JJ is not hard to grow here but is kind of stiingy with blooms for me.
On the other hand, this is one beautiful Rose so I usually find a place for it.
Chuck

Just Joey was finicky here in a colder zone where cankers on its canes knocked its size backwards every spring. That's "Every" spring, even springs that came after winters that barely defined zone 7/8.
I found its child Abbaye de Cluny to do better here.
It transplanted poorly and last summers drought was its death knell.
It was lovely; it just wasn't lovely often enough.

I've only had mine for one year but my experience has been that it doesn't bloom as much as I'd like, but enough that I'll keep it b/c it's so pretty. I'm hoping this year will be a better year for it. It is huge in my garden and it gets some black spot, but I seem to have a lot of trouble with black spot anyway.

I don't think Just Joey is hard to grow, but if I only had space for five or ten plants I would probably choose something that bloomed more generously. However, Just Joey is very beautiful at all seasons and there's nothing quite like it. It was always a lot shorter than my other HT's so if I were planting it now I'd make sure it had its place in the sun, not blocked by another rose. And this time I would pamper her a lot more!

My plant died back almost totally a few yrs ago, and has taken forever to come back. It hardly ever blooms, but then it is trying to recover.

Judith, if you start a very healthy good size JJ, you willl be OK in zone 8. To start a perfectly healthy good sized specimen is the key. I got a weak plant once from Pickering and another one earlier on Dr. Huey - both had canker and they never became a strong healthy plant. I lost one last summer due to the drought and some insect attack. But, it is a wonderful rose.

Like ceterum said, make sure you get an quality, unvirused copy. It makes a big difference with JJ.

JJ is one of my most dependable roses, disease free and a regular bloomer. I don't remember where I got it but not from a big box store. (I buy most roses mail-order or from local nurseries.)

I tried really hard to get non virused JJ in the past. I had four JJs from very reputable sources including Edmunds, Pickering and two own root nurseries. All four were virused with RMV. I am wondering if all these stories of weak plants, die back and slow repeat are due to the same issue. The watermarks on the leaves were barely visible, so I would expect that only trained eye will realise that they have RMV.
This is a rose that is very hard to find a non virused clone.
Olga
Olga

I LOVE Just Joey. So much so that I bought a new one every year for 4 years, after our zone 5 winter did him in. I finally gave up - he just likes it warmer. Polka gives me a similar bloom, although without the lovely ruffles. Sigh! Thank heavens for some of the lovely new David Austin apricots - Grace, Teasing Georgia, Carding Mill, Crown Princess Margarite, etc. They are proving to be much hardier than the lovely Mr. Joe.

JJ is one of the few plants that I grow that are grafted..I prefer own root..but it has grown and flowered well for me here. It did get a touch of BS in it's first year, but very minimal compared to other roses that can get it badly. The foliage is glossy and it is a strong rose, blossom is just so unique, I just love that rose. Donna

(Just)Joey is a she not a he; I think she was the hybridizer' wife.

I recall many people saying in past threads that JJ is a weak grower. I agree, in my garden it is the smallest HT out of about 30 roses, but I placed it right in the front of the border garden and it gets full sun all day and is a lovely rose. It is not vigorous and isn't a bloom machine, but it will always have a place in my garden. The blooms are amazing and the fragrance is great.(Now I'm wondering if mine has RMV)

Olga, now I will watch for sign of RMV on my Just Joey from Pickering - I didn't see any sign so far. The two JJ I got for another garden from Pickering 3 years ago are very strong, grew big and excellent bloomers. Maybe Pickering got a new mother plant?

Marie, I sure hope so. I odered more then a 100 roses from Pickering over the years and only two were virused. This is by far the best record I got for any nursery.
These were very subtle markings, but unmistakable in my opinion. Similar to the Baldo's picture below, but less prominent.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:232845}}

Saw that the link didn't work. Hopefully this one will work. "Leaf #2 picture" in Rose Mosaic section is similar to what I observed on my JJ.

Here is a link that might be useful: RMV

In my Zone 7B garden, 'Just Joey' is a bit stingy with her blooms. Plant 3 bushes in close proximity for more blooms. The story I have heard about the naming of the rose JJ is that when they were deciding what to name it, Roger Pawsey's wife Josephine who was known as "Joey", said, "Just call it Joey," to which Roger replied, "Just Joey it is." Whether this is accurate or not, I don't know.

