I have no more room to currently plant roses and am not allowed to plant anymore on my property, so it is going to be all potted roses for me either this year soon, or next spring. I'm considering MANY Austins and trying to narrow it down. Evelyn will be one of them. I will probably end up getting at least 5-6 Austins for the pots plus they can be with me after I move.

Your list looks like a great one. I've heard so much about all of those roses and personally grow WS2000.........such a distinct and eyepopping color and the same can be said about the fragrance.

Very nice list. I had to sadly shovel prune Clementina since she was in full sun and the flowers crisped almost immediately. Many people recommend afternoon shade for this otherwise beautiful rose.

I have about 82 roses and have eliminated quite a few in an effort to grow mainly roses that bloom well in the heat. The plan for 2010 is mainly to watch the many small bands I have grow up and to assess their performance. I have five minis from Nor'East coming and am trying to pick four polyanthas from those Cliff Orent has recommended for my hot, dry climate. He says polyanthas have done best in his high desert nursery so I'm trying to decide where I'll put those roses (one of them will be free). I'll also be adding more xeriscape plants that hopefully will look great and yet need minimal water. Expansion is out of the question with the water shortage here so it's more a matter of refinement, and trying to make the garden resemble the vision I have in my head.

Ingrid

Our plans would be to place and grow up some young own-roots we already have:
'Bloomfield Courage' from the Castro-Breen Adobe in San Juan Bautista,
'Gloire des Rosomanes' -- a very good clone from the Sacramento City Cemetery,
"John Pearce," a probable 'Safrano,' from a 19th-Century No-Cal cemetery.
'Aimee Vibert' in the bush form, from the Sacramento City Cemetery,
And most-precious, a lovely and vigorous Northern California cemetery 'Devoniensis.'

And, of course, in response to our continuing drought, removing some roses that are less-important to us.

Jeri

thanks, Jeff - I'd given thought to Evelyn, too (powerful peach fragrance, as I recall) but alas, Patrick advised it is not a no spray rose, so.... And its nice to hear more on WS 2000.

thank you, Ingrid; I had planned to put Clementina in a sunnier spot, but revised to something with afternoon shade; I'll need to move my underperforming Louise Odier to an area which my other Bourbons appear to like. I had a tough time deciding on the polyantha (as I have & like Clothilde Soupert a lot; if I can make more space, my tenth rose will be Climbing Clothilde Soupert - Marie Pavie will go next to my Clothilde shrub).

I didn't know there was a bush Aimee Vibert, Jeri - I had wanted that rose, but didn't have the space; will need to see about a spot - suppose Vintage has? It will be my first year to try Teas (some trepidation on hardiness & disease resistance), but then thought I had to try the Duchesse & Clementina after much reading here (after deciding, reluctantly, against others, such as Devoniensis). And, it seemed, my best shot at Noisette (or at least part Noisette) for my area was Crepuscule.

I didn't know there was a bush Aimee Vibert, Jeri - I had wanted that rose, but didn't have the space; will need to see about a spot - suppose Vintage has?

*** I think it's not been in commerce in the U.S. -- Leastways, so I have been told. Vintage does have it, but it is on their Custom Propagation list.

The one I have is grown from a cutting taken from a bush in the Sacramento Cemetery -- it's one of the "original" plants there, and so, it is very precious.
I don't have the impression that it starts easily, and that's one of the main reasons I want to keep this plant here. So that in a few years, we can contribute more plants grown from it.
If Kim Rupert is correct, (and he almost always is) cuttings that we eventually take from this baby will root more easily than those taken from the parent.

Jeri

If we don't get a decent rainy season, I may start getting rid of them all. Sob.

Hoove, I really do understand, but I've gone beyond that.
I DON'T think we're going to get a rich rainy season, and I DO think we're going to be rationed.
I know there are roses I can live without, and I'm preparing to do so.

Jeri

I may get fed up and get rid of almost all of mine except the once bloomers I rooted. But I've gotten the addiction really bad and will have more space once a tree is taken down, so ones I have in mind are:

Long John Silver

Rambling Rector

Daybreak

Cotton Candy (maybe)

Goldfinch

More Austins (Teasing Georgia [zone?] Huntington

Carefree Beauty (not OGR but I just love one someone sent me a photo of).

