If you could have a do-over, which 5 would you keep and ...

11 years ago

If you are moving within the same area or were willing to start over, which top 5 or 10 would you keep and which 5 would you get rid of and why? I bought roses based on photos, descriptions, but seeing them with my own eyes, grown in my situation (climate, no spray, no time for high maint) has made me change my mind. But it has also introduced me to some definite keepers so looking forward to your lists.

Realize this reflects very personal taste and answers will vary widely.

Keep

Peace

Lady Hillingdon

Liebeszauber

Oklahoma

Blossom time

Abe Darby

Dainty bess - though wish it flowered more often

Ards Rover

Not plant again

Mrs B R Cant - this workhorses blooms are too matte for my taste

La Reine - balls defoliates then balls some more

Wm Smith - reminds me of a stunted peace, flowers are much smaller in size than I expected

Constance spry - just a matter of taste

Jacques Cartier - another workhorse but too pompomy for me

I have others that I am either indifferent about(which means I likely won't replant) or ones that I planted in suboptimal locations or are too young and cannot judge.

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Comments (16)

strawchicago z5
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great thread, Vettin - thanks for the info. about La Reine balling, since I was considering its low-thorn factor for next year. Will skip that one.

If I move to the new house, top 5 babies are all low-thorn, so I won't have any worry of causing pain to myself, my child, or my neighbors who I give cut-roses as gifts:

Annie L. McDowell, Lynnie, Firefighter, Sweet Promise, Frederic Mistral or Deep Purple. All of them are thornless in the upper 6 to 12 inches.

I just got pricked by Scepter d' Isle in the knee, I'm hopping around the house like bunny.
mmmgonzo
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Star of the Nile
The Pilgrim
Golden Celebration
Marie Van Houtte
Generous Gardener

** pouting.. only 5? **
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Monica, I wrote another tips message for you yesterday. but it hasn't appeared and I really can't remember what all I wrote. But I will try again. I don't have a sink in my greenhouse anymore just because I do not have room. I used to even have a small fish pond in there, but I just have too many plants and have removed that also as much as I enjoyed it. I do set up one of those black plastic rectangular mixing pans you see in HD and Lowes and use that to mix soil or use as a sink to soak used pots when I need a sink. I have a water spigot in the greenhouse with a hose and hot water. The fine misting setting on the hose sprayer comes in handy to provide humidity as well as to water the plants. I use a water splitter at the spI got so I can hookup multiple hoses that attach to humidifiers, fertilizer portioners, etc. I don't have any problem with moss, mold, algae, or weeds growing on my floor but I have a lot of air circulation with fans in each corner and an exhast fan in the peak. I have a weed barrier under the 8-10 inches of bluestone flooring. Keeping the air moving is essential to prevent disease and fungus. I do wash down the walls, roof and floor about twice a year to prevent disease, usually when I take most everything out in the spring and again before I bring the plants in again in the fall. My greenhouse came with built in benching, but I removed it after a few years as I can fit more trees in without it. The trees get too tall on the benches so now most sit on various height plant stands to keep them off the cooler floor like those in your picture or I make shelving using wire closet racks propped up on the plant stands or cement blocks so I can keep my configuration flexible as the size and variety of plants changes. Ask when you order your greenhouse about putting 6 inch support bracing bars up in the peak aong each panel as that will make the roof much stronger and you will be able to support lots of hanging plants without risking collapse of your roof, especially if there is snow load. I hang many of my higher light loving orchids up there. Hot air rises so it is warmer up there than down near the floor where I keep lower light and cooler growing plants there under the citrus trees. Your roof looks steep which is good as any snow will slide off right away. You also should order a dropped door kit so you can wheel your plants in the door without having to lift them over a foundation block or wall. I have a Freeze Alarm in my greenhouse which runs off a phone line. I think it cost about $200-$300 but it is very good as you can call in to monitor the temperature in your greenhouse when you are traveling or at work and also know the voltage of the backup battery if there is a long electricity outage. You can provide up to 3 phone numbers the system will call to notify you if there is a problem that the greenhouse is not maintaining its temperature or it is getting too hot in there. If you are away you can call one of your friends to go check on it for you. I think there are cellular systems available now too. If you are running pipes or electric line underground out to the greenhouse, that is the time to run the phone line out to the greenhouse in the conduit even if you don't plan to have the phone line out there. You won't have to dig again later if you decide you would like a phone line out there. There is also equipment you can add to your computer which will monitor humidity, temp, light levels, etc through a phone line. I guess that can be remotely done now too. There are also lower tech remote sensors that work wireless but are only good for about 100 ft, which generally works ok from your house if someone is always there to hear and monitor them. Those are only about $25 I think. I find that they are not always reliable when the temperatures get really cold though for some reason, and that is when you need it the most. It is always important to check the greenhouse every couple of hours on really cold nights to make sure everything is ok. I now use Aluminet shade cloth which really helps to keep the greenhouse cooler in the summer. I think it provides 60% shade. I originally had a black plastic knitted fabric which provided 70% shade but that seemed a little too dark to me and I think the Aluminet keeps it cooler even though it let's in more sunlight. To provide humidity in the greenhouse you may be able to provide enough by just wetting down the greenhouse floor in the morning. 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sherryocala
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Keepers:
Mme Abel Chatanay
Mrs B R Cant
Clotilde Soupert
General Gallieni (finally - he's amounting to something)
Bermuda's Anna Olivier
All the Teas
White Pet
Borderer
Souv de la Malmaison
Mme Lombard

