Mine: 5 years old, own root. Grown in a very open location, full sun, blasted by late afternoon winds. Zone 8, but we have problems with hardiness of some varieties because of the exposure factor. The plant is 6 X 6 feet and gets NO pruning and only supplemental watering. It gets some Blackspot but otherwise is a trooper of the highest caliber. Other people do not have as good results as I have had, so YYMV.

Blight has been a problem for me during the last three years (even though I rotate every three years, space apart (last year's 5' x 5' centers weren't enough), drip irrigate from below, prune up 12" from the bottom, mulch and spray frequently). What I haven't done in the past is start fungicide at planting. I intend to do that this year. Root loss has been a problem for the last two years. Tremendous amounts of rain in northern MO. Most of the first half of the last two years, my garden looked like dirt soup. I have lots of compost in the soil but I plan to use more Earthright this year, to deepen the soil more, and improve drainage. I am also considering adding plastic between rows, with weed block on top of that, to let water drain off. I like weed block in 5' wide rolls, because it lets me get in the garden when things are a little damp, and eliminates weeds. Plants will be 4' O.C. with 8' between rows (for air circulation). Based on the way things have gone in the past, I will only have 2-3 feet to walk between plants (even with 8' O.C. rows). Learning all the time.

Jena, my Perle d’Or did the bud drop thing it’s first year, the whole year. A lot of my roses also had chlorosis, including Perle d’Or, even though they were getting regular Magnesium-sulfate and I was alternating between Miracle Grown and a seaweed fertilizer, all in the hopes of curing them of chlorosis. Mostly it was the Polyanthas and Multifloras that had this problem. Finally I sent in a sample for a soil test. I had plenty of all the minerals and nutrients except for Nitrogen (which I already knew since its obviously devoid of any organics and so I was fertilizing) and absolutely zero Manganese (Mn) detected. Once I put a teaspoon of Manganese Sulfate dissolved in a gallon of water on each rose last fall the chlorosis completely disappeared and Perle d’Or stopped dropping buds. I will now do this once or twice a year; not too often since Mn is a minor nutrient and too much can be toxic. The Miracle grow I was using did have trace Mn, but somehow it wasn’t enough. I wonder if my soil was just binding it up? This just demonstrates that bud drop could be due to lack of an essential nutrient. It might not necessarily be Manganese for you. But since you mention the Kellogg soil might not be that great, I would give it a nice dilute liquid fertilizer once a week and see if it cures it.

My Distant Drums is starting it's second year. It's still only about 2ft tall but is putting our some pretty blooms. DD has lovely stamens that the bees love! DD starts out with the pinks and purple shades on the outer petals; the inner core has the tannish orange shades. I've had really weak sun this Spring until recently that has led to paler than usual roses but DD doesn't seem to be affected by lack of sun. I resisted getting this rose for a long time but I'm glad I did! Ann