When very double flowers open to the stage pictured, they may already be 5-6 days old and nearly finished. However, some varieties (like Prospero) will hold that form for 4 days or so.

Beautiful flower and photo.

If she brings you joy...keep her. If she brings you angquish, replace her.

Many of my David Austin roses have flowers that are rather "delicate"...the petal drop within a few days of opening fully. But, the moments we have together bring me great joy.

I'm learning never to expect a rose (or any plant) to do everything. I try to see what it does well, and I capitalize on that trait. I see what its major faults are, and I disguise those faults...usually by growing a clematis through the bush.

I hope this helps.

Robert

Michael is right about the blooms. My Crown Princess Margareta is a huge plant with jillions of spring blooms. When you look at it that way the younger and older blooms look pretty together.

I'm thinking mine might need to have a structure to climb on as it's throwing out pretty long canes. Your bloom is lovely.

Carla

Thanks all....the buds have bloomed now. Seems to be doing well if I pruned the last ones right!

I was wondering also..as I can't remember what I did last year..I have an Evelyn, Teasing Georgias, and an Iceburg..do I fertilize after first flush or once leaves are in? Thanks!!

On the Austin site they recommend an arch...they are lovely on the one they post a picture of there! I think I might get one instead of having it on the fence...seems she deserves a special place!! Love to see pics of yours and anyone who has lots of blooms..I can't wait til mine does!!

This is my second year for 6 of those, but no blooms fell off last year. They did tend to droop a little which I think might be normal for the first couple of years. Third year Pat Austin are still drooping a little; that bush may not thrive for me, may be too stressed.

There are lots of buds now but no blooms yet. I don't expect any that big this year. Some of the canes are very tall. I'm cutting them back after a bit and keeping it in bounds for now. It doesn't seem like those longer canes put out much by way of blooms anyway, would need that pegging treatment which I'm not going to do for that one.

I've noticed a couple of the outer base canes are lying on the ground so they're off, don't know what is causing that, may be a bad sign. Otherwise they look healthy, I fed them and my SIL and gson got some compost on them for me. Each has it's own two liter bottle with a carrot spike in the ground and top open to water better.

I love that rose, but it is already a Jap beetle magnet so I'm going to have to sacrifice my blooms during those weeks, cut them all off or prune way back. Maybe it will rejuvenate it and bloom just as well or better after beetles are done, give the plant a rest. Maybe it won't work well. We shall see. Wish it could be otherwise.

That is a beautiful bloom and how it is supposed to be.

Thank you!

:)))

Well...I didn't know that the beetles love this rose! Last year it didn't bloom so this year I may have to cut it back also or I guess they will kill it. You have 6 of these? Wow...I was afraid to plant one!

It's looking better right now than my Gertrude. For some reason it's leaves seem lighter and I have one cane coming from the base that just has stickers on it....sucker..yes? I'm not sure. I've had some aphids on it an sprayed last week so perhaps I over did it or something. It has 3 new buds at the top and the top leaves look greener..there's just one bud on another cane.

I pruned it after the first flush and I followed directions on a video but was still not sure I did it right.

I cut them down to right above where a leaf was attached. Wondering if I got it right? It just doesn't look as healthy as it did when the first blooms came. Maybe I worry too much...figure when the beetles arrive I may have to cut it back too..I don't want to lose any bushes and if that's what it takes I will have to do it. I put coffee grounds around the Gertrude and mixed them in the soil...also I used miracle grow for roses after first flush. I don't want to over spray the thing. Sound to you like it should be okay???

I'll watch my Princess and see ....The center cane looks very sturdy and has more buds on top of it. I'm always afraid when I prune I will cause the thing to only bloom on the top!

Any advice is welcome and thanks so much in advance!!

From what I've read around here, unless the beetles are in a feeding frenzy and swarm, I doubt they will ~usually~ kill a healthy plant, just make a sickening mess of it, but they are supposed to rebound afterwards. I noticed if they have a choice, they will go for the nicest bloom in the most sun but found some on buds, too, they hide way deep inside. Yellow or yellow centers seem to attract them the most, but they like a couple of my pink ones, too. CPM, if that's all I had to worry about, I could keep them picked fairly clean with soapy water BUT there will be a lot more blooms this year.

I wouldn't fuss over it too much. Just do the normal things like feeding and watering (I'm using Mills Magic right now lower than recommended because it goes too fast) and has a top dressing of fresh compost, can't remember if a little black spot showed up or not; if so, nothing like some others. Had a few aphids I blasted w/hose; otherwise, they all stayed pretty clean and pest/disease-free all summer last year.