This is impossible! There are too many more!!

Not:
Blush Noisette
Enchantress
Jaune Desprez

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...
strawchicago z5
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I forget my trash list, or "good-ridden", all are own-roots: Scepter d'Isle (spreading), Jacques Cartier (not repeating well), Eglantyne (stingy), Chhristopher Marlow (spreading, can't use as cut flower), William Shakespeare 2000 (personal disike for color and scent).
roseseek
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Having started over, for the fourth and FINAL time, well over a thousand went away. Even more have fallen by the wayside since. I've found when push comes to shove, my own seedlings take precedence over anything commercial, no matter how good the commercial rose is.

I guess to make the response comparable, the commercial roses I would maintain would be:

Blue for You - amazing colors; tremendous scent; excellent health; well behaved plant which is beautiful even when not in flower.

Eyes for You - the most well mannered, "mainstream", healthiest and most fragrant of all the Hulthemia hybrids here to date. Each flower is like an evolving tie-die, Georgia O'Keefe painting, reminding me of psychedelic Matillija Poppies. (the poppies grow out back and are a daily visit as I wander around).

Lynnie - She was (at least in my eyes) good enough to proudly bare my favorite aunt's name. She still is.

Annie Laurie McDowell - Every bit as good for its type as Lynnie and also named for an influential, intelligent, strong and amazing woman who had positive influence in my life. NO prickles; tons of fragrance and (at least here) always healthy.

Lauren - one "happy" rose. Healthy, always in flower, and one of my favorite colors.

Many of the "outta here" roses are already "outta here", but the next to go would have to be:

All ten of the landscraper installed Austins. Too water intensive; too large plants for too little, too fleeting color for this situation and environment; too highly prickled with too marginal disease resistance.

I've whittled down what's here to the point that something I brought has to really misbehave to be dumped now, but in clients' gardens, the next I'd love to see go would be:

Polka - ginormous, terribly thorny plant which throws 8', inch thick shoots, all with one, fleeting, huge flower at their ends. Too stiff to train along the wrought iron fence the way I want to, so it bends slightly, creating a wider plant than it was originally, and always far too tall. Much blood loss every time I wade in to do battle with it. Like my Graham Thomas, way too large and entrenched in a difficult spot that it will take an explosives expert to dislodge it.

Gartendirektor Otto Linne - one which has been gorgeous...elsewhere, but never happy in this garden. It's healthy enough, but there is always much die back and the flowers mummify to beige used tissues and NEVER fall by themselves. Definitely not suited to the environment in which it is planted, but it was a gift from a cherished friend and remains in her memory.

Margo Koster - The only good things I can say about her is she grows and provides some color. It's the colors which set my teeth on edge, like fingernails on a chalkboard..amplified! Spent flowers remain on the plant until I remove them. Old flowering wood blackens and remains embedded among the new chartreuse growth. I've grown many polys and this is the only one to have what feels like a congested, "arthritic" plant habit. There is such a mass of plant in "those colors"... odd, chartreuse with stale cantaloupe which never open, most often just turning beige and dried in place. One I honestly wouldn't mind if a gopher got it, but it remains because her sister's name was Margo and it is in her garden in Margo's memory.

