One of my top "winners" this season was a pair of roses my sister bought me for Cheritmas - the floribundas Royal Wedding from Jackson & Perkins. I just didn't expect them to take off and bloom like they did. They have bloomed non-stop since mid June - large beautiful apricot roses on a short bush (a little under 3'). They still have some blooms right now in November, despite freezing nights and high winds. I sure hope they are hardy - I'll report back in the spring. Another big winner was the David Austin rose Jubilee Celebration - available only through Jackson Perkins. Like Royal Wedding, it was constantly in bloom. Although it didn't have the sheer number of roses R.W. did, the blooms were large, very heavily petaled, fragrant and lovely. Still another winner was the ownroot 'Isabel Renaissance' from Great Lakes Roses. This is my second, and it has been even more vigorous and remontant than the first It eadily grew 7' tall - had to use a piller with it - and it's blooms were absolutely stunning. My last 2007 winning prize goes to the Buck rose Square Dancer - extremely floriferous with a deep intense raspberry color. Crown Princess Margaretea and Teasing Georgia have been slow to take off, but that is often the case the first year or two with Austins. By year 3 they really take off, so I'm not too worried. The Huntington Rose and Spirit of Freedom were better, but still haven't reached their potential. Agein, they will probably reach their full potential in a couple more years.

Pope John Paul II is one impressive rose.

MichaelAT

This year I've added:

HERITAGE
=========
(January):
Last season, very impressive. Fast grower, immaculately clean foliage. Pest/disease free blooms.

Rating:10/10

(June+):
Second season. In spring (Sept), the blooms are badly infested with thrips. Few buds rot. Foliage doesn't have that glossy look anymore due to pests.

Rating 8/10

CL.CINDERELLA FAIRYTALE
==============================
(June+)
First season, very GLOSSY and immaculately clean and healthy foliage. However the blooms wasn't quite what I was hoping for. To me it looks just like another "blush pink rose". Still young, so my opinions might change.

Rating 9/10

SHARIFA ASMA
=============
(June+)
SOmething is ailing SA at the moment and I don't know what it is. New leaves appear crinkling, burnt, and signs of yellow marks. Thrips attack. I usually cut the flowers early. Best SCENT so far and I lOVED the blooms. Sharifa Asma resembled a lot like Heritage in terms of colour. However, Sharifa Asma blooms lasted longer and looked larger but not as cupped as Heritage.

Rating 9/10 (Despite poor health, I rated highly because I only use this rose for cutting flowers for indoors.)

FALSTAFF
========
(June+)
Ist season, signs of powdery mildew, and buds rotting. Arrghhh!!! Only 1 bud out of 6 managed to opened while the rest rotted. Canes look floppy. Rating: 8/10 (But VERY BEAUTIFULLY cupped rose.)

A SHROPSHIRE LAD
=================
(June+)
1st season, healthy foliage, huge flowers - strong scent but not that pleasant compare to Sharifa Asma. Again, 1 bud opened while the other 4 buds rotted. Bushy, fast grower instead of a climber.

Rating 8/10

.....AND THE WINNER IS.........

JUDE THE OBSCURE
================
(June+)
1st season looking healthy, and blooming well in late spring, last to flower of all my roses. Disease and pest free. Loved the color. Maybe its because I have too many pink roses, and I'm in need for a colour change.

Rating: 10/10

Winners:

Night Owl - (Bought as bare root) would easily have had hundreds of blooms ths summer if the JB's had left it alone. It is very vigorous and healthy though.

Moon Dance - (bought potted) lovely scent, bloomed continously and very little blackspot.

Losers:

Helen Hayes - Very nice when I bought it (potted), never got blackspot but only gave me one bloom before she turned black and passed away about 6 weeks ago.

Soaring Spirits - Bought Potted but never even gave one bud. Never actually grew any either, although waht is there seems to be healthy. Maybe next year.

Big Winners for me this year in my no spray garden were
:: Country Dancer--ALWAYS in bloom, no BS
:: Julia Child--ALWAYS in bloom, no BS
:: Gruss An Achen--Pictures do noting to encourage this rose, but seeing is believing--GREAT rose

Losers:
:: Daybreaker with RMV faltered and failed
:: Moulton Noisette--I purchased it for the fragrance...and it turns out, my nose perceives no fragrance at all from this rose. Bummer.

"Falling In Love". I did.

Hmm- I added very few new roses, but was very impressed with my new Sunset Celebration a.k.a Warm Wishes, Grand Prize, and the newly planted Abraham Darby. Honorable mentions to Whisper and Eglantyne for surviving a brutal transplanting, and to the oldie Mirandy for spewing out new canes after the Easter freeze. And Valencia the one-cane awkward-shaped wonder which keeps putting out flowers, possibly because it has been threatened.

