First here are the Chinese yellows - R. primula and R. hugonis. Those are in full bloom right now.

Next will be the spinossisimas. Singles first, doubles second, with a reasonable amount of variation due to location, variety, what kind of mood they are in...

After those come the rugosas. I don't have a lot of them because they don't like my soil.

Then comes the main season, full flush of bloom. By them I've stopped keeping track of what blooms when because they tend to come fast and furious at this point.

Last of the once bloomers is the species setigera.

Hi Catsrose: I always admire your approach of no-spray, even with your NOT alkaline soil where disease pressure is more so than my high pH of 7.7. I don't spray either, all my roses are own-root, except for a few Knock-outs on Dr. Huey.

Austins bloom here first, then Flower Carpet, then shrubs, Romanticas, and Hybrid teas last. Catsrose: are most of your roses own-root too? Thanks in advance.

Excellenz von Schubert has been the winner here for the past two years. Usually followed by Marchesa Boccella, but Blushing Knock Out has it beat, and Distant Drums has a bloom ready to open today. Cardinal de Richelieu is looking peaked, it is usually in bloom by now. The Baby Faurax, the minis, and Caramel Fairy Tale will be next, followed by the remaining HTs and the smaller floribundas.

Chinas first, then Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux and teas (Duchesse de Brabant first) and WS 2000. Followed by other Austins, hybrid perpetuals, and Lilac Dawn. Then the shrubs and grandifloras start. The last ones to bloom for me are Blush Noisette, Cardinal Richelieu, Ballerina, and New Dawn.

I live in central Alabama.
kay

Banksias bloom here first, followed quickly by hybrid giganticas and teas & tea noisettes.

Jackie

My spring flush, which lasted all of two weeks this year, is already a distant memory, and at the moment the garden is growing mostly mildew, but I was happy to see that Spice, which I had called a lack-luster rose in another thread, is putting out new shoots and blooms. I don't think I can get rid of this rose which is bushy and healthy, even if the brooms are small and fried all through the long summer. Le Vesuve, two of my four bushes anyway, are blooming nicely now, and I'm waiting anxiously for the first buds on Heirloom and Mlle. de Sombreuil to open; I had to see at least one bloom before I disbud all the rest. Lavender Mist was a very late starter but has bloomed beautifully for some time now, and is such a healthy plant. White Meidiland was a late starter and is now still blooming, for the first time in three years. The blooms look a bit like a smaller version of Sombreuil. My hopes this year are pinned on the new bands from Vintage and Burling, on which I hope to see at least a few flowers by late autumn. This strange spring with scarce winter rain and hot, searing winds has taught me that nothing can be taken for granted, and to treasure the roses that have held on or the new ones that look promising. Even when you think you have a mature and thriving garden, surprises can knock you sideways and keep you humble. But, there's always hope and new roses to be excited about, which pushes us forward past the disappointments, to hope for the next grand spring flush. Seeing pictures of others' gardens that are thriving are such a comfort when nothing much is happening in mine. I hope you'll all post a lot more while your springs are coming into bloom.

Ingrid

Cantabridgiensis - first out of the stalls, followed (unsurprisingly) by primula. The little spins. marbled pink, double white and dunwich rose are fast getting ready but, as always, Madame Gregoire Staechelin is first in my garden, just showing colour now. Zephy would normally be close behind but a couple of weird winters seems to have knocked its cycle out of whack and, as last year, it is still a toxic mix of last year leaves and this years new growth with, as far as I can see, nothing substantial in the way of bud formation yet.
Moonlight is always the first of my hybrid musks then the multifloras (Goldfinch, Ghislaine etc. are preparing to open) at the same time as the first hulthemias, Eyes for You and Nigel Hawthorne. First Austin is usually Graham Thomas (but it is planted on a south-facing brick wall (and is enormous)....but Pat Austin will be close behind, simultaneously with Snowgoose.

The dog roses and sweetbriars will be earlier than Californica, Webbiana, while moyesii lags almost till the end of June (when the Ayreshire splendens will twine its flexible canes between the old tomato supports). After that, it is a free-for-all until
the final roses - the musk, Nastarana, and a hybrid setigera, Tolstoi.

I forgot to include Teas, which are coming in just after the Chinas. They are more cautious. The Chinas almost explode overnight; the teas are one-by-one, then two-by-two...

My roses are almost all own-root. With the exception of ZD's rejuvenation, I've not had good luck with grafts. The few I have left are a spindly, sickly lot. Of course, not all of my own root are perfect, but if they don't do well in a spot, they are easier to cut back and move--a little bit of root can go a long way in rebirth. I have an Alliance Franco-Russe I put in summer '05. It's on its 4th placement and finally seems to be taking off. I don't think a graft would have survived all that.

Now I'm going to try to take photos...

Hi Catsrose: I would love to see your photos & your garden. The camera I use is Olympus that my hubby bought at Sam's club.

In my last house of acidic clay, mulched with pine bark (pH of 5.4, if wet goes down to 3.8) .... all my hybrid teas grafted on Dr. Huey were BS-fest. Now I realize that Dr. Huey likes it DRY and alkaline.

Here's what I wrote in the thread, "Your most healthy and no-spray roses?"