Some obscure one nobody here would want lol.

And others I've seen on this forum.

I'd have acres of them if I were really rich and could hire several gardeners but not where I'd have to deal with those flying demons.

I haven't even finished 09.

Nice photos, Silverkelt! It's hard work clearing land of trees to make beds!

My "goal" for the upcoming season is to organize things better.......move things around so the color coordination is more consistant. I would like to have more of the ones that perform well (to have a more "massed" effect) instead of a miscellany of roses all over.

I'm not doing too well with this as I already have a long list of NEW roses that I want - along with additions to the ones I already have :o

It really is an addiction, isn't it!

Lynn

I'm planning a bed in memory of one of my dogs. So far, it will have:

Grandmothers Hat
Rubens
Mdm Antoine Mari
Reine de Violettes
Ferdinand Pichard
Francis Dubreuil
Crown Princess Margareta - to climb

I have some that I'm growing up in pots now and some on order for the fall.

Debbie

Gail, it saddens me to think you would have to give up your beautiful roses. I understand that next winter will have the El Nino influence which would mean a great deal of rain (hopefully). I can't imagine giving up all of my roses but am shovel pruning the ones I consider as being second-rate in my garden. Even that hurts since I had such high hopes for all of them. I try not to think about the money I'm throwing away and just concentrate on the final end product, which I hope will be beautiful when the roses have matured and I can say that I have a proper garden.

Ingrid

In 2010 I'll continue planting ramblers to work toward completing the collection. There's a list out there somewhere but it's kind of long and boring. I'll be working at shaping up a new garden area that contains ramblers, species and some ORGs. It will take me some time to dig and rock the pathways. The roses are mostly planted there along with some tough native plants and shrubs. I also want to keep working at making my perreniel plantings better. We went to Digging Dog yesterday. The garden, which is perfection, is inspiring. I'll never reach that leval but I can try.

I was thinking about this just today! I usually plant an entire new flower garden somewhere on the property every year, but don't think that'll be happening in 2010 as the recession is hitting us hard. So, so far my plans for 2010 is to replace the roses that have died (I tried to save some money by buying cheap, and now regret it). So, I'll be shoveling out lots of dirt around the dead ones and replacing with, hopefully, Austins.

I'm moving a couple of roses, The Garland and R. moschata. Both need a larger space than they have now. I have four roses on order for September and plan to get a couple more but that's it. I'm thinking about drought tolerant perennials for infill in a rose bed I already have, the former Porch Garden, about to become the California Cottage Garden. Lots of this will not take place until fall.

As for water, I have hopes of a somewhat better rainfall this year. Apparently an El Niño is forming. It can bring problems as well as benefits, but sometimes it means more rain in California and the dry southwest. Let's hope it brings benefit where it can, and is neutral where it has risk of damage.

Rosefolly

In 2010:

I am planning to remove 15 Austins that are too thirsty and too mildewed and rusty for my no-spray garden. (I followed Michael Marriott's recommendation to plant in threes. Perhaps a great idea in England, not really in SF Bay Area.) They will be replaced with 5 or 6 roses, including Arcadia LA tea, Barbara's Pasture Rose, Baretta St. Amber, and Secret Garden Musk Climber. I'm also going to try a few hybrid musks in partial shade: Buff Beauty, Ballerina and Maid Marion.

I will pray for El Nino so the water problem will be mitigated, at least temporarily.

I am hoping to have an answer to at least one question on this board instead of always asking novice questions.
Maybe I'll even get brave enough to post a garden picture!

And of course I plan to attend the breath-taking Sac City Cemetery Open Garden and the Celebration of Old Roses in El Cerrito where I hope to meet more of you wonderful Garden Web folks. This forum and all of its kind members have been indispensable as I have begun my rose-growing adventures. Thanks to all of you!

Pattie

I've got a fairly new bed I'm thinking of filling in with the alba Felicite Parmentier. Maybe 4 of them. The bed is a long rectangle edged with Brookside hardy geranium. I've got tulips, iris and peony in there now, but I'm going to move them to a different area later on this summer/fall.