As to pruning, I can't give you good advice because my back takes precedence over getting it exactly right. You are supposed to cut just above a bud junction facing outward. But I don't want mine to grow out too much anyway.

Maybe it's the time of day, but yours looks like it was in shade at the time you took the photo. I love your lattice, wish I knew how to frame and erect it like that, the slats are quality, noticed that last year the hardware store which usually has quality wood it was full of "bites" and nicks throughout - defects and looked cheap, wouldn't use it, have trouble w/words sometimes.

Mine I'm trying to interplant with perennials so while they're the centerpiece of the plan, I don't want them to get too huge but I think I planted them 5' apart. Like everything else, one is much larger than the others, not like I dreamed, and one I slowed down by getting too close with the tiller cultivator, prob hacked off some roots shortly after planting it.

I'd wing it about the beetles and cutting back if I were you. We are different zones, and they hit worse in some places than others. Wait and see. You can set your plan in motion fairly quickly.

Thanks all...great advice on each...I will just hang in for the beetles and wait and see what happens. I appreciate so much all of your help and sharing your roses with me and how to care for them. I have 13 now and as a newbie beginning to think I over did it and should have started out with just 3 or 4 at first...but..will do my best!!!

If you disbud the roses when the JBs get fairly bad, it does help, because the colors and fragrance of roses attract JBs to your yard. (The scent lure traps use a combination of rose scent and beetle pheromones.) Then, when the roses bloom again in 6 weeks, maybe the beetles will have abated somewhat. However, don't cut back except for unruly growers that need cutting back-- just disbud.

I would wait and see how it goes. I have had three years of few JBs because severe late-summer droughts here have prevented the survival of the young grubs after summer egg-laying. However, if there is a lot of irrigated turf in your neighborhood, the weather doesn't matter.

jlj, I wouldn't do anything about the beetles yet and see what comes your way. Then you can decide how you want to proceed. I don't recommend traps unless and until you go through the archives and read some of anntn6b's posts, her expertise and knowledge from many years from fighting them. She can set traps on the perimeter before they get in. I can't do that, they just cause more to fly in for me, and I'm not messing with it any more unless there's no other choice.

You can be sure some posts will start appearing about them in another month or so, I kept a diary last year, think the first one I saw was about June 29.

Since I know what to expect, if there're any numbers at all, I'm cutting mine back. Actually it might be for the best. Mine I've got plenty well apart, but I don't want them to get too big, well I do, but I want interplanted with lots of perennials and can't have it both ways.

She's beautiful today for her second year, many more blooms, this first flush is always the best, and a couple about the size of yours, lots of buds, haven't sprayed with anything. Yet.

It's the biggest bush of the lot (6) and for year two and my not-so-green thumb, I'm pretty happy with it. The bush form isn't the best, not going to worry about that right now.

That huge garage they built, I'm going to have to have a huge tree taken down (you can see part on right in 1st photo) and hope to plant a screen of lilacs along there, hopefully one will be Beauty of Moscow, not this year. Then lilacs only bloom spring and get gangly, so can I plant other things out a ways in front of them? I'll have to allow plenty of room.

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True Michael...we are just coming out of a drought..well...we have made up for it this Spring..doesn't mean the rest of the summer will have rains however.We did have fewer bugs last year.I have a Yew plant,elephant ears,and a day lilly near the Princess but not too invasive for it. Just planted some bluebells near Gertrude. Planted Lavender in front of the Teasing Georgia...I've never had a lot of luck with it though.
Thanks!!

Aliska...wow...I'm not sure my Princess will have enough room,if by luck, she gets that big in this the 2nd year!! I can always move some plants out of the way. Yours is beautiful...and...my Princess does seem to be doing better than Gertrude.

Gertrude has 3 blooms now and for some reason they have brown around the edges and the one bud on there does too. Her leaves seem to have suffered more from the aphids but I didn't want to spray again..she gets more sun than the others. Might have over done the spray a little!! I'm going to leave her alone and cut nothing off for awhile and see if she shapes up later. If not I may have to post a pic here and get advice!! At least she's blooming!!

Love your pics..I'm beginning to think maybe the oranges are my favorite....lovely job you're doing!! I will wait until late June for the "little devils" to show up and see what I should do....sigh....seems just as everything is possibly going to bloom great...THEY show up!! :)))

Thanks, jlj. Just looked at cupshaped's thread about pruning back and training. I'm going to have to come back and seriously read that one tomorrow.

