Some bouquets of fragrant roses bought from Roses Unlimited. My all-time favorites from RU are: Sonia Rykiel (a dozen blooms per flush in 1st year as own-root), Versigny (the scent is worth buying), Poseidon (going to frost with 30+ buds), Summer Sun (compact & small for a Kordes rose), Savannah (non-stop blooming), Pink Peace (great for the vase), Sweet Mademoiselle and Firefighter (both last 5 days in the vase), Betty White, Twilight Zone, About Face, Liv Tyler, and many Austins that RU sold before 2021. Below upper pink is Sonia Rykiel, dark red is the Dark Lady (from RU): Below dark red is Munstead Wood, and and orange About Face, red is Firefighter. Below orange is America, light pinks are Gene Boerner (thornless), and blue is Poseidon. Big red is Peter Mayle (survives 5+ years in my zone 5a winter): Below yellows are Moonlight Romantica (smells just as good as Golden Cel). Upper light pinks are Princess Charlene de Monaco (now 10' x 3') needs space. Blue is Poseidon lasts 5 days. Below deep oranges are Sweet Mademoiselle, light left pink is Savannah, and reds are the Dark Lady (going into Nov. frost with many buds): Below bouquet is picked Oct. 29, 2023 before frost. Red is Veteran's Honor. Pink is Radio Times, white is Bolero, dark pink is Dee-lish, and dark red is the Dark Lady. All are from Roses Unlimited. Below large dark pink is Peter Mayle (eucalytus rose scent, so unique), light pinks are Evelyn, deep pink is Comte de Chambord, gaudy orange is Solitude (worth having for hot summer). Liv Tyler (right deep pink) never ball like Sweet Mademoiselle, Liv Tyler gives twice more blooms than Sweet M. Left dark pink is Pink Peace (worth buying with its buttercream frosting scent). Right light pink is Frederic Mistral (petals get spoiled often in rainy climate, worse than Betty White) Below was Liv Tyler in my garden at above 90 F, it's best for hot climate.

LauraLG Z5b-NwPA wrote: "My soil has a thick layer of pretty dense topsoil underlaid by a very gravelly subsurface.... my flower beds seem to hold moisture well. I assumed it was the higher water table" From StrawChicago: My topsoil is dense clay, underneath is some gravels .. other under layers are dense clay mixed with rocks. Drainage is good in some area, but there are areas of high-water table (never need to water plants for years). Just fixed the planting hole of Queen Nefertiti, it's a child of Tamora and Lilian Austin. I had Lilian Austin, it was 100% healthy in poor-drainage clay. The problem is Tamora which black-spot badly in rose park's alkaline clay with our heavy rain (more than 1" a day). Queen Nefertiti takes after Tamora, I spent 1 hour digging that hole for drainage, and put fluffy compost mixed with MG-potting-soil plus some of my clay, that WAS NOT ENOUGH. It dropped 1/2 leaves & blackspot during last heavy rain. I had to move it to a faster drainage hole. Today I spent 2 HOURS digging a hole deep to 2.5 feet and 3 feet wide & threw away dense clay. Then I dumped a 5-gallon bucket of water to test for fast drainage. I mixed 1/2 top-soil with 1/2 coarse sand and filled that hole. Took 4 bags of 40 lbs. topsoil plus 2 bags of coarse sand. It was brutal hard-work just for that Queen Nefertiti (child of Tamora). If a hole cannot drain a 5-gallon bucket fast in less than a few minutes, then it won't be ready for the heavy rain here. From now on, I'll buy disease-resistant roses (like Kordes) or LOW-THORN waterhogs that can take more than 1 inch. of rain per day, like Twilight zone. HMF has good rating system, where people can rate roses based on rain-tolerance or disease resistance. With my 134 varieties I'm generous with my rating, I give a "good" rating if it's below average, and won't give a fair rating unless a rose lose 1/2 of leaves from black spots. Below is Tamora rating on HMF: https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.2469.1&tab=34 Below is Queen Nefertiti (child of Tamora) rating on HMF: https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.2289.1&tab=34

Michael - I am in the SF Bay and go to Regan Nursery for roses too. I have 1 Desdemona and 9 Bolero as hedge. They both grow well here. Some differences: 1. Desdemona is the taller of the two. Although you can prune Desdemona, she is happiest around 4- 5 feet tall. Bolero can be kept at around 3 - 4 feet. Bolero is a bit slower growing initially than Desdemona. 2. Disease resistance: Bolero is susceptible to thrip damage here. If you are in a SF microclimate with lots of maritime influence, Bolero can get rust. My area has lots of morning fog and is in general very cool, even in the summer (sort of like in the City but I don't live in the City). Bolero was clean in the first year, but broke out with rust the second year. Rust is well controlled after I started to spray fungicide. Meanwhile Desdemona is disease free. I never see thrip damage either. If you end up getting more Bolero, I don't suggest using sprinkler water because of the chances getting the lower leaves wet and thus may aggravate any fungal disease. 3. The blooms of Desdemona is a bit more loose. Bolero has nicer and more packed blooms than Desdemona. They can both have a blush color in the middle during cool weather. I don't notice major differences in the fragrance. Both are very fragrant. 4. During the first year, Bolero took longer to rebloom but catch up quickly. Desdemona is quick to rebloom from first year on. Now after 4 years there is no difference between them. Since you have Bolero already, I can post a picture of Desdemona though I never managed to get a whole bush shot because there are lots of other roses around it, plus my lemon tree pot is right next to it.

dianela....Thank you! The rose on the arbor is Florence Bower's Pink Tea. It has one big flush very early (May) and then only scattered blooms for the rest of the season. I'm hoping it will bloom better as it matures. That's why I planted the Summer Romance with it....to fill out the side a little bit and give continual blooms. The structure is made of pine fence and lodge poles purchased at our local feed store. To make them last longer, they are stained (Sherwin Williams Weathered Gray) and also the poles are not in the ground....they're attached to metal brackets that are cemented in the ground. We built this after the previous black iron arch rusted and broke from swaying in the wind with the big climber on it. librarian....for a beautiful fluffy and puffy white rose that's not too big and is a champ in our wet climate, have you tried Bolero? It's the best white in my garden! The blooms open up no matter how wet it gets, and they stay lovely and clean looking.