Not Florida.

It would have to be somewhere here in Southern California, but exactly where, I'm not sure, but I'm looking! Hot and dry enough to prevent diseases and saw flies, but with some rain and decent ground water and water supplies and rates. Well, THAT eliminates the entire state....Kim

No. CA or coastal Oregon is my vote

Kim

Since the Bakersfield area seems to have been a good place to grow for many years, do you think that is because it was good conditions for growing or that growers got better treatment there (it is kind of a different part of CA than many others because it is rather a good old boys club and agg rules)

Ncal wine country; Napa Sonoma

This may sound cynical but I think it's unfortunately probably realistic. With global warming which will generate extremes of cold in some areas, extremes of drought in others, flooding (witness the1000-year flood in Denver), increasingly severe and damaging hurricanes (Sandy and Katrina being good examples), many more tornadoes and other natural disasters (earthquakes caused by fracking), I'd venture to guess that in 10-15 years there will be no place that is not too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold or too dangerous to grow roses. The decline of my roses and most other plants over the past year in what used to be a rather nice garden has given me a foretaste of what is to come.

Hey, California Rosers,
We don't have Japanese beetles, sawflies, RRD, blackspot (I've never seen a defoliated rose), rust, and powdery mildew, except on the occasional perennial. It's sunny and dry, too. We have a fantastic system of rivers, dams, reservoirs, canals, and ditches for irrigation, so even in drought, there is always water. Roses do well here...oh, I forgot, we do have winter, so I guess that ruins things. Diane

I want to add my 2 cents worth.

If my house wasn't positioned as it is, (afternoon sun too hot and too many trees to get the good morning sun) the temps here are really quite nice. We had only 5 or 6 days hovering around 100. From mid June to early Sept. it gets from high 80ss to lower 90s. Not too hot for the roses. And the temps never get really cold. Maybe 2 or 3 times a winter it gets into the low 30s..
Maybe I shouldn't grouse. My water bill is around 80 to 120 a month for the summer, but low the rest of the year.

andrea

Land along the I 5 corridor was extremely inexpensive, comparatively, until the area became appropriate to become "suburbs" of Bakersfield and even Los Angeles. Water was plentiful and cheap and the weather conducive to mass production. There were likely some local tax breaks to bring in the businesses. Railroad and trucking access was easy, so anything produced could quickly, easily and inexpensively be shipped anywhere needed. Other than extreme heat and the occasional wind storm, whatever was necessary to be done outdoors could be except for about six to eight weeks of the year. The "down time" just happened to coordinate with the time when grooming, packaging, packing and shipping were at their height, so it was a win-win as far as the producers were concerned.

Labor was as low as it could get, initially mostly migrant workers which later unionized under an umbrella company which provided skilled labor for the businesses and benefits with decent wages for the workers. Irish Farms provided whatever was needed, when and where needed all over Wasco for many years. They may still, I don't know. That industry was a major employer in those parts for a very long time. Other than oil field work or the occasional small store, gas station, motel or burger joint, what else other than agriculture was there? Kim

What area of the U.S. most closely approximates New Zealand?

My yard is pretty good. I haven't sprayed for anything in months. I'm elevated above the surrounding area so I get very little frost even though I see It on the roofs of nearby houses.

Weather:

http://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/california/lafayette

Then there are the deer. The barely viewable picture is a buck that is probably responsible for maintaining the population. He's shown up the last view days, a lot of points and he keeps his distance.

I finally shot him today.

Kim

Agg in the area includes citrus (all of my new citrus trees came from Arvin), cotton, hay, stone fruit and seems a few are trying wine grapes too (but isn't all of CA) As you head up the valley add Almonds, raisins and rice (of all things)

We have plenty of agriculture around here, too--lots of specialty crops such as mint, US center of seed production for sweet corn and onions, lots of flower seed being grown, and hops. Sugar beets are still a major crop, some potatoes are grown, but that has moved on a lot to other areas such as Eastern Idaho and Washington. We have huge apple production, plus other orchard crops. I may live out in the sagebrush, but some of best agriculture land in the US is just a few miles away with advanced irrigation systems, water pumped by electric pumps into concrete ditches, huge circular sprinkler lines, you name it. And we don't have any engineered soil around here, either. Diane

I heard San Gabriel, CA used to be the place the roses were raised until the LA area grew up and they moved to Wasco where the soil is deep and sandy and the well water is good.