Someone asked if own-root is healthier. My answer is yes, since it's easier to find an own-root suitable for one's soil and climate, than to make Dr. Huey works for all types. Here's why:

1) Tammy in TN with acidic red clay & good rainfall reported GRAFTED on Dr. Huey's decline in her soil.

2) I put a Knock-out grafted on Dr. Huey in a wet alkaline clay. That went downhill. I moved it, and put an own-root Romantica Sweet Promise, always healthy, gave me 70+ blooms in 1st year.

3) I planted an grafted HT Heirloom in a pot. It's clean in that dry pot, until I moved into a wet bed, topped with acidic leaves ... broke out in BS instantly. I dug that up, and Dr. Huey's root shrank.

4) I killed a Knock-out grafted on Dr. Huey in that wet bed ... Dr. Huey gone, and it grew own-root. Compare that to my killing a Knock-out in a DRY SPOT: it has both Dr. Huey and own-root together. However, it broke out in cercospora fungal infestation after week-long rain in the fall. Cercospora is much smaller dots than black spots. See picture below of that Knock-out:

{{gwi:260570}}

I moved plenty of roses in my zone 5a garden. The difference between own-root and grafted-on-Dr.Huey: Own-root spread outs, some horizontally from the main trunk, and can survive wetness better. It's more efficient to transport water from a spreading root. Roses bloom better if trained sideway, rather than upward. Sap and nutrients flow better if it doesn't have to fight gravity.

Grafted roots have to go UP through a bud union, it's not an efficient water-transport system of HAVING TO PASS through that knob, esp. when that bud union is damaged by winter or acidity.

Grafted-on-Dr. Huey is great for a dry climate like CA. Dr. Huey can go through rock-hard clay better than my shovel. However, Dr. Huey declines if buried deep in a cold zone, or in acidic soil. In my last house of acidic clay, I dug up a dozen BS-fest grafted hybrid teas, all roots shrank. Compare that to my moving own-roots in my alkaline clay, and finding them much bigger with time.

Own-roots bloom earlier too. Knock-outs grafted on Dr. Huey are slower to bloom, Dr. Huey is hardy to zone 6b, and not below 5b like some own-roots.

First in my garden are R. hugonis and 'Sanguinea', soon followed by R. foetida and 'Persian Yellow', the Banksiaes, Chinas, a few hybrid Spinosissimas; then the first Teas, 'Souv. de St. Anne's' (sport of 'Souv. de la Malmaison'); and then it widens out and there are too many to name. Generally the European once blooming old roses lag a couple of weeks behind the warm climate roses, usually starting around now and going on until mid-June, while I cross my fingers and hope it won't get hot too soon. Right now 'Jaune Desprez' is in full bloom, while 'Noella Nabonnand' and 'Marechal Niel' on the same balcony are just getting started. 'Mme. Gregoire Staechelin' is beginning to flower now, as are 'Zepherine Drouhin' and 'Gros Choux d'Hollande' (that's a great rose, by the way); 'Margaret Hilling' is in full bloom; 'Golden Wings' is flowering. With all the early and late flowering roses, the season usually starts at the end of April and continues until about mid-June; then there's a break for the summer drought, and if we get reasonably early fall rains, the reblooming roses resume in October and keep going through November. It's all very weather-dependent, though, since I don't water.

Correction: pH of pine bark is 4.5, not 5.4 ... I tested a piece of 2-years old pine bark in red cabbage juice, almost as pink as peat moss (pH 4).

I put pine bark around my Japanese Maples (optimal pH 5.5 to 6.5) ... and they have better colors, vibrant red, and much healthier. I should had put pine bark around my azaleas and rhodies.... I killed a few by putting acid fertilizer high on nitrogen on them. Their roots are near the surface, so they get zapped by acid and salt more so than roses, which I buried deep 4" below ground.

I like Melissa's approach of no-watering. I try not to water either, since my well water is high in lime, with pH of 8, versus rain water of 5.6. I only water my pots and 1st year roses. So far none of the own-roots complain nor have diseases as long as I don't fertilize them, like dumping acidic alfalfa meal (pH 5.7) around them to breed fungi.

Interesting thread!

Not that I have much, but first in was Yellow Lady Banks.

Next are the noisettes: Pleasant Hill Cemetery and Celine Forestier (The exception in that group is Princess du Nassau who only has a few buds, but since she broke something like 6 new basal canes a few weeks ago she might have her mind on things other than blooming!)

Then the HPs Barrone Provost and Marchesa Boccella

The one Damask I have, Madame Hardy, is still in buds as is New Dawn and my one Austin, Graham Thomas.

This post was edited by subk3 on Fri, May 17, 13 at 17:59

Here's Sir Thomas Lipton

And here's Mutabilis, with Manchester Gaurdian Angel reaching out and Cl Maman Cochet on the arber on the left. QE is peeking above the shrub on the right and RdV is just starting up below. La Belle Sultane is the gallica in the center who hasn't bloomed yet.

Thank you, Catrose, for those lovely pics. of your garden. The roses make your house look cozy! I love your Sir Thomas Lipton. Those statues are cute.

One neighbor put out a dozen of brass (copper?) animal statues in the garbage. I picked them up and played a trick on a friend ... putting them all over his front lawn. Later on my husband gave them to a guy for his garage sale, they were sold $10 a piece.

Brass is a bit gaudy, but I love your statues, look very natural with the roses.