That is the story I heard about the naming of Just Joey except her name was Joanna.

Now that you mention it, I'm sure you're right. The name Joanna rings a bell. Thanks!

Hi Alameda,

This might come as a surprise, but Just Joey does very well here for me. I grow very few HT's and the majority of them are all located in a small, dedicated HT bed near the front entrance and patio of our house. Because of this, I only grow HT's that thrive and can stay disease manaeagable during the year. My wife likes the flower form of HT's and I essentially created this little area of the garden for her. We have a dual Muskoka chair in the front and we both like to sit out there in the morning during the warmer weather. My wife moreso than I, since I am not much of a morning person without copious amounts of coffee. My wife often says that I am more prickly than any rose in the garden in the morning.

Anyway, I digress. I have (3) Just Joey's in total, all grafted on multiflora from Pickering and planted on the border of the HT bed and underplanted with bellflower and perennial hardy geraniums. Where the Just Joey's grow, in a southern and sheltered bed, they only receive sun from sunrise till about noon-1pm each day. In this less than full-day sun location, Just Joey blooms well and repeats quickly. It is not continuous like the (2) Double Delights I grow in this same area, but is a good flush bloomer that repeats fast. I wouldn't say it is a "heavy bloomer", but compared to most shrub roses, I don't find any HT's heavy bloomers. It can and has had BS in some years. I find picking off the infected leaves and spaying once or twice with diluted lime sulphur is enough to resolve that problem in my garden. The other reason I grow all the HT's in this section is to make any disease prevention maneagable and to also prevent them from spreading any disease easily to the rest of the garden.

Just Joey is not a vigorous grower however and seems to take 3 years or so, to get established and build a decent framework. The last couple of years, I've winter-protected all of the HT's in this bed with the large sized 36" tall and 24" wide styrofoam rose cones and with horticultural fleece wrapped around the lower 12" or so of the plant. I cut the cnaes down to fit them in these containers and then tie the canes together. Because this area is near the front patio and walkway access to the house, I end up piling all the snow there. Anyway, using this method, all of the HT's have come through winter hardy to the tips when i remove the protection in the Spring. This has made the largest difference, since typically all HT's would die to the snowline or right to the soil after a normal winter.

Anyway, Just Joey is a beautiful rose, one of my wife's favorite roses and certainly one of my favorite HT's. The blooms also last a long time and the colour and form transition is very beautiful as they age. The fragrance is also outstanding. "Just a Joy" to have in the garden overall.

Alameda, I forgot to post this before. I know you wanted to see pics.

{{gwi:232848}}

My JJ has done wonderfully in a pot here for 2 years now. I love it and wouldn't be with out it.

Olga, I am familiar with that RMV marking but I have never seen it on my Just Joey or on the other two.

I've had J.Joey as a standard in two gardens. It's been good both times and visitors are wowed by the blooms.

Colleen

That beautiful photo makes me impatient for the big buds on my JJ to open! Thanks so much! From what Morden Man said, I am wondering if planting JJ in full all day sun will be OK for this rose. It will get full sun from late morning to late afternoon. But it will be planted and well mulched in a bed with very good soil, and I will keep it well watered and cared for. If, though, it would do better in Texas in a morning sun area, I can provide that also and just sub another rose in the all day sun bed. What's everyone think? Thanks again for the beautiful photo!
Judith

ANNE SAID: Just Joey was finicky here in a colder zone where cankers on its canes knocked its size backwards every spring. That's "Every" spring, even springs that came after winters that barely defined zone 7/8.
I found its child Abbaye de Cluny to do better here.
It transplanted poorly and last summers drought was its death knell.
It was lovely; it just wasn't lovely often enough.

My sentiments exactly. I love Abbaye de Cluny who made it through the drought and sprung up a newborn child.

I wouldn't say it was hard to grow. I just am on my third plant. The two previous just looked like they were ready to croak, but still managed to pump out one beautiful bloom after another.

I thought it was the nature of the plant, but RMV would explain it, although it wasn't obvious.

This current plant looks much healthier.

F.L.