Nanadoll, how is the weather for you? Are you getting some rain?

Nanadoll,

I was thinking here as well... until you made it to the water; that we do NOT have, and while the majority of the year is very pleasant; extremely sunny with sunny mild winters, our summer is very hot and dry.

I second the Napa/Sonoma, CA...maybe Temecula, CA

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 0:37

Our weather has cooled down drastically in the last week or two and, yes, we have had rain two or three times in the last 10 days. I'll be complaining about the cold weather before too many more weeks--ha. I love this debate here about where the best rose growing area is located, and I wasn't going to let California win this distinction without a fight. Diane

well obviously, the best rose growing place in the world is.....tada........the UK. Specifically the Lincolnshire fens.

I know the best place is not here as rose slugs and blackspot run rampant...

And each year I stand above the roses looking for the weak links that have blackspotted to the degree that I must use my scythe on them and rest there souls forever! ha ha

And Oh Steve I forgot to tell you that andreark wanted you to smooch one of your deer for her....lol

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 9:55

Good for you nanadoll. We had the terrorwind at spring flush and now I'm looking at sunburnt leaves all over so maybe the best rose area in So CA is near the ocean, not inland where I am. The roses in Huntington Beach were looking pretty fine last week.

Thanks, Kitty.
Camp, what are the Lincolnshire fens? I thought fens were swamps, marshlands, or something like that. Diane

My garden! ;^)

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I for one am not going to argue with hoovb. Her garden IS the best place to grow roses. Please tell me that is your spring flush and not how it looks now before I destroy my garden with a flame thrower.

Ingrid

I'm with you, Ingrid. Please say it's your spring flush, Hoov.

A little bit of my garden. Diane

My moon--from my front yard. Diane

Gawd! Hoov wins....

HoovB, your roses are amazing. I love everything about your yard and home. I would like to just move in.

Jim, that was hysterical!! :)

Nanadoll, I so enjoy your photos and posts about how well the roses do in your area. Someday, I may get the chance to plant a whole new collection of roses further north than you and seeing you gives me hope that something might just grow up there.

Diane, what is the name of that gorgeous pink rose on the left?

It seems that you have to deal with less a than perfect situation for gardening (climate related adversity). Kudos to you for growing such beautiful roses when it likely is not easy peezie, if such a place really exists for these beauties. I do believe that rose growing can be accomplished with more ease at least... somewhere.....

Hoovb, I wish there was a computer version of the long-standing wish for smell- a- vision. Oh the bouquets you must be able to create and perfume the air with......

Thanks Kippy. I have enjoyed reading and seeing your photos of all the wonderful improvements you've made to your mom's property. I am in awe of your multitude of skills, including building stuff--which I certainly can't do.
Lynn, that rose is Brother Cadfael, an Austin rose. Right now (in September) it's about 12 feet tall (the fence is built on three feet of adobe, so it's about nine feet tall). Brother is a very large rose. Thanks for you kind comments. It really isn't hard to grow good roses here. I think you have much greater challenges.
It's been fun getting to know you both via the forum. Diane

Hoovb,

I would like to know who takes care of your roses and how. I work fulltime and can just barely take care of my miniscule number (20) of bushes that I have now.

How do you water and fertilize them all????

They are wondrous.

andrea

Oh man Hoovb/nice pics! :)
Very nice nanadoll! :)

Beautiful, nanadoll, and jim, you are 1 handsome guy, if a bit pale.

Yes, that's April 29th, though most all of the roses repeat very well now they are mature (10+years).

Much of the preceding has been mildly entertaining, but, going back to the original question, I'll to ask this of anreark: Are there any specific classes of roses you have an interest in growing?