Sp'd Charles Darwin, Medallion died outright, and Just Joey is facing removal someplace if he doesn't perk up (may die over the winter and I won't have to worry about it). Intrigue in a pot is down to one puny cane and is also facing extinction.

Distant Drums-- 2 grafted plants, new this year, immediately grew into nice big shrubs and have bloomed absolutely non-stop with blooms all over the plant. This is the only rose I have two of and I'm SO GLAD I got 2!!
Night Owl-- my own-root from RU grew very fast and is almost to the top of the big trellis I built for him; lots of blooms and gorgeous foliage. Fairly BS resistant.
Memorial Day-- nice, nice cutting rose. Beautiful clear pink, good rebloom, pretty petals and great fragrance on a resistant plant. I don't generally bother with HT's but this one is a WINNER!
Wild Spice--compact hybrid rugosa. It's a white single with wonderful fragrance which sets hips and is MUCH more compact than the species. I was given this plant & I thought "boy this had better be good, why would they bother to introduce a white single rugosa?". Great garden plant, and that's why they introduced it. Good performer here in hot, humid coastal SE VA--

I planted 47 new roses this year. Two of them to me were outstanding in performance and health. Outta the Blue which is still loaded with blooms and Spirit of Freedom. Both were healthy, robust and constantly in bloom since June. Only had two dissapointments, one was a Buck, Prairie Star, very pretty but seems to be picking up some blackspot, another bareroot did not make it out of dormancy but it will be replaced. All in all though I can't complain, my new site for growing roses this year have proven to be an excellent one, some of those bareroots are over 6 feet tall and wide in one season, amazing. Sure hope they winter over well. Oh, I do not spray anything on my roses except a dormant oil mix in the spring.

Valerie

Both my best & worst were among the 4 own-root Viru Viraraghavan roses I added this year. 'Southern Sunset' was a winner for me in '07. It rivaled all of my new grafted roses in growth, bloom & overall vigor.

Conversely, 'Incense Indigo' was something of a loser in its first season. Altho it produced an acceptable number of flowers, they were small, nondescript & nowhere near the *mauve* they're touted to be. Also, growth of the bush was spindly & weak with rather sparse foliage. Fragrance of the spring blooms was intense, but fragrance of flowers produced in the high heat of summer was almost nil & the autumn flushes were only mildly fragrant.

Regarding several others, I'm withholding judgement . . .

I got a lot of "new" roses this yr. Some didn't do diddly. But I wouldn't call them "losers." It often takes a few yrs to see what they can really do. The only one I can really say I was particularly disppointed in (of the ones that actually bloomed) is GEBRUEDER GRIMM. It gave me a couple of nice blooms early on, but then spent the rest of the season growing climber-like octopus limbs! Ended up going about 8ft with no buds in sight, so I chopped it back to about 2ft. Guess I'll see how it does next yr.

Now the ones that really proved themselves in their first season were: VENDEE IMPERIALE, LADY MAVIS PILKINGTON, LAURA BUSH, STUNNING, MAGMA and CITRUS SPLASH. Those are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there were others that did well. (But there's so dang many of them....)

Winners:

new: Cider cup - a patio rose from pickering. This cute little peachy colored rose never stopped blooming. So cute!

losers: international herald tribune. I slipped on the spraying this year for a while, and found out this is not a minimal spray rose. Totally defoliated.

Winnipeg parks: again, this defoliated mid-summer for me. Flowers hot pink and prolific til then though. I suspect Explorer roses blackspot here.

I have wild spice rugosa also. One of the best white rugosas out there I think. I have many rugosas, as I am a nut for them. Also the hot pink partner to this, wildberry breeze (sounds like a wine cooler name!) , is good also.

Winners:
Pope John Paul II Outstanding in every aspect, especially fragrance.
Strike It Rich: Excellent repeat and good health. Not much fragrance, though.
Lasting Love: excellent fragrance and good repeat.
Silvina DonVito: Very good fragrance and repeat.
Sweet Fragrance: Nice color vigor and repeat. Moderately fragrant
Losers
Queen Mary 2- Excellent fragrance, but almost impossible to get a clean flower.
AL

- losers : purple tiger...I do believe it is dead..no leaves when others are still blooming. bs monster....not sure if i will replace

winners: tahitian sunset
angel face
purple passion
fragrant cloud
ebb tide
double delight
memorial day
julia child
heaven on earth..
all of mine did well except PT...most are still blooming

I'm not going to write it off yet, but the Clements shrub Morning Has Broken has yet to wake up and start my day with the nice yellow blooms it is supposed to have! I started it in a pot, it sulked, so I quickly put it in the ground where it proceeded to produce lots of arching growth in every direction, showing signs of totally outgrowing its assigned space. But not a single bloom. Not one. I'll give it 3 years. 1 down 2 ta go!

