about aSL. GT is growing on a structure for us, and is 8 feet tall, and would certainly get taller if I did not cut off the extra 12 foot long canes it throws out in the Fall.

If it was me, I would try a tea rose, because they bloom constantly here, and the blooms would nod down at you from the arch, and look fabulous. One of the ones with the most relaxed growth habit and flexible canes, like perhaps Mme Joseph Schwartz.

Or, I might try the old hybrid musk Pax. The books say it gets 3 feet tall, but the one I have here got up to 18 feet (truly - grew out of its bed, leaped over the front stairway up to our porch, and then grew up the house to the second story! And this was in very little sun - more shad than sun. It is healthy here, and has the most lovely semi-double graceful white blooms.

I agree with you about spraying - I gave it up my second year of gardening when I realized that the reason our fruit trees had hardly any fruit was that I had killed all of the pollenators!

Jackie

@jacqueline3 Thanks for responding! I will look up Mme. Joseph Schwartz. I spent hours on line last night looking up lots of roses, and could only decide on one. The only reason I have more sun space is because I shovel pruned roses that were already there.

WOW Pax went to 18 feet... It's a name I recognize. I bought a Quatre Saisons last year from Roses of Yesterday (where I volunteer), and it's ENORMOUS in one year. In fact, it's shading my poor little Stanwell Perpetual, which I've moved at least twice already.

I just signed some petition a friend in Maine sent me yesterday to protect bees from pesticide. I love my bees.

What's your favorite rose?? I must figure out how to add photos to my posts. Hope you have a great day... I am trying to pick up diseased rose leaves ... a little each day when it's not raining.

BaaBaaRaa -- Come Spring, you might drive over to San Jose, to the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, and also visit the SJHRG Climber collection, planted on the Santa Clara University fence.
Consider some of the Tea-Noisettes, as most of those grow as climbers in California: 'Reve d'Or' is one of my favorites, as is 'Lamarque.'
I love "Secret Garden Musk Climber," and 'Fourth Of July,' and 'Mel's Heritage,' a Paul Barden rose distributed from the SJHRG.

Jeri Jennings

@Jerijen. Thank you! Believe it or not, I have never visited the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden (!!!!). And I noticed recently that it's near Japan Town, which I visit frequently. I will definitely go now. I had Reve d'Or at one time, in a too-shady location unfortunately (I have lots of heritage Live Oaks), and had to replace her. I did love it though. I rarely replace a rose I removed (Evelyn is an exception)... I think this is because I really love getting to know a new rose up close. I do have a couple of Paul Barden moss roses (Unconditional Love and Song of the Stars?); they're small but successful so far in my garden, so I'm interested in checking out your suggestion of Mel's Heritage. I don't know why I never liked Fourth of July? I will also look up Secret Garden Musk Climber... Lamarque I've often wondered about. I guess you just can't grow them all. Some I have to admire in other peoples' gardens or photos.

BTW, where do I find out how to insert photos in my posts? FAQs didn't seem to have the answer.

Remember that this is pruning time, and the garden is in process of being pruned (as most are, presently). So if you want to see those roses in all of their glory, you will have to wait until Spring.
I usually pay a visit to the Sacramento City Cemetery (another place you should go, btw) and to the Heritage, in mid-April.
I think this year, the Cemetery's Open Garden is April 16, and I often enjoy the Heritage on the same weekend.

Jeri

Hello BaaBaaRaa. I too am interested in hearing how A Shropshire Lad works out for you. I live not far from you in San Mateo. I have Mel's Heritage; it's 2 years old now and I love it.

Cheers,
Jo

That would make Kernel Mel very happy. :-)

Jeri

Baabaaraa & Jacqueline3 - I have actually never seen that happen. Never. I use a copper-based fungicide, and I use it on my non-citrus fruit trees as well. After I've pruned and stripped leaves I doubt there are any insects on the plants to be harmed, even if the spray would harm them. (Perhaps it would, though it is not considered an insecticide.) And the ground is covered with a deep mulch, so any worms are at least a layer away. I have lots and lots of insect pollinators, and lots of birds as well.

Jeri & Jo Pye Weed - I've just planted Mel's Heritage myself. I'm looking forward to seeing it flourish in my garden.

Rosefolly

I don't get the joke. :(
Renee

baa baa raa = barbara? Just a guess, Renee.

to post photos use free photo site e.g., photobucket and then copy the html code from under the picture and paste it into your "Message" box.

Thanks, Renee. You're right about the name... it is kind of a phoenetic French prononciation of my name. I like it better in French.