In certain delectable pockets of microclimates in northeast Washington State, western Montana, and in Idaho. Livin' it up in the wild, wild west!!! Ha Ha!!! ;)

Deb

You are all an inspiration to me. My garden looks very shaggy right now. All the HTs are super tall and laying on each other. If I don't do some trimming soon, they will be catching people when the wind blows. I used to have the perfect balance between roses and other plants but a few years ago I gave it up to have more roses. I'd rather have another great perfume rose than a picture perfect yard. I think no one looks at it but me anyway. I love having the extra roses to give away or enjoy in a vase.

I always admired Karl's dedication the way he surrounded his roses with the shelters for winter and tended everything so well. Karl, I hope you are well.

Windeaux,

I have only had roses for maybe 19 or 20 months. And I'm probably not worth talking to, because I have only 20.

I have 13 HTs, 4 English types, and 3 miniatures. I just picked up my 3rd Austin today, Wm Shakespeare 2000.

The answer to your question is, I'M TOO NEW AT THIS TO KNOW WHAT I LIKE. I love the perfection of the HT blossoms but am not crazy about the form of their bushes. So I AM trying the Eng types. I have only started collecting them in the last couple of months.

I guess that I thought that a particular area would be the same for all types. But from reading some of the responses, I see now that not all areas support the different types equally.

I live about 70 miles east of SFO in the Delta area. So far, it seems like a fairly good area for most types. After I get a little more experience, I'll know better.

Thanks for your interest,

andrea

Though I do envy those in the North who can grow masses of Alba, Gallica and Spinosissima roses. and I admired the Rugosas I saw with their cherry sized red hips in the center of a German traffic circle, long ago.

It is California for me,
Because
I never loved roses until I moved to California and fell in love with a class of rose that I'd never seen growing in the North, because roses of this class can only thrive in a warm climate garden : Tea
Tea roses are now very far removed, from the class called Hybrid Tea,. Most H.T.s are begotten from cross breeding one H.T. with a different H.T..
long ago, the Victorians held Tea roses in high regard.
Tea roses are said to have an "exquisite delicacy" one author said, from the sheer thinness of their petals, I believe which gives them an appearance that is at once very natural, yet ethereal.
In one word:breathtaking.
The entrance to my garden is flanked with white Tea roses:Westside Road Cream Tea and two white Tea Noisettes: Lamarque and Mme. Alfred Carriere. .
Mme. Lombard, Mrs. B.R. Cant, and Mme. Berkeley are 3 of my favorite pink Tea roses and I couldn't imagine my rose garden without them, or yellow Alexander Hill Gray, and the apricot scented and colored ' Lady Hillingdon'. Pink with a yellow base; Mrs. Dudley Cross roses that spread wide, a bit in the shape of a water lily.
I love all parts of a Tea rosebush, from the bloom of course, but I love the bushes nearly as much as the Tea roses that bloom on them, for they are usually very leafy and large evergreen plants that add a lot to the landscape.
I might never have grown roses had I not moved to California and learned about Tea roses, and since then my life has been immeasurably blessed and enriched by observing and adoring Tea roses and many other lovely members of the Genus Rosa.
I grew up in Seattle, when and where a Hybrid Tea could only bloom twice a year. Now that I live near San Francisco, I feel as though I live in a perpetual paradise of rose blossom cycles.

If I moved now to a cold climate, at this point in my life ,I feel I would grow Ramblers and wild roses, Spinossissima's and Gallicas and albas, there is a rose for every climate where green leaves grow.
Lux

Well Western Washington is pretty darn good too. Warm enough for most Tea or China roses and except for black spot pressure on roses which are susceptible to suffering from it most other roses do outstandingly good here. And Andrea, EVERYBODY here started with a few roses. Then we lost our heads and kept buying more and more. Don't worry about not having very many, just grow what YOU want and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

kittymoonbeam,

I emailed Karl about 3 weeks ago or so.
Karl answered back and is having some health problems.
He gave away a lot of his roses to a Arboretum ...
He's hoping to be able to help out with them a bit in the future.
God Bless ole Karl!