Ha! My plans are up in the air. I would like to expand, but for complicated reason may not be able to take the new piece of our land I'm eyeing right now. It's about an acre of steep and weedy pasture with a big slump in it, contiguous to our current garden, and just looking at it and thinking about turning it into a garden is daunting. If we don't take it, though, I don't know where we'll be able to put the roses I'd like to order, with emphasis on Teas and Chinas, and the beginnings of a collection of ramblers and extra-big shrub roses. This is the area where I'd also like to plant a belt of trees, for their own sake and to stabilize the ground and provide shade and act as a windbreak and provide mulch--we need more trees.

The current big garden is coming along. I want to fill up the rose beds by planting a lot of herbaceous perennials, subshrubs, bulbs, and perhaps some annuals and biennials. I have a lot of these growing in the propagating beds now, getting ready for fall planting, and will buy more. Much of the big garden has been thoroughly weeded and mulched a couple of times and is clean enough to take these small plants, I think. I hope to take a lot of cuttings of aromatic plants this fall, and I hope to get a lot of rose cuttings from other gardeners, especially of the Teas and Chinas, as I'm getting to know some gardeners who have a particular interest in these roses. The shade garden still needs to be cleaned up; it's the step-sister of the gardens, always a day late and a dollar short. I think that by now it will mostly have ceased to be the swamp that the low part of it has been for the last year. We need to paint one pergola entrance for the garden, buy about thirty bales of hay, construct another pergola, purchase an expensive motor scythe, and figure out how to grow some kind of grass besides Bermuda in the paths. The big garden used to be a steep, weedy field too. Now, even though the roses are mostly still just a foot tall, it's beginning to look more like a garden.

Melissa

Oh, I envy all the plans you people are making. I've used up all the usable space in my yard, so no room for more roses. I really miss scouting around for several months, looking for that perfect rose for a particular spot. Since a couple of my roses have been a bit wimpy for a couple years, I was even fantasizing that if they didn't make it through the past winter, I could replace them with some new, exciting rose, etc. Fortunately --or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it--not only did all the wimps survive, but they have burst into strong vigorous growth and bloom this year (3rd year for them). So, from now on, I guess it will mainly be maintenance. Sure do miss pouring over endless lists of roses, however.

Kate

Do any of you ever "worry" about what may happen to your yard or property if/when you leave or move? Gardening is my thing but sometimes I'm not sure that I'm doing myself or anyone else any favors by having complicated landscaping. I picture potential buyers coming by to look and saying "oh, it's lovely but WAY too much work for me". We don't have any plans to move any time soon but by the time we do, I'm afraid that I'll have the entire 2 acres (and maybe even the pasture!) filled with plants. I want it how I want it while I am here but maybe I should be a little smarter too.

There is a house that someone built several years ago and they put in a very large rose bed in the front....looked like it was filled with HT types. The house seems to have had all kinds of problems with being owned steadily and the newest owners have just let this giant bed lapse into a mass of weeds and half dead roses. It is very depressing and they really need to just dig up the bushes and put down some grass. Somehow that's what I picture happening to all my beloved roses :(

Lynn

I'm hoping spring of 2010 doesn't bring the late freezes we had this year. I still have many roses with one spindly cane that didn't quite die from the freezes, but haven't made it back, either. I think I replaced about 20 roses so far this year.
I would like to add very fragrant OGRs, Austins and Earthkinds. My problem is, there's not many nurseries close that carry these. (Maybe I need to start a new post asking people which nurseries in Texas or OK carry the most?)
My biggest plans are to color-coordinate beds better. I planted annuals and some perennials in the formal rose beds, but I need to fine-tune the color. I have daylilies that are about a perfect match for each color of rose, and that's fun. Also on the to-do list is edging the beds and keeping bermuda grass out.
Cindi

Lynn - Yes, I have thought about what would happen to my garden, or who would want to take on the responsibility if I were to move. That's why I've decided I will never move.

Honestly, if I were to move I'd probably try and take my roses with me. Gardening is my hobby and I would never give it up just to please some potential future owner.