I am reporting in on A Stropshire Lad. So far so good! Blooms are beautiful, it has climbed about half way up each side of the arch. One side is more vigorous than the other because the side which gets more shade is not doing as well. It has a little blackspot, but nothing unmanageable. I have high hopes for it and would recommend it so far.

I just wish it would grow a little faster. P.S. Thanks for the top on uploading photos.

There is now an easier way to post one photo. When you are writing a post, you just click on the "choose file" button right above your user name. Then, you choose your pic file on your computer just as you would for anything. After you have chosen your pic file, the "choose file" button will show numbers, etc. Then when you click on "Preview Message" as usual, you need to WAIT extra time, and then your message and your picture will appear, and you post the message as usual.

Having said that, I would like to see a picture of your 'A Shropshire Lad'!

Jackie

Thanks Jackie! I couldn't find one of the whole arch, because the rose is still small and only one third of the way up. The blooms, however, are AWESOME!

Wow - they ARE awsome! I am looking forward to hearing how it does over the next 24 months - mostly health. If it is healthy in Menlo Park, it ought to like San Rafael also. Thanks for the gorgeous picture.

Jackie

Hi Jackie! Health is extremely important to me too. I already shovel pruned a huge Graham Thomas and a smaller gorgeous rose, Cl. Royal Sunset which used to be growing on this arch. Royal Sunset did not get as much full sun as Graham.

So far Stropshire Lad is really GREAT. I have pulled off some leaves with black spot, but in general it is doing well. I will keep you posted.

The other identical arch I have is now ready for new roses. I shovel pruned Sally Holmes (two of them). I am trying to decide between Crown Princess Margareta (2) OR Cl. Cecile Bruner. I am leaning towards the latter. I already have 2 Cl. Cecile Bruner, but it was the arch in Carolyn Parker's garden that kind of clinched this for me.

@jo pieweed: I am really interested in Mel's Heritage thanks to you. Can you post some photos, or tell me how it is going, disease resistance wise?... Also its size and characteristics.

I know the photos I've seen of Crown Princess Margarita climbing over arches are AMAZING. I bought CPM as a bareroot in Feb, so way to early to comment on her.

Hi BaaBaaRaa!

Thanks for posting the pic of A Shropshire Lad. Your comments and the pic are making me regret that I passed up this rose during Regan Nursery's Labor Day sale...

For me, Mel's Heritage has its first flush in June and then immediately repeats. I get another set of scattered blooms in Sept. and then it's pretty much done. While it gets some very mild powdery mildew (where conditions highly favor this particular disease),I have never seen blackspot on it. It is prone to spotting though (cercospora leaf spot?) and anthracnose. It looks like this rose may prefer some warmer days than what we get here.

I put Mel's Heritage in the ground earlier this year; I had it in big pot before that. It threw out a 12 foot whip-like cane and I have plans to train this rose along the fence. But, climbing roses that I see in my neighborhood don't seem to achieve the sizes that they do everywhere else in California. To get an accurate idea of its size it would be best if you made a trip to the San Jose Heritage rose garden to see the Mel's Heritage there. It is huge, and I will be in trouble if my rose gets even a third of the size of the plant in San Jose.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Cheers,
Jo

This post was edited by jo_pyeweed on Fri, Dec 21, 12 at 22:00

How great to hear from you Jo! What is a pyeweed? I was in Santa Cruz today at Lumbermans and they have bare root roses in stock already. I think I have decided on two Cl. Cecile Bruners.... I know, I know.... what a clich�.... and I already have several of them. But well, Carolyn Parker's Cl. CBs made me think I should do it on this arch too. I normally like to try something new. We will see. I am pretty spontaneous. I might go over to Regans in January and see what looks good.

You have a wonderful holiday season too, Jo! I loved hearing from you.

Jo- the Mel's Heritage in SJHRG hasn't been pruned much, so that's why it's huge. I think we'll manage to get it pruned way back this winter. It's certainly very vigorous, but I think you'll be able to keep up with it.

By the way, if anyone wants a plant, let me know and we'll start some cuttings of it.

BaaBaaRaa- I live in Santa Cruz, so I laughed when you wrote Lumberman's. It's hard to keep up. ProBuild, now, but I still call it by it's original name- San Lorenzo Garden Center. When you go to SJHRG, swing by the Santa Clara University fence on El Camino and The Alameda. 270 climbers, no spray. The key to which rose is which is on the SJHRG website.

Jill

Here is a link that might be useful: SJHRG

That is a beautiful rose Jill, I would love to have a plant or cuttings.