Since I put in a new bed, I added 70 new roses this year. From now on, all there will be is replacement roses! I have about 200 now, and that's my limit. (Now, to control myself from ordering over winter) Anyway, I hate to judge roses the first year, particularly since they are on different rootstocks - fortuniana, multiflora, Dr. Huey, or own root. But, for what it's worth, here's my initial favs and those that may be losers!

HYBRID TEAS

Of the 30 I added, the clear winner should not be a surprise to anyone that has it - POPE JOHN PAUL II. They really should be hybridizing like mad with it. It is an incredible rose. A surprise to me was LOVERS LANE. It is almost as much of a bloom machine as the Pope and has perfectly shaped large blooms. Twin favs - just slightly different colors are SWEET FREEDOM and LIV TYLER. They are bloom machines also, and the flowers are huge and very fragrant. I added my second TAHITIAN SUNSET this year because last year's was so gorgeous. It is almost as good as the Pope! Down at the bottom of the list are two from Certified Roses. Only a couple of the ones from them grew well. Barely hanging in there are: RED BARON and REUNION. One from Canada that didn't hang in at all was MAGMA, even though it was in a good location. When I saw it was not thriving, I moved it to an even better location. Then it died. Oh well.

FLORIBUNDAS

I added about a dozen of these. Topping the winners list is VAVOOM. It has brilliant color, gorgeous dark foliage and blooms its head off. It is blooming now. Next favorites are: SISTERS AT HEART, PETE MUSSER, and GRIMALDI. The two on the Loser's List are SIXTEEN CANDLES(it died) and RUSTY (another Certified Roses barely living).

SHRUBS

I added 15 shrubs. Many are own-root, so I can't really judge them much yet. But, the winners so far are: SECRET GARDEN MUSK CLIMBER, STAR OF THE NILE, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 200, and QUIETNESS. A clear loser is one that I thought was a floribunda when I ordered it, but then it was registered as a shrub. It is CARAMELLA. It did the same thing that Beth describes with GEBRUDER GRIMM, it initially grew well and had nice flowers. From then on, it grew like an octopus with wierd poorly colored leaves and zero blooms. It is all I can do to keep from SP'ing it before I give it another chance in Spring.

CLIMBERS

And, the winner among my five new climbers is CRIMSON SKY, followed closely by NIGHT OWL. No losers yet.

MINIFLORAS:

Of the seven new ones, LEADING LADY is the clear winner. REMEMBER DEE is the loser, only because it died.

MINIATURES

I only added two to climb my new mailbox and like them both, LIFE LINES and PENNIES FROM HEAVEN.

Thats about it from my new roses in 2007. I have pictures if anyone is interested.

Ooops - in my previous note I meant SWEET PROMISE, not Sweet Freedom. Too many sweets!

WINNERS-
HTS - Perfect Moment, Bella Roma, Fame, Sunstruck,Oregold,Whisper - All had regular flushes of blooms and the color, shape and form made them my best cutting roses.
Climbers - Dublin Bay, Stairway to Heaven, Altissimo, Dream Weaver, Golden Showers - Four to five flushes this year and nice form.
Gold Medal - Mons Tillier - If you live in a area where you can grow Teas, this rose is a non spot super star!
My collection of teas will be increased just because of this rose.

LOSERS -
I think some of my roses have RRD and that might be the reason for such ugly growth and slow blooms.

Melody Parfumee - Bloomed once and sparse at that!
VooDoo - Love the color just a weird growing bush and only had three blooms all year.
Mr Lincoln - I have two plants that I know has RRD.
All of these came from J&P from a catalog buy. This is the third year so I hoped they would get better.

Winners - Plum Frost, Cherries'n Cream

Losers - Citrus Splash, Baby Blanket(this is almost dying in full sun and the ones in afternoon sun are growing wildly but like a miniature climber. I thought it would make a good hedge but its just crawing all over the ground. I never thought I would SP a rose but this one just push me to it!)

Considering the weather this year I cannot evaluate the many roses I planted in 2007 winter or spring. I am happy that they alive at all. I lost two (Limelight and Ginger Syllabub) but that was my fault - they were in pots, totally leafed and branched out when after a very warm December and January we had a very cold week in February and I forgot to pull them into the garage or the temporary loop "greenhouses" we set up in November for potted tropical plants or tender "annuals" like Coleus and al.

I am very happy with Jubilee Celebration, Spiced coffee (replacement from Hortico for the first that was DOA), Chartreuse de Parme, Laguna, Folksinger (that I rooted from a cutting), Caramella, Floral Fairy Tale, and Parole.

Old Port is barely alive but it is probably planted in too much shade and it seems to be slow anyway. Maggie #1 seats there, no growth and no blooms. Hot cocoa should be five feet by now but it is under two, but, as I said, I must be glad that it is alive at all.