Lynn, I think of that often. I know no one in their right mind would want to take the time to keep this place looking good (it only looks good half the time now!). I've decided that I just need to enjoy it while I'm here and not worry about it when I'm gone. All I want is a rose planted on my cemetary plot.
Sounds like I'm ready to kick over, and that is not the case - hopefully I have another 40 years - but I guess we all think of these things at some point.

I'm going to get rid of a lot of them. I didn't know what I was doing 3 years ago, still don't know how to treat for what when necessary, but fewer nice ones are better than a bunch of problem ones.

Lynn, well, yes, I think of that too.

I think it's true that once a gardener is gone, the garden dies too, because no one else really cares about the vision or the art or the plants as much as the gardener does. So, when I die or if I move, I know the garden will die too. That's just the way it is. Even if another gardening addict moved in, well, they wouldn't like what I did and would want something else. So I decided not to worry about it. I just have fun and my garden is for me.

I've spent the last three years putting in beds and planting roses. I'm pretty happy with the way the roses are, but I'm not at all happy with the companion plants. So, that's next year's project.

".......fewer nice ones are better than a bunch of problem ones." Truer words were never spoken! And a great philosophy to attempt to adhere to and I'm trying so hard! However, as soon as I get rid of the "problems", I go and buy new roses and of course some of those end up as problem children so there is always a constant influx of "problems" into my yard. I blame the forum here.....someone is always posting pictures or talking about a Must Have rose and then I Must Have it!

Lynn

Next year I vow to use Sluggo regularly and completely eliminate the snails and slugs from the garden. I'll buy and fill more pots with roses and companion plants. Every now and again I'll see a rose I have to have, but there's not much of a list anymore. If I could find a Setzer Noisette, life would be rose perfect. Soaker hoses that didn't make it to the beds this year will be laid. Some perennials will be refreshed, others divided. Hardscape like trellises will be increased. I'm going to have all of my tools sharp and clean and walk the garden with Felcos and scissors (for the clems) in hand every morning. We'll probably tear out the perennial border in the front yard and fill it with roses from the pot ghetto. It's a good thing I'm retiring as President of our local club before 2010 begins. 2010 = The Year of The Consistent Gardener.

Sue

After mulling it over all winter, I fairly drastically redid a bed this spring. It's been several months now, and aside from one small change, I'm still happy with it. There are a couple more beds I'm planning on reworking this fall, and hopefully next spring almost all of them will be more or less presentable. Most of the reworking is companion plants, but there is a problematic rose or two. A couple will go. A couple just aren't in the right spot.

> If I could find a Setzer Noisette, life would be rose perfect.

*** SUE -- COME TO THE CEMETERY OPEN GARDEN.
We will have it for you.

Jeri

What a wonderful thread -- so inspiring! Also it's lovely to hear the voices of other gardeners who spend hours pouring (and drooling) over catalogues, writing endless wish lists etc. plus enjoying their gardens. For me this is "ecotherapy."

I'm in coastal Calif, Sunset Zone 24. I just ordered 4 babies from Vintage during the July sale: 2 Gruss an Coburgs (my first venture into heritage HTs), 1 Thisbe and 1 Kathleen (to go near fruit trees that will eventually produce some shade.)

We're hoping to get to the Sacramento Cemetary after my husband retires (not too far off). I long to get some of the strong old clones Jeri mentions: a good Aimee Vibert (bush), unvirused 'Gloire des Rosomanes' (we have and love 3 of them but at least 2 are virused) and a strong clone of Cl. Devoniensis, which I've always sighed over. We saw old Cl. Devoniensis in a number of locations in historical gardens and cemetaries in N. Cal., and they were breath-takingly beautiful.

Lynn,

I go and buy new roses and of course some of those end up as problem children so there is always a constant influx of "problems" into my yard. I blame the forum here.....someone is always posting pictures or talking about a Must Have rose and then I Must Have it!

Same here! This forum is such a temptation but have to get my daily "fix" during the season anyway. I don't go hog wild on roses but sometimes see a must have, add a few, then find out I shouldn't have lol.

Then some are just a little too good to throw away but there turns out to be something I don't like about them or they really have to be special or I tend to get bored with them.