Alameda,

Since I have no experience growing Just Joey in a warmer climate, I can only add that I have read in various rose literature, at one time or another, that Just Joey is a better performer in cooler, more temperate climates. I don't recollect specifically the reasons behind this evaluation or why this was noted, just simply that it was noted as being better and more widely grown in cooler areas.

I know this probably doesn't help much, if at all, but thought I'd mention it just the same.

Here are a few pics of JJ in different forms and colours for you to enjoy also.

{{gwi:232850}}

{{gwi:232853}}

{{gwi:232854}}

{{gwi:232856}}

{{gwi:232858}}

Wow, pretty pics Morden Man! I got JJ last year and it is 'just' beautiful. I've read somewhere that it is on the tender side. It was bred in England, so that is
what probably makes it a good choice to have where I am. The coloring and ruffly flowers are so pretty. Mine is tending to be very bushy on the shorter side.
{{gwi:232860}}

My JJ was just spared the headsman's axe for it's first three years in my garden as it was a puny runty bush and hardly bloomed at all. However the fourth year it really turned things around and it took off and grew and bloomed very nicely. I was really looking to see how it grew in it's fifth year which was last growing season, however the Big Easter Freeze got it and killed it deader than a doornail. I won't go through years of frustration with JJ again so I didn't replace it with another JJ. I think I planted a different yellow in that spot.

The 3 fat buds on my newly purchased JJ are starting to open, they are beautiful. The bush does look more spreading than upright...its really healthy.....I am going to get it in the ground as soon as I topdress the bed with compost/landscapers mulch and let it start growing in the early spring. Hopefully it will get established. Dont think I will let it cover itself with blooms, rather one here and there, want it to put its energy into growing a strong bush. I remember the blooms being huge, and think this one is worth growing - just needed to know some tips and what to expect. I adore the color!!
Judith

This is just my personal experience, but I don't think JJ likes very hot summers. I was intrigued by a bushy, healthy, blooming-fool bush that some wonderful rosarians across the river from me were growing. They said it does great for them (theirs in on fortuniana rootstock). But this couple literally has the most beautiful rose garden I've ever seen. Almost every rose they grow (around 300 of them) seems to do beautifully for them. So anyway, they let me take a cutting a few years ago, so I know I had a healthy source. Mine rooted and grew "OK" but has only been a so-so bloomer. I think our July and August really stress it out. Maybe location makes a difference and a slightly diffuse or dappled light setting would help in a really hot climate. Anyway, I'm getting rid of mine; replaced it with the Buck rose Prairie Sunrise--similar color, smaller but still very full blooms and similarly good fruity fragrance. No, it doesn't look just like JJ (nothing else does), but it's a lot easier for me to grow and the color is quite similar.

Mike, after reading your post, I am going to rethink my position for JJ. I have a raised bed just off my deck that gets great morning sun but after lunch, when it becomes brutal, as it tends to do in Texas in summer, it will be in dappled shade. Think I will put a Prairie Sunrise in the backyard bed where I planned to put JJ. My potted JJ has a big bloom now.....simply magnificent! I want the bush to thrive so think this might be the better spot for it.
Judith

Judith, that sounds like a good plan to me. Actually, my JJ remains in a pot "banished" to my back patio, which receives only about a half-day of dappled sun. Your chosen location sounds a little better, as I don't think I have quite enough sun for ideal growth. I said I'm getting rid of mine, but I have a hard time shovel pruning bushes that don't die on their own. Still, I hate to give a plant to someone when I don't think it will actually do well for them; it's kinda like negative advertising for rose growing. To it's credit, I totally ignore it except for occasional watering, and it is still trucking along. I have had mine only about 3 years. Maybe I should follow the advice above and wait for another year or even 2 to make a final judgment.

Meanwhile, Prairie Sunrise is doing beautifully in JJ's old spot. I just got it from Lisa at Countryside last summer, along with Alec's Red. THANKS LISA! Both are gorgeous AND very fragrant! They also are about average for blackspot resistence, which in my area means I have to be diligent with the preventive spraying. No big deal, since I spray everything else anyway.

I love both Prairie Sunrise and Alec's Red. Big red, fragrant blooms, I am surprised it is not mentioned more. The bloom on my JJ today is stupendous and huge! This one will be worth babying a bit just to see that huge apricot confection!!
Judith