There's a thread on Mons tiller fries in the sun, see below: "Mine fried after an hour or two in the sun, more so than my other tea roses so it's no longer with me in my hot garden. Clementina Carbonieri did the same thing. A pity, since both are beautiful roses. Ingrid." ***** From Straw: I'm adding own-root Yves Piaget on my rose-order for next year, along with Young Lycidas and Romantica "The McCartney" rose. I researched again on Yves Piaget: the person who grows Yves both as own-root vs. grafted reported wimpiness for both. Someone from PNW (rainy & cool) climate also reported Yves being wimpy. Robert Rippetoe in his Rancho Mirage climate of exreme heat, drought, and alkaline sandy soil .... grows Yves Piaget and uses it in his breeding program ... so it must be very good for him. I figured out what makes Romanticas works: fluffy potting soil for the roots to get big, then transfer to fertile clay. I have Yves Piaget's children bred by Robert Neil, I put gypsum in the pots, and they went beserk with growth. Ingrid in this forum once grew Yves, but it didn't do well in the heat ... she has loose de-composed granite soil high in potassium. That's different from Ingrid in Thousand Oaks, who has clay. According to Wikipedia, high potassium or high nitrogen drives down calcium. The Romanticas have a higher demand for calcium than other roses, they are very sensitive to salt, so saline soil is not suitable. Calcium in gypsum is used to de-salt saline soil. That explains why Mons.Tillier works for Jaspermplants in Arizona, but didn't work for Ingrid with high-potassium soil. Arizona is alkaline clay high in calcium like my Chicagoland clay ... I'm next to a limestone quarry. Calcium is known to firm up tissue of plants, and helps with drought-tolerance, which explains for the success of Romanticas in my limestone clay. Here's an excerpt on calcium from the site http://www.oxyfertil.com/royaume-uni/role-ca-mg-plante.html · increases the plant tissues' resistance and allows for more erect stems · contributes to normal root system development · increases resistance to outside attack Here is a link that might be useful: Does your Mons. Tillier fry in the sun? This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 10:58

Trolley Molly wrote-"I also don't spray for black spot or anything else, preferring to take the same tough love approach with my roses as I do with all my other plants. "Get over your black spot or die, it's all the same to me." They mostly get over it." My thoughts exactly. I don't pay any attention foliage problems, as long as the plant grows and blooms. Souvenir de la Malmaison has turned out to be a good bloomer, it has blooms right now when most don't. My Just Joey was either a poor plant ($1 clearance at Fred Meyer) or planted in a bad spot because it has not grown much. I was going to buy Tamora but went to the nursery and it had such terrible thorns I ended up getting Evelyn, Heritage, and Apricot Nectar instead. I kind of wish I had gotten Tamora anyway though because I like peachy colors. I got Westerland bareroot this year but it suffered dieback in the hot spells and is very small. I planted it in the ground anyway so I hope it makes it. I may dig up Edith Schurr again as she looks like she is declining, no leaves and only 5" of stem left. My Buck rose Distant Drums is a really good rose for cutting, usually covered with blooms, and fairly long stems. I like the buff centers on magenta flowers, and the peculiar scent, but some don't- my MIL. The rosesant forum has great Buck rose photos now, especially Carefree Beauty, loaded with blooms for an extended bloom time. My Knockout rose also blooms like that, in a neglected area of the yard where it doesn't even get watered in summer.

O.G.R.E.S. is the Orchid Growers Rating and Evaluation System. It is a website devoted to listing and rating orchid sources. It lists the over all ratings, how many people have rated it, the website (if any) and links directly to the company. Ebay sellers are also included. While the system has problems, you can "flame" a grower by posting many of the same complaints, and often people don't post when they have a good experience only with a bad one, it is a place to start and gives links to many growers. Unfortunately, as of 2005, OGRES has been discontinued...I do not know if it is going to be put back up, but I am keeping this here in the event that it does resurface.

Lisa, you have so many truly gorgeous pictures of your roses, but somehow the photo I wanted to see the most, of you and your daughter (and her precious baby bump) is missing. I'd love it if you could please post it again. The purple clematis and penstemon with the pink roses is wonderful. All your clematis plants are gorgeous. They add a lot to the roses, a perfect contrast. The flowers for the baby shower are also lovely, and I'm so glad you were able to have the shower. Even if done somewhat differently it's the love that counts, always.