awwwww, sorry to hear Jim! and yes, a fitting thread for October Halloween.

I too worry about a beloved rose dying or disappearing on me. If there were a monster Freddie hacking and slashing at our roses it'd be the horrid lurking canker that oozes its grime-filled claws or the Bottomless Pit of flooding soil that rots the roots. Or Donnie Darko Rabbit and other Furry Denizens with metallic teeth and claws munching underground.

That's why I suddenly realize how important cuttings are. If I ever lose my Beloved Gemini, my heart would be broken. To find such a lovely, beautifully-scented Gemini is such a rarity. There is no way I can replace that Gemini-it is a sport fragranced Gemini. But I can't do a thing now, because you need the rose to be of pristine health and not sick to start the cutting process. And newbies like myself can't do cuttings either. It's only the experts who can do it successfully. I am crossing my fingers with my rose right now.

This year I bought a Graham Thomas rose. I think I damaged the roots in the repotting. Anyway it was a spindly almost one cane wonder with no flowers. So since, I really had no attachment to the rose - never saw it in full bloom glory, I decided to just kill it. I hacked off all of the groddy half dead stems and never watered it. I went out today and there's a brand new basal with beautiful green leaves popping out of the soil. I watered it today. I'm amazed though, because we had a lot of hot weather and not much rain.

So I'm quite happy, and hopefully it will be a good rose next year. So it was almost a haunting, but turned out to be a Dr. Frankenstein rebirth - "IT'S ALIVE!!!"

Carol

serenasyh

If only I had taken cuttings of all those that are now gone. Possible some would have done better the second time around. Especially as it is likely they would have been planted in a different spot. A case in point is Karl Forster now a 6x6' giant wheras before it was a 1' non blooming runt.

Which reminds me I will make an effort to post on my GW webpage a list of my current and former roses.

How'd you like to have roses that were literally one-of-a-kind (Jennifer Hart for example) just disappear? One of the countless roses I dug up and repotted this past spring (moving) that disappeared from the side of the house prior to me moving to the new house. Tea Time, Lucille Ball and Moonrise were also lost. I might have been the last person with Moonrise.

Well, hopefully someday, Jim, you and mgleason56 will be able to regain those lost roses! It's definitely a heart-breaker when you can never again find that rose. Now Moonrise and Jennifer Hart is again that example as mgleason says.

And you seem to have an amazing collection from the few that you've already named and that I've had the chance to see! I think photos too are a very essential part of our memories. I always take photos of my dog for example, far more than most pet owners. Photos are a fantastic way to collect and enjoy one's roses because one never knows what life and nature has in store. A rose one day, may suddenly be stolen (yes, I have read horror stories on that), sometimes nature destroys things (like my Australian friend and her rose orchard that got destroyed in a terrible brush fire), and just ordinary circumstances, a rose that just doesn't make it for some reason or another. I also had a beloved car that was unexpectedly destroyed in a terrible wreck, so many wonderful memories with that car, and I don't have any photos of it and it can never be replaced. I am miserable that I don't have any photos to remember it by. The easy-to-replace can always be re-bought. The ones that can't be replaced always are the ones to disappear it seems. Me being superstitious, if I ever! get any rare rose, I'm getting multiples of it whenever possible. I don't care if I have to tear up my small lawn and fill it up with more roses than grass, LOL! but if there's a will, there's a way to sqeeeeeeeze it all in.

I've been checking out my past orders to see what I have or better once had. Roughly it looks like my failure rate, grown vs. died is maybe 50%. My garden it seems could really be a test garden for breeders to see if what they have is tough as well as hardy. Now my situation is less than ideal for roses. First there is the underlying shale which makes my soil in places very shallow. And yet some roses manage in even as little as 6" of soil. Baltimore Belle for example is a huge rose in shallow soil, extremely vigorous. No doubt one ot the factors in its' surviving for over 100 years since its' introduction in 1843 not to mention being very hardy and only a once bloomer. Then in spots my soil is acid one area is as low as 5.2. A fact that I lately became aware of. I planted many roses there and all have died except Charles de Mills. Again showing how old roses manage to survive while lesser ones die.

So then we have hardiness as a problem. The majority of roses need at least a Zone 6 and quite a few even warmer. So when stretching it as I've done you end up losing some. Finally I'm not the best rose grower neglecting them too often. I mean if they can't handle it move on to those that can!!

It really is a sad thing when you lose roses that are irreplaceable. I lose several roses every yr, but this yr, waaaay too many. Lost some of the last Carltons' florist roses. I was sick when I realized my precious ESPRESSO was actually rootstock. Same with TOMBOLO. Oh I could try rooting cuttings, but where in the heck will I ever even find ESPRESSO as a florist offering? Not likely.

I lost 3-4 roses a couple yrs after we moved here. I had potted roses all over the yard and didn't have a fence the whole way around til a few yrs after moving in. Did find one of the roses this yr. Planted in the perimeter bed, just hadn't bloomed all these yrs til now. The others are gone. I'm thinking someone came and stole them, but have no idea. Or they died and I just don't remember. It's a bummer...

And speaking of Halloween... mine has taken FOREVER to grow. Finally got one bloom this yr after, what? 4-5yrs of waiting. Thought I lost that one too at one point.

I suppose one shouldn't attach a lot of significance to the loss of a rose. How many thousands have preceded that one. Just think that crossing this rose with that one creates a new rose. Then doing it again will create yet another one. Then out of all of that crossing comes a new one that manages to be better, different so it gets selected and introduced. Well the process doesn't stop there it is just the beginning. Years later you will know if that rose is, was really worth while.

I wonder if naming a rose is another part of the problem in picking and growing roses. I mean take a rose named Loving Memory or Heaven on Earth. Don't those names immediately bring with them some sort of association and/or attachment? How about giving them a name like Z or K or 2 or 4 then destroying the labe so there is no emotional connection. Might lessen the loss of a puny candidate.

wow, this is truly a haunting thread....Beth it wouldn't be surprising to me if someone wanted to steal your roses, LOL! you have so many wonderful unique ones with amazing! one-of-a-kind colorations. Get cuttings for those florist's one-of-a-kinds once they have been established...

Jim, LOL! maybe the Z and K and 2 and 4 works great, obviously the orchid folks with their plant names filled with biological references and xxxxxxx by xxxxxx that I can't for the life of me remember (so many huge long names, sheesh) had that in mind, because their blooms take forever and are so rare too. No simple Heaven-on-Earth for them. I am hopeless with orchid names!

Jim, I am thinking for your super special rare roses that you want to ever risk losing (selective feedings--I know you have wayyyy too many roses to ever do that extra pampering-but for the special ones you can). I think Gardenville Sea Tea does wonders for even the crappiest soils-the stuff is so much richer, thicker and dark, unlike the other brands--filled with fish emulsion, kelp, compost tea and humus--I have called it the black caviar/black truffles for roses. I love that stuff and my first-year roses grow like giants and resemble mature rose plants. The canes are very thick and I feel confident that they will survive their first winter. The only one I'm worried about is Gemini (also because it's a tree rose), but it has currently has lots of baby leaves and stems to replace its sudden sickness the last week of August (previously it had been so strong, healthy and clean until the onslaught of incessant rains and thunderstorms).