Tom Carruth has certainly bred some lovely roses! My favorite is 'Memorial Day'!

pat_bamaZ7, your 'Grand Dame' looks fantastic!

Christina

Pat, that is a fabulous Grande Dame photo. Is she as good a bloomer as she looks?
All my Carruth roses are favorites, but the world class rose, Julia Child, is at the top for me. I also love Twilight Zone, Diamond Eyes, Ebb Tide (even with fading), Blueberry Hill, Wild Blue Yonder, and I hope, Love Song which is coming to my garden this spring. I guess Memorial Day, which so many love, is not on my favs' list. I forgot about that one. I have multiples of many of these, I like them so well. Diane

I forgot to mention that I love that exquisite photo of Love Song, Sarah-Ann. Diane

Diane,
She's a big girl here, blooms her head off and smells like heaven:

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Thank you everyone. Yes, that Grand Dame is heavenly, Pat! I am excited to read about all these wonderful roses. One I keep forgetting that I have and is one of his also, is Meredith. I know I've posted a picture of it, it is a lovely pale pink. It is a good one too, but not as much of a standout as the other four. It does have a wonderful fragrance.

Would love to see some more Carruth roses.

I don't have a lot of stripes in my garden, but the ones I do have are Carruth roses. In addition to Scentimental that I already listed, Rock & Roll, George Burns and Chihuly are great stripey roses for me.

Here's Rock & Roll:

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Pat, I love that picture of Rock 'N Roll!

Julia Child is one of the best roses I've seen in years. Other favorites include Rock & Roll, Twilight Zone, Hot Cocoa, & Strike It Rich

Julia Child has been my 'gateway' rose, and she's been fantastic. She'll always be a favourite. I also have Wild Blue Yonder and it's great too. I planted Hot Cocoa in late fall and in the spring I'm expecting Cinco de Mayo, Twilight Zone, and Blueberry Hill.
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Dollsandroses and redwolfdoc, thank you. Beautiful picture of Julia Child. Seems like there are certain ones that are really popular. Julia Child and Twilight Zone are two that I have coming, also Dick Clark, Moonstone and Neptune.

Dollsandroses, I forgot about Strike it Rich...love that one, too!

Wow - Pat, Love the coloring in Strike It Rich!

Thanks, Sara Ann!
I forgot I also have About Face - planted in fall. Pat, love that Strike it Rich. Is there much colour variation between blooms?

Redwolfdoc, The blooms all open the same rich gold with red edging on the outer petals, but they do "tan" to red edging on all the petals over time. Below isn't a great picture, but shows a bloom that has "tanned".

I grow a few (?) of Tom's roses. These will probably always have a home in my garden; Crystalline, Moonstone, Stainless Steel, Hot Cocoa, Julia Child, Fourth of July. If you really look, you will see that Mr. Carruth has made a huge impact on the rose world.

Pat, thanks for that. The 'tanning' on Strike it Rich is lovely as well... perhaps that one should go on my wish list!

I absolutely love Stainless Steel in pictures, but the zone 7 rating on HMF has put me off. I can stretch my yard to zone 6 or even 6b, but 7 is probably pushing it. Has anyone grown Stainless Steel in colder climes?

Karen

Thanks everyone. It's interesting to know which ones are everyone's favorites.

This is my first year with mellow yellow, and it has been amazing. Vigorous, lots of good sized blooms, and no mildew or BS. It does not faid, and lasts quite awhile. 3'-4' I have order Julia Child and Stainless Steel for 2015

Wendt - I loved my Mellow Yellow and I didn't realize how much I would miss it. It didn't make it through the winter. I ordered one from Palatine for 2015. I was looking at all the Carruth roses on Regan's website, there are so many I still want to try. Planted Julia Child this year, love it so far.

Wow, Love Song is SPECtacular, and its a zone 5. Thanks, Sara Ann, I'll sure be interested in one if I can find it for a reasonable price in Canada.

Julia Child is gorgeous and floriferous as ever. I didn't know what I as doing when I planted her (she was my first rose) and the graft is above the soil line, but she came through this past winter without skipping a beat. Fantastic rose.