I only post my nicer things. I have some real sore losers on one side in the front & elsewhere, also brown on blooms. I have never sprayed anything on them yet, take that back, stuff on 2 or 3 blooms only for Jap beetles, won't use that again, kills bees, also maybe a little kelp last year. Some roses just do that. If only the outer petal(s) is damaged, you should pull them off for a boquet or photo, but I forget. I didn't do anything to these to make them more "photogenic".

Anyway, I don't know why those won't do so well, think the soil may be damper, will try to figure it out.

Can you believe those bud clusters up on top of CPM though?

Sometime, not too soon, I'm going to post about my bad stuff and see if I can get some help or the roses are going.

Here is one I almost gave away on Freecycle, lost another one just like it over the winter. Gruss an Aachen. Instead I fed it Mills Magic this year. I'm in love. It's a keeper now. I mean not big and showy but just pretty, tolerates a lot of shade, and repeat blooms fairly well if I deadhead.

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Here is a link that might be useful: cupshaped thread on pruning & training lanky roses, started last year, bumped to top by you?

Hi Aliska...yeah...I checked out the pruning thread above and asked a couple of questions. I know what you mean...I had a Don Juan that bloomed great last year and is deader than a doornail this Spring!

Your pic is lovely..THAT looks so delicate!!Glad you hung in there with it...may have to do that with my GJ !!

True CPM has great top clusters..I finally have a bloom on one bottom cane...the leaves on her look pretty good compared to GJ. That's why I checked out the thread. I sprayed but was careful not to do so in the sun and made sure it dried well before exposure.

I'm not going to spray for anything for awhile and like you...wait and see.I just needed to know whether or not to try and train it to the fence now and whether to prune it back hard if so...I'd rather it would climb than shrub.The first two sets of blooms had no dark edges..so..maybe you are right..it's prob okay and isn't serious.

I was just expecting this flush to look like the others. I seem to hover over her and I need to stop doing that...I just used Miracle Grow for roses after first flush...she may need fish emulsion...already placed some coffee grounds in soil a week ago.

After reading the pruning thread I felt a little better..considering she's evidently one of the harder to grow ones...but that fragrance is sure worth it!!

Be sure and read that thread...it described exactly what mine is doing. Hopefully I'll get an answer on the questons I had. Gosh!! Pruning that thing back hard may give me HIVES!!! I hate pruning...but so far each rose seems to have been pretty forgiving!!!

Thanks so much for all your responses and help...it just makes my day!! I am so new at all of this and I started it all to sort of continue my dad's love of roses. He's been gone 10 years now and I've just gotten the nerve.

BTW..there's another thread near the top there "Look what just popped out" is part of it...his roses are something to behold. He has trellis all down the side of his house..well..check it out if you haven't.

Now..there's an idea..only my husband planted 3 simplicity roses for me today..sat down..and said...okay...no more!! He just finished the arbor..I'll try and post it tom. He has to paint the house next week and make another arbor..so..he's got "projectitis"!! HEE!

I'm going to go out for a few mins and see the Moon Over Ky and listen to the frogs in the pond and plot my next move!!! Thanks again..I'd say that you more than know your roses...it's sooo nice sharing with each other!! Catch 'ya tom!!

Actually, I'm a lightweight compared to the others that post here, don't know what keeps me going. But what I have learned, I'm happy to pass along, am not always right. People have been a great help to me on this forum.

I've been following the other thread you mentioned, too. Brother Cadfael, I thought he was a monk lol. His are so amazingly gorgeous, and he's quite a bit north of me. He's learned through trial and error what works in his climate.

Last night I crashed on the couch but am at least up earlier, still not very awake. I don't like to plant roses really, but if I didn't I wouldn't have any. Let your hubby know how much you appreciate what he does do and maybe he'll be more willing to help, especially when people start complimenting him about your yard!

I think I'm going to have to print out cupshaped's pruning thread. He does some gorgeous, marvelous things but don't see many posts of his lately. Then I can read it and ponder over it at my leisure as there's too much there to take it all in one reading.

Well, we'll see what the day brings. I have to get outside again. Console yourself with the fact that you live a zone further south from me and have more choices and therefore, can grow ones I can't. Still there's the danger of setbacks from freezing. Your place sounds really nice!