The losers were not new acquisitions but failing roses that I was considering to SP - Vendela, Ace of Heart and Alleluia. They did me the favor of passing away without the need of SP-ing, to my relief.

Absolute losers are 3 roses from the same vendor purchased prior to 2007: two turned black and died in weeks. One was "not-wife of Bath", the second was Nigrette and the third that has the same symptoms but not dead yet is Maggie #2. "Not-wife of Bath" was planted in ground the other two were in pots but not close to each other. It looks like verticulium wilt although I am not sure. But whatever killed these roses did it by blackening the canes from the soil line up.

Reading Snowheathers list reminded me that I had left
Always a Lady off my list of winners. She is a mini that I received as a grab bag pick. Once planted in the ground, she always had 6-8 nicely scented blooms. The vase life was good too; 7-10 days.

Only bummer is that she is rated for zone 6 - I doubt she will make it thru the winter (but that doesn't stop me from helping her try to survive).

I need to correct my post... I think my roses have RMV not RRD! Sorry.

Daun

J&P had a bad batch of roses in the growing season of 2003/2004 and that was the year I bought and planted 1/2acre of roses.

I added many this year (most died), but Rainbow Sorbet, which I bought on impulse, outshone them all. Once it started in blooming, it bloomed non-stop all summer, even on the day it reached 109 here! Nicely shaped, a little BS, but I didn't spray because it was so frickin hot!

Redoute, Bingo (aka Carefree Delight), and Crystal Fairy were also winners. Bingo was planted in memory of my dearly departed kitty of the same name, and it has proven a lovely memorial. No BS, the prettiest little airy blooms. Redoute had gorgeous blooms and quite a few of them for it's first year. Grew like gangbusters, without those crazy octopus canes that a lot of Austins have. Crystal fairy is still blooming and seems to really resist BS.

I had many new ones die, due to the early warm-up then deep freeze, then crazy heat wave and drought.

As a side note, my Nearly Wilds (not new) burst into bloom about two weeks ago, and haven't stopped yet. They BS badly, but when I spray they look great, and they are so pretty in bloom, plus they dissuade the neighbor's dogs from roaming into our yard, which is why I planted them - teehee! They were my first roses (sigh!).

I would also like to mention Mojave, ugly bush, which I have on a trellis now as a climber, but oh! when it blooms! I live for those blooms! They neighbors will come over just to smell them!

My top pick would be 'Sixteen Candles.' It has been gorgeous, healthy and abundant. I'm sorry Snowheather that it wasn't better for you.

I knew very little about this rose, I just bought it to park next to 'Hot Cocoa' since that one is such and oddball color which I only bought because my sister likes it. If I need rust I'll go back north, ha ha. But 16 Candles has been wonderful. Hot Cocoa on the other hand.... The thrips and the heat are on the way out, we'll see how this oddball does in the winter. So far it has only produced single burned looking blooms.
Nancy

Squeakmommy, I agree about how great Rainbow Sorbet is. I just didn't list it, as it was last year's favorite. But, it really endeared itself to me in the Spring Rose Show, as it won Best Floribunda spray! Here's a picture showing how nice the foliage is, too.

And, teka2rjleffel, I think I'll try Sixteen Candles again. The one I got was from Merry Gro right before they closed, so it was probably a poor specimen.

And, Ceterum, does Caramella grow like I described for you? Does it bloom more than once? I have to say the first (and only) bloom was quite nice. Guess I'll give it one more chance.

{{gwi:344463}}

Losers: Golden Celebration, Teasing Ga., Molinaeux (sp??)

Winners: Tiffany, Honor Elizabeth, Symphony

Snowheather -- Your description of the octopus-like growth of Caramella (aka Caramel Fairy Tale) is very apt. Your experience with this rose sounds EXACTLY like mine. It produced maybe a half dozen blooms early in the season then it began rampantly sending out those bloomless tentacles. Do you suppose it really wants to be a small climber? It better bloom like gang-busters next season or it's going to relinquish it's space pronto.

Based on previous comments, I think Ceterum's experience with this rose has been more positive -- which I find exasperating because Ceterum & I garden under very similar circumstances.

It's unfortunate that, once again, Kordes chose to use the same name for more than one of its roses. One of my very favorites is Kordes' ORIGINAL Caramella, a Hybrid Tea from 1986. Roses Unlimited is the only remaining source for that great rose.

Windeaux, my Caramella also started throwing long canes and the form of the shrub is not attractive at all right now. But it does bloom; I just cut a few very beautiful (and fragrant -to my nose) blooms for the house yesterday. One thing is sure: I didn't choose the right place for this one because I need a low, compact and well shaped shrub in that spot in the front.