Wild Blue Yonder hasn't been at all happy for me this year. Only one tiny flush of maybe 3 blooms in the spring and nothing since - not even any new cane growth to speak of. Maybe didn't like the winter so much. I did move it back in April as well. I hope it recuperates for next year!

New for me this season were Cinco de Mayo, Hot Cocoa, Marilyn Monroe and Twilight Zone. They've all been great - CdM was slow to take off but has been a bloom machine since mid-season. HC hasn't been overly floriferous but not bad for 1st year and MM and TZ have been downright amazing.

I also had About Face from Hortico and Blueberry Hill from Pickering. They didn't survive the winter - both showed early growth and then withered and died. Pickering refunded my money quickly and without hassle, and I'm STILL playing phone tag with Hortico.

Here are a few Marilyn Monroe blooms with a freshTwilight Zone bloom sneaking in:
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Karen

Karen, that photo is gorgeous. Yellow and purple is by far my favorite color combo for the garden, and the happy little pair in this photo is just like candy to my eyes. Marilyn Monroe is on my very short wish list of Hybrid Teas, her roses always seem to look perfect. Twilight Zone was on it for a while but I have heard that the re-bloom is not very good, and I have still never seen one in bloom in person as every time I visit my local public rose garden the TZ is never in bloom, so this makes me suspect the rumors may be true... would you find this to be the case in your garden?

Jessica.

Jessica,

Thanks very much! I have Marilyn with Twilight Zone and Distant Drums in a group, surrounded by Black Eyed Susans and lavender. It's one of my favourite garden vignettes!

I bought Marilyn on impulse when I went to Palatine to pick up my order last spring. I'm sooo happy I did! They told me she likes a lot of feeding, but boy, every single bloom has been just perfect and beautiful.

But you asked about TZ. I can't really say much as this was the first year I've had it, but this year it's shown wonderful vigor, so I'm looking forward to an even better show as it matures. These being new roses, I didn't fertilize at all this year beyond bone meal at planting, and TZ didn't give me much of a spring flush, but in the last two months or so it's really been ramping up. Each set of buds seems to come hot on the heels of the last. So I'm hopeful, but again, this is the first year and it's building up. The blooming has involved up to six or eight buds at a time lately, but only two or three at a time earlier in the season.

Hope that helps! I also hope it's not too convoluted - it's past my bedtime and I tend to run at the brain! :)

Karen

Here's another shot or two of TZ
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These are 5 of his roses that I grow and love:

Hot Cocoa
Midnight Blue
Neptune
Chihuly
Legends

Midnight Blue in all stages of bloom...

Beautiful picture deco!

I've had Julia Child, which I gave away because the color didn't blend well with my mostly old garden roses of cream, pink and purple. Wild Blue Yonder was not a great success after the first year since it became tall and gangly, with thick canes. I now have two Grand Dame, of which one parent is WBY, and from everything I've heard it's supposed to be a superlative rose. It's newly planted so I can't comment, but it's been praised for constant bloom, heat tolerance, no disease, fragrance and vigor. The blooms come in huge clusters; pat bama's picture gives a good idea of how pretty it is.

Ingrid

I love many of Carruth's roses, and cliche as it is, Julia Child is my favorite, but Love Song is really climbing in the "favorite" category for me. I love some Carruth purple roses, but Wild Blue Yonder is not a favorite of mine, either, Ingrid. Diane

Off Topic: Ingrid, I added a photo of Bernstein-Rose looking amber to the "compact yellows" thread so you can see that in an accurate photo, the rose often does look amber.

Grande Dame and Barbra Streisand are probably my favorites, though the former is better at keeping form during summer than babs. Julie Newmar is one I would like to try out.

I am glad to hear these roses do well. I recently ordered Grand Dame due to all the yummy pics I have been seeing on this forum lol!
It is supposed to be sent out tomorrow.
I am also ordering Love Song (love the lavenders), Julia Child, and Ebb Tide.
~SJN

Wow, Nanadoll. Your house looks so welcoming :)

White licorice is a fun rose. Very ruffly and blooms constantly here near Disneyland. The fragrance is spicy myrrh.