Barbra Streisand - "Margo's" favorite rose, so it grows in a very unsuitable, hot, dry spot. Ever-present mildew, rust and black spot unless I resort to using systemic treatments, which I am loathe to do. Sprays aren't suitable due to the enormous plate glass windows close by and the proximity of the front door. Windows around it are frequently open to permit ventilation as there is always a decent breeze. Any scent would be an issue as would spotting on the windows and house. They, as I am, are very concerned with unnecessary exposure to any potentially harmful chemicals, so this one receives the occasional dose of Bayer. Even in a more suitable location, there is enough die back and foliage issues in that climate, I would choose something else to plant.
Kim
silverkelt
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
If I could pick just 5? not sure I could do that, probably pick the best of the gallicas/albas I grow, but then I would have to drop something like double scots white out, that would be a shame..

5 not to grow? easy answer for me, any moderns, any repeaters, anything with desease, I would just dump them all. I would keep explorers if I could becuase their biggest flush is early.

I started weeding out moderns years ago and have a very small selection left, some hps mostly and a couple of austins. They are not worth the hassle, becuase after july 4th weekend the jbs will just eat them all anyways, its not worth the fight to me, when I can grow antiques and early roses that bloom from late may to early july , they are then done, I then enjoy other blooms that usually open before they are eating (daylilies for one, usually jbs ignore them till they are open, but who cares if they eat them up, I get my picture and they are done that same day)

silverkelt
olga_6b
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I would have Hugonis, Primila, Alba Semiplena, Rosa Mundi and Complicata. If I coud have more I would add Tuscany Superb, Ipsilante, Charles de Mills and Constance Spry.

I got rid of roses that I am not satisfied with long time ago because of space limitations. So all I have, I choose to keep.
Olga
harmonyp
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sorry, can't do 5. But:

Keepers
- Cl America
- Angel Face
- Blueberry Hill
- Color Magic
- Cherry Parfait
- Chrysler Imperial
- Double Delight
- Dream dome True
- Fragrant Cloud
- Gemini
- Heirloom
- Honey Dijon
- Just Joey
- Ingrid Bergman
- Miss All American Beauty
- Stainless Steel
- Sunsprite
- Twlight Zone

Bye
- Arizona (super tall, almost no blooms, few blooms blow fast)
- Europeana (PM nightmare - ugly all year round)
- Paradise (really weak rose for me)
- Proud Land (oye...)
- Queen Elizabeth (tall with foliage and a pink head here and there)
- Voo Doo (week, boring)
- Tantalizing Red (week, boring, stingy)
- Grand masterpiece (super tall, about 3 flowers a year)
- Medallion (sigh...)

So - I guess I could say, if I had to reduce significantly from 85 roses, I could be happy with only the 18 in my keep list. Too early to tell on my DAs and Romanticas.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Keepers:
Souvenir de la Malmaison
Mme. Dore
Belinda's Dream
Le Vesuve
Mrs. B.R. Cant
(I chose the above, aside from their beauty, because they're still blooming bravely in our heat wave)