My CPM's are a case in point. They are not the same as that lady's I posted photos of so I don't know if mine are a variant or hers is truly different. CPMs throw up long canes on the outsides or anywhere and don't look right, plus one is huge and the others various sizes because some get more shade than others.

Re gardens dying when the gardeners die or leave...I am really lucky in that respect. I am the fourth generation of gardeners of one family to garden at our house. It is not a large place - just a 1/3 acre city lot, but I really enjoy knowing the history of the garden, and have been trying to save & clone all of the old rose cultivars I can that have been here for decades, no matter what class they are. We have old photos of the house & garden going back to 1905. In some instances, I am very glad certain plants did not survive - thank heavens they got rid of that squat, ugly huge palm tree that was in the middle of the front garden in 1925! When we moved in 20 years ago, my father-in-law, who grew up here and was the third generation gardener, was thrilled that I was interested. He took me all over the garden and told me what each plant was (he was working in his retirement as a landscape gardener at that time), and who had planted it.

As for future plans, lately I seem to be focusing on rooting roses from my garden in order to spread them around the neighborhood, or plant them in more appropriate places in my garden, to make sure they survive. I have also been walking around our neighborhood and taking cuttings from lovely old roses, some of which are in gardens that are destined to be turned into condo developments, etc. I got new plants from very old cultivars of Belle Portugaise, Crimson Glory, and Niles Cochet that way, as well as a mystery ever blooming yellow rose with miniature flowers on a bush that gets about 3 feet high (the old parent bush was 6-7 feet high in shade, with a huge old trunk). Today I just saw some roots in the rooting bag of a sort of medium pink "cabbage rose" with very large fragrant blooms that came from cuttings of a rose 2 blocks from my house. It is growing in shade there, but the owner said that she remembered that when there was more sun 30 years ago, it rebloomed - I will have to put it in a big pot in the sun and see what happens.

Another fun thing that has happened - since I started gardening here 20 years ago, and took care of the roses out by the street, and planted lots more out there, several of my neighbors have also started planting roses & other flowers out by the street in front of their houses. This area has lots of Victorian & Craftsman houses, but when we moved here lots of them were not cared for. Now they have all been fixed up, and many more folks are gardening - it is catching!

Jackie

Neat story, Jackie. Thank you for sharing it. I'd love to see some photos of your garden and neighbors' old garden roses, sounds like a wonderful place to live.

Jackie,
That's a lovely story and I enjoy hearing about your work preserving and sharing the old roses of your area. I too have noticed that when one person on the street begins beautifying her/his garden, others soon follow suit. I don't know what's going to happen to my garden after I'm gone, and in fact I have no idea how I'm going to maintain it when my husband gets too old to help me with it, much less during my own advanced old age. It's probably just as well that my garden's designed to be able to deal with adversity. I can see I'll need a rose-loving, garden-loving son-in-law.

Melissa

The rose garden only exists in the presence of the rose gardener. With 700+ roses here, what will become of my roses after I'm gone is a real consideration. If I go first, my husband has been instructed to make two phone calls ... one to a friend who is an exhibitor and one to another friend who is an old rose collector. Between the two of them, my roses will find loving homes.

In the meantime, I am expanding efforts to make sure that these rare roses are shared with others (either by selling them in the nursery or trading with friends). I have roses here that aren't grown anywhere else on the East Coast, and they have to be shared to be protected. RRD is a real concern, and we never know who will be the next victim. Thankfully, I have had it here only once, in a potted rose, but all rose gardeners in this area must be on the lookout for symptoms. (I was in a heart-breaking garden earlier this week. RRD is a cruel, cruel thing.)

To bring this back to the original topic ... I would love for 2010 to be the year that I make the most of the roses I already have. There have been too many opportunities in the past two years to add WAY too many roses to my collection. I had to take advantage of the rare roses offered by the closings of Sequoia and Nor-East, and the uber-rare roses that Vintage released, so I have many, many roses living in pots right now. I dream of having all these roses planted in the ground, hopefully growing well and showing visitors what these old roses can do for a garden. First, though, I have a LOT of ground to prepare. That's what fall is for, right?

Connie