All the TC roses seem to like it here. I wish he could have kept going. I'm glad he's helping the Huntington but I miss his outstanding new roses. Many of my all time favorites are by him.

If you haven't yet visited the Huntington, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks, Jasmine, but those Julias are pretty funny when the high bloom season is on. They try to "join hands" across the sidewalk leading to the front porch so that walking to our front door is more like running a gauntlet than getting a nice welcome. It's kind of cute, but my son in law hates it.
Kitty, White Licorice sounds delicious. I know nothing about it, and will check it out. Thanks for the info. Maybe Mr Carruth will return to hybridizing one day. Too bad there aren't two of him. Diane

White Licorice is another favorite of mine...so many great ones from him!!! I have my White Licorice between two Julia Childs right by my front steps...wonderful wafting scent between the three of them! White Licorice is also a great, long lasting cut flower that will perfume the whole house.

White Licorice:

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And between the Julia's:

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http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=7.5956&tab=21

This link should show all of his roses

Here is a link that might be useful: Roses by Tom Carruth

Oh, Pat, how beautiful. I love the white frills. I have no white roses. Maybe WL would be a good start. Thanks for the photos.
Glenburn, thanks for the link. I will try it right now. Diane

Thanks Diane! Hard to tell from my pictures, but here WL is actually a very pale yellow rather than a true white. I originally had mine planted in my all white garden, but it was not white enough for that. I liked the rose so much, though, that I moved it front and center between the two Julia's.

Diane, I love the uphill shot of your gorgeous front garden which also shows part of a neighbor's house. Would you please tell me the name of the lavender/purple rose in the left front of the picture? I'm a fool for roses of that color.

Ingrid

Ingrid, that is Young Lycidas. I'm liking it more and more as it continues to improve in the look of its blooms.. Poor thing was transplanted twice so it's still on the smallish side, but getting bigger. I'm a little worried it's going to get too big for that spot.
Thanks so much for your nice comments. You should see it now in the glory of soppy winter. Diane

Pat, I see what you mean about the pale yellow. I think that makes WL all the better between the Julias, a lovely combo. Diane

I'm loving this thread! There are some really gorgeous Carruth roses out there. I was very happy with Cinco de Mayo and Marilyn Monroe and Twilight Zone and Hot Cocoa this past season. For next year I'm adding Diamond Eyes, About Face, and hopefully Stainless Steel.

Julia Child was my 'gateway' rose - I'll always love her. Diane, I can never get enough photos of the front of your house!

White Licorice is very pretty too. It goes beautifully with JC!

It's been interesting reading everything about all the great Carruth roses. I've been looking at the list of roses I have coming for spring and there are four of his that I have added - Memorial Day, Colorific, Grand Dame and Moonstone. I also have Julia Child and I love it so far.

This post was edited by Sara-Ann on Tue, Jan 20, 15 at 10:26

Here is Tom Carruth in the bed of Julia Child at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.

BTW, White Licorice is the creation of Christian Bédard, Tom's protégée and now head of Week's Hybridizing efforts.....

What a photo! That is mind blowing to a Julia lover. Wouldn't Miss Child be thrilled to know what a worldwide hit this rose, named in her honor, is. It's neat to see Mr Carruth's photo, too. I wonder which of his roses is his personal favorite. Has he ever mentioned this? Diane

Ebb Tide
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Ebb Tide is the front if my Garden

I'm a big fan of Carruth roses- especially ones in the purple range of colors- I grow many of them. Only Wild Blue Yonder was not vigorous. I had the great pleasure of meeting Tom Carruth about 6 years ago as he is friends with one of my neighbors. I asked him which low maintenance, high performing Rose was his favorite recommendation. He said Julia Child. Tom is a great guy to talk roses & plants with.

Another vote for Love Song

And Twilight Zone

and Ebb Tide.

His roses are among some of my favorites for the moderns.