I would think the Bay Area or around Santa Barbara, etc would be the best for rose growing. I'd love to live in one of those area for rose growing but not for real estate prices, crowds, traffic and population density (at least Bay Area). My sister just moved away from Silicon Valley and she said the crowds were terrible there. Of course, there's no way she could buy (she just moved there for a year) because everything is million$$$ plus. Just ridiculous.

Personally, if I could live anywhere I'd go to the Sonoma/Napa area. I lived there in the 70's when real estate prices were fairly reasonable, but not anymore.

My rose growing area is so so. The heat is hard and watering in needed year round. I can grow teas here though which does make up some for all the other problems. It is not my desired location though. Oregon has been beckoning me recently and I would love to live there but not sure about living with that much rain.

Guess I would trade dry and hot for wet and rainy. But I do love that Oregon is soo green; I long for green. I also love you can grow so many things there (in addition to roses).

This is an awesome thread! Thanks for starting it Andrea (Andreark)! It just goes to show that we can bloom just about anywhere where we are planted. ;o)

One of the things I love about living in semi-arid, semi-rural Spokane, Washington is that I don't have to contend with blackspot pressures, japanese beetles, and exorbitantly high water bills. I live on 3/4 of an acre and my water bill was $25 a month every month for 15 years. But *gasp* lol, it skyrocketed to $30 a month just this year. But there are always pluses and minuses in every situation. I can't grow the ethereal tea or china roses that Paparoseman can grow in Western Washington. And he has good advice "just grow what YOU want and don't worry about what anyone else thinks". The people all up and down my block are "lawn people." But I'm content with my rose addiction, lol. And I have seen and met many rosy folks here with the same mindset. They aren't "lawn people" either, and it is so fun to meet them and admire their gardens. Talking roses seems to bridge many gaps we otherwise might have with folks in our areas.

Jaspermplants, I was born within walking distance of the ocean in southern Oregon (in Gold Beach, Oregon as a matter of fact). Oh how lush and green it was, and is, there! And sometimes I can almost hear the ocean calling my name. Do I miss it? Yes, sometimes, but I had to grow up with webbed feet. They don't call Oregonians "Ducks" for nothing! Rain, rain, rain and fog and wind! Walking to school was often turned into a run! Yep, there's that pluses and minuses factor, again. ;-) I also lived in Arizona for a while (in Mesa, just outside of Phoenix) so I completly understand your longing for green. But on the plus side you have those roadrunners (beep, beep). And in the evening when those desert colors are cast up into the sky
it's truly awesome!!!

And, Jaspermplants, I sooo agree with you about California. I LOVED spending some time growing up just outside of HOLLYWOOD. It's no wonder that one of my VERY favorite roses is CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'. It's a beautiful rose, and I have it planted 'neath my bedroom window. And as I drift off to sleep at night you can imagine what I'm oft' dreamin' of. But I think I might have to be a multimillionaire to live there (which reminds me, has anyone heard from our BELOVED Cliff Orent?) And of course it truly is in the "wild, wild west", but not the type of "wild, wild west I prefer. And in my youth those days spent there were in an Entirely different era. The BELOVED retro-era as it were. :-)

Jim1961, thanks for letting us know how our Karl is doing. Yes, yes, yes God Bless good ol' Karl!!! And hugs to you, your wife and kitties. And if there are oodles of typos in my typing this, as I imagine there are, pleases excuse them. My kitties have been...er...um...helping me as I type at the computer. And I spent entirely too late of an evening and early morning on another addiction of mine...a wonderful cat forum. Peace, my friend. :-)

And to everyone else, may God bless us all, each and EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! Peace out... :-)

This post was edited by dove_song on Fri, Sep 20, 13 at 19:15

Cliff was alive, well and kicking two weeks ago, the last we were in contact. Kim

Thanks, Kim! :-)