I don't know. My grandmother grew it, and I remember it as beautiful in her garden, and quite clean. Of course, EVERYTHING was clean in her garden.

Jeri

Since your JFK rose is fairly new
You will have to wait and see how its does.
You might be one of the lucky ones that ends up with a great JFK rose.

Good Luck
Niecey

I have this rose and its wonderful for me, just that I does get thrips, but all my roses get them even the red ones

Mine is lovely. It is about 10 years old, and quite tall. The blooms are huge and exquisite.

No SP for my JFK.

Jean

JFK isn't on everyone's sp list. He is our best white HT. He is the only white that survived the years I didn't protect roses in winter (93 - 98).

digger

I bought one last year and it looked like it would be okay, but now the bush rooted on Fortuniana seems to have died. However, I think the Fortuniana has sent out a sport and that is thriving?

JFK rose is from that time when Rose Mosaic Viruses came with every HT. RMVs weaken plants in our zone and the roses often decline in three to five years to one caned wonders.
Note the warm/hot weather success stories...where winter is seldom a problem, and the occassional very cold success stories..where the canes are totally cut back every year=reducing the titre of RMV in the plants.

To be fair, in over ten years on Gardenweb, there was a report of a great JFK in Memphis TN about seven years ago.

What bothers me about JFK is that thousands of folks buy them potted up and blooming locally for every Mother's day, and they just don't do well here. And they contribute to the 'knowledge' that roses are hard to grow.

With all due respect Ann. Back in the 90s when I was called a liar here for accurately describing our JFK I recieved over 100 emails. They were from folks that had JFKs that performed well but they didn't want to buck the anti JFK tide that prevails here. I'm too stubborn to back off so I got a camera and posted pics to prove I was being honest about the rascal. You are not being fair when you say there has been one report of a great JFK in Memphis about 7 years ago. I pay attention to JFK posts. Many people that can't grow JFK belittle anyone that says JFK does well for them and insist he can't be a decent rose. A decent rose is all he is here. He rarely has over 3 dozen blooms per flush. Wouldn't it be great if everyone that bought those Mother's Day JFKs let us know how they all did?
I'm not trying to be nasty. You are one of the few here that I value almost every post you submit.
By the way, our JFK does have rmv. He survives winter in spite of folks that say rmv will cause him to croak with our winters.
Just something to think about.... the people that called me a liar about JFK and Sterling Silver are the reason I bought a digital camera. All the photos I post are their fault, LOL.

digger *Deb is just rolling her eyes since she saw I was posting on a JFK thread*

Digger,
If someone were buying a white rose, in my part of the world, I'd send them to a newer white that is less likely to come with Rose Mosaic Virus. Here, RMV makes a difference in the lifespan of roses. JFK forces very well for growers who pot them up and grow them for resale. But at least a few growers have problems replicating the look of the rose they bought.
Many, many times people will report how well a rose grows for them. Often they won't come back and tell that that same rose declined to a one caned wonder and died in three years.

Digger, you have a Lucille Ball. How many other Lucille Balls exist in North America right now...how many were sold? how many died in the hands of experienced rose growers? The bed of Lucille Ball at the ARS center in Shreveport no longer exists.

You both have great talent at growing Hybrid Teas. But is your ability average or exceptional? Your pictures argue for the latter.

There are a lot of roses sold that are sold by their names, not necessarily because they will grow well in a given area.
Spring canker wipes out many roses here.

I think for rose growers to find themselves in a situation where their love of roses continues to grow, they need to be encouraged to grow roses that will give back more than they take away in blood and sweat.

My prejudices based on growing a whole lot of roses with RMV and then growing roses without RMV. For me it makes a difference.

Thank you taking the post in spirit it was intended to have. I can't think of anyone here I respect more. Don't want to get you in trouble but you are one of the reasons I bother visiting this site. I don't even advise folks here to get JFK when they see ours in bloom. He survived the first 5 years but didn't begin putting on a show until the 6th. Granted, the show isn't as nice as the one
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puts on but it is decent. I tell them they must figure on having a lot of patience with him. (excuse Lucy, I took a lot of cuttings a few weeks ago and she looks awkward)
One reason I quit giving advice here is that no one is crazy enough to spend the time Deb and I do growing roses. Add to that Deb is one of 'those' people that anything grows for... she insists I am the magician :)
I know you are being accurate about how JFK performs in your area (and everything else in your post). I wouldn't have said anything if the 'to be fair' portion hadn't hit me the wrong way. I took advantage of knowing you could discuss it civilly. I shouldn't have. The reply was actually aimed in another direction and I was pointing out why it seems like JFK is on everyone's sp list when he isn't.
Only about a quarter of the emails I got back then were from people in the southeast. They all had to work at keeping him nice.

digger

Forgot to mention... one reason I do like him so much is he refused to die those first few years. We stubborn rascals tend to stick together.