Losers:
Duchesse de Brabant
Mme. Joseph Schwartz
Julio Iglesias
Celine Forestier
Alexander Hill Gray
User
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Horribly, this question may become much more pertinent as developers close in around the allotments. We are surrounded on all sides by buildings several storeys high and feel that it is merely a matter of time before we get the heave-ho. So, I have seriously considered this prospect: too precious to abandon:
The most common class of roses on my plot are the hybrid musks, for the good reason that they flourish and put out a flush in the autumn which is the equal, if not better, than the first explosion of blossom. So, MOONLIGHT would be kept.
Funnily enough, I must concur with Kim and pick either Blue for You or Eyes for You - tricky but will stick with EYES FOR YOU as it is unusual, astoundingly healthy and very floriferous.
Then there are the wildlings of which I will be greedy and keep 3: R.MOYESII, R.HUGONIS, R.CALIFORNICA (PLENA)
(I am counting these as one as several of you have not just stuck with a mere 5)
On to the climbers and ramblers with a very difficult decision but, after much grief, I think AYRESHIRE SPLENDENS makes the cut. A rose which will sprawl or climb, can be pillared ar espaliered, draped over a stump or scrambling down a bank, a delicately beatiful rose. Finally, because I love it, MADAME GREGOIRE STAECHELIN - this was the 'gateway' rose for me and I have remained faithful to its beauty.
To go: For obvious (to me) reasons - FALSTAFF, CREPUSCULE (this is just a bit feeble)PENNY LANE - boringly generic, too formal and just not really to my taste. JUDE THE OBSCURE - I honestly would not be too sorry to see the back of all my austins (not that there are more than 6) apart from Graham Thomas which performs stunningly well in the fortuitous spot it was allocated. Finally, although it has astoundingly good blooms with long thornless stems, lasting for ages in the vase, it also defoliates almost completely so it is bye-bye PHILLIPPA, a renaissance rose from Poulsen.
Good thread, Vettin, and a fear I really, really hope is not too imminent.
rinaldo
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
These questions always elicit answers that show just how differently roses behave in different places.
My keepers:
Stephen's Big Purple
Cramoisi Superieur
"Madame DuBost"
Queen of the Belgians
Veilchenblau
Fortune's Double Yellow
Georgetown Tea
Blairii #2 (perhaps)
Pat Austin (maybe and on fort.)
finally, either RdV or a Portland (perhaps Jacques C. who performs beautifully here)

It's an interesting question. I often wish I hadn't gone so overboard collecting roses--I've got about 250 varieties of mainly old roses. I would like to have half as many but the idea of the money I spent makes it too difficult to get rid of so many.
Brittie - La Porte, TX 9a
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We actually will be moving in the next couple of years, so this is something I've been thinking about. How can I leave ANY of my "babies" behind? I know when the time comes around though, I won't want to be digging up 70+ roses and moving them all. Anywho, If I had to decide right now...

Keepers:
TOP 5- Pope John Paul II (modern, but I CANNOT live without him)
TOP 5- Archduke Charles
TOP 5- Madame Scipion Cochet (sold as)
Niles Cochet
Maman Cochet
TOP 5- Koko Loco (another modern. LOVE this rose)
TOP 5- Lady Emma Hamilton
Belinda's Dream
Cherry Parfait
Leveson Gower

Getting the Stink Eye:
Old Gay Hill China
Cream Veranda
William R Smith

Seeyalaters:
Marie Pavie
Safrano
Angel Face
Folklore

Obviously there are a lot more that I don't have definite opinions on, and all of these are subject to change at least 10 times.
rosefolly
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Brittie, I am astonished at how much I like Pope John Paul II, being a dyed-in-the-wool old rose lover. I just planted a row of 4 this spring and they have quickly become one of my favorite roses. Here they are healthy. Add in fragrance and a wonderful full petaled form and they hold their own with any reproduction rose. My other 4 HTs to keep would be Oklahoma (fragrant), Whisky Mac (fragrant), Lemon Spice (fragrant), and Gloire de Holland (fragrant).

The question surely was which 5 of each class one would keep. It would break my heart to reduce the garden to a mere 5 roses!

Seriously, this is a question I have considered many times. I could be content with 2-3 dozen roses but which roses those are would be determined by where I lived at the time.

Rosefolly
sunnync
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
For our extremely hot and humid summers in eastern NC where BS reigns, here are my keepers:
Belinda's Dream
Prairie Sunrise
Polonaise
Naga Belle
Mrs. B. R. Cant
Prairie Harvest
Cresupule
Dublin Bay

Good bye to:
Madame Berkeley---small flowers
Mrs. Dudley Cross---sometimes beautiful but often sparce bloom
Rosarium Utersen---beautiful in spring, nude the rest of the summer
Hi Neighbor---puny, few blooms
Earth Song--still puny after three years own root
Pearlie Mae also still puny after three years
Clementina Carbaroni spelling?, sparce blooms
dublinbay z6 (KS)
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sunny, you need to try a different Earth Song if your present one is still puny. Earth Song is not naturally a puny rose. You might get a totally different view of it, if you did. : )

Kate
dublinbay z6 (KS)
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sunny, you need to try a different Earth Song if your present one is still puny. Earth Song is not naturally a puny rose. You might get a totally different view of it, if you did. : )

Kate

If you could have a do-over, which 5 would you keep and ...

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strawchicago z5

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