My JFK is doing really wonderful too. The oddest thing happened though, the leaves are growing in bunches on the end of the canes with buds popping up in the middle of these leaves. There is actually no neck on the bud, it is just there. I would say it looks more like a corsage you would wear on your wrist....... It is rather hard to describe so here is a picture.
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Because it doesn't do well. I bought a Jackson Perkins JFK. It only lasted a year. I replaced it with one for $3 from Home Depot. This cheap stick won't get the treatment the other one received, but I am stubborn to grow it.

There's something wrong with your JFK. Too many of the leaflets are asymmetric. The problem isn't just the buds growing way too close to the leaves...that doesn't happen by accident.
Please keep a close watch on this plant and let us know if something else appears that isn't as it should be.

There are several canes on the bush like this. I thought it looked sorta interesting and unusual. I've had it for 3 years now and it is in a pot. I actually think the pot is too small, I need to replace it with a larger one.
Thanks Anne I will let you know if anything strange appears.

Mine of three years shovel pruned itself. I didn't like it, it didn't ike me. It died while I was away for three weeks visiting my grandchildren. Would I try again? Not unless I cannot find another white (Pope John Paul at six months old is furiously blooming (tho the latest ones have been a tad small in this 95 heat) and looking very healthy.

Ramblin'-- As I recall, JFK tends to have short necks and "high shoulders" for a HT. However, the growth looks dwarfed. Two things that might cause this are an excess of propiconazole fungicide (Banner, Infuse) or an excess of nitrate nitrogen.

Well, I have had mine since 1995, and no RMV. It survives every winter, gets about 5-6 feet in height, and blooms great! Except for the thrips that love it, I cannot find a single weakness with this plant.

Hi Michaelg,

um.....what are high shoulders? Well I do not use Banner or Infuse, only Bayer spray. It might be the nitrate nitrogen though, btw when it states 6-4-6, which number is the nitrogen? I can never remember that one.
Wow, mgleason56 how wonderful, 5-6 ft is a pretty good height for JFK.

High shoulders are a matter of taste, at least in international rose judging. And to some respect, what wins shows has determined what roses are propagated and which ones never are offered.
American judges like the rose to sit well above the closest true (full) leaflets. At least some international judges think that our choice of high and above look gauky and that roses should be seen with foliage closer to the bloom. And roses with foliage closer to the bloom are said to be low shouldered.
(At a major rose meeting, I was asked where the top winners were, and I showed the askers and they explained to me why those roses could never win in their countries. Basicly, the foliage was too far below the bloom.
It was an ear and mind opening listen.)
But foliage shouldn't impinge on the blooms.

I do not have a JFK but found this topic very interesting. I will never cease to be amazed at the science and technology of growing roses, that of which, I have only discovered since participating here. Thanks to all you guros for your amazing expertise.

BOWING! Pauline - VI

Although Ann is usually right about everything, "high-shouldered" means having a short neck and leaves close to the flower. Ex.: "The deep pink rosette blossoms [of Rose de Rescht] are set closely against the medium green foliage, which frames each rose perfectly to give the impression of a leafy collar or what is known as a 'high shouldered' look."

http://www.pswdistrict.org/text/articles/romnov04.html

Ramblin', if you apply any general fertilizer according to label directions and don't overlap another major nitrogen feed, you shouldn't have any problem with too much N. Fertilizer directions are always based on what is a generous but not excessive amount of N. Just memorize the expression NPK for the order of nutrients in the labelled analysis.

Excess of nitrate produces short stems and unnaturally dark green foliage, but JFK tends to have naturally dark green foliage.

Well, it all depends on where it is being grown. In some areas of the country, it does beautifully. I think perhaps in cooler climes that may be the case. Here, where it is only cool in the spring, it tends, come warmer to hot weather, to blow open too fast, and become blowsy. This is the way it was in my garden, and the way it was in the Memorial Garden downtown. And, another thing, it was a thrips magnet, because it is white. So, if it does well for you - keep it by all means.

I have had JFK for 12 Years now and it has always done beautifully for me. I only had one winter were it died all the way back to the ground and that was an extremely bad Pennsylvania winter. I don't cut it back for the winter i do my pruning in the spring. Right now it is about 5 feet tall and has about 6 blooms on it.

Pat C.

Mine is a blooming Machine.
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Other roses are not nearly as flourishing as JFK.
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lol, thanks for that, Sam.

Yes, Sam, a picture really is worth a thousand words..;)
Judith

LOL, my thanks too sam. I was looking at our worst HT wondering what to do to help her.... after seeing that pic, I know, nothing. Dara looks great compared to that :)
I don't think I could get that 'junkie chic' look on our JFK even if I stripped all the leaves
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We could spread seashells but the alyssum would hide them
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Reckon we will settle for what we have :)
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and not show your pic to our JFK. He might turn green with envy
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digger

My JFK , while not the most prolific bloomer, is doing very well at about 5 years old now. I used to have trouble with thrips on all my lighter colored roses but not since I've used a fertilizer that keeps them and the aphids away. The plant is quite sturdy and the creamy white and tight blooms are absolutely beautiful. We are in a dry climate which helps prevent a lot of rose problems though.