ooh those are gorgeous! Lucky me I have absolutely no more room to get any more roses. Thanks for sharing Beth.

Aprille

Ooh La La!!! Shame on you Beth for tempting us. I plan on growing more roses this year and hope they are as beautiful as yours. To hard to pick a favorite. Which one would you say is the most lavender? Thanks for sharing, Judy

Beth, you have a sizeable collection of lavenders. Of the ones in your list, I have had 20 of them at one time or another. Out of curiosity, does Blue Boy repeat for you? Some list it as a once-bloomer while others claim it repeats. It looks pretty. Is it a desirable variety? I lost my Tour de Malakoff centifolia to the great Easter freeze, and I was snooping around for a replacement in that color.

Did you get clobbered with the big storm? That storm system tonight is bringing a weird major tornado outbreak just to the south and east of us. It is totally freaky for January. We may just get some rain tomorrow.

Amazing! You have a very nice collection of mauves, Beth. I have one mauve on order from Hortico this year -- Sandra Renaissance. It will be the only mauve I grow besides Wild Blue Yonder. HMF says both you and Marina have grown this one... How has it done for you?

Mark

Aprille, I'm definitely going to be out of room this season. (of course, I've said that before!)

Mmmmmm, Judy.... most lavender, huh? Maybe ALLURE. Or I also have one called LAVENDER LACE, which I didn't put in the slideshow. I don't remember it blooming this yr. Anyway, it's a pale blue-lavender floribunda from J&P a few yrs ago. Unfortunately it's no longer available.

Bustopher... yes, my BLUE BOY does repeat. Not a lot, but it does. I got it from Hortico 2 yrs ago. It's been a nice, small bush with rather smallish blooms. Maybe 3" at most. I like it.
And you ask about the storm? OMG!! I have never seen a worse storm in CA. The winds were upto 90mph, and they ripped out trees, power lines, power poles, and houses and garages were smashed. We were without power for about 56-58 hrs, but there are still areas of our town that still have no power, and may not til Thursday! It's a bummer!!

Mark, I didn't put a pic of SANDRA RENAISSANCE in the slideshow because I only got one so far, and it wasn't the best pic. I got mine because of Marina!! I loved her pics two seasons ago. I got mine from Hortico last yr, along with BERING RENAISSANCE. I love the Poulsen roses! SANDRA only bloomed the one bloom and has been working on getting established in its spot in the yard, so I can't tell ya much about it. All I know is... so far I think I'm going to like it!

Gorgeous roses,Beth,as usual.Paradise is gorgeous.I lost mine recently.hated that,it was 30 yrs old.I need to get me some more Mauve and purples.Love them. We have storms moving in tonight and tomorrow.

Jean

WOW, what a wonderful collection.

Aamir Waheed

What an incredible collection of mauves, lavenders and purples! And, what is more amazing to me is I didn't see any blackspot! They are the most prone to it, and you seem to not have a problem with it there - or, you are a very religious sprayer of fungicides!

I always look at your pictures when I am contemplating buying a rose, rather than what appear to be Photoshopped pictures by the hybridizers! You are a legend among us Rose Forum members! I know you are out of room now, but there will always be a need for replacement roses and you will have more time to enjoy (and photograph) the ones you have!

Beth:

That was just so beautiful. Hard to single anyone out as being the star but I really liked 'Azure Sea' and Intrigue'. But they were all just so lovely. We have Night Owl and Angel Face in purple/mauve/lavendar category.

I don't wanto be a nosy parker but may I ask how many roses you do have? You must live on 10 acres of land! You just seem to have an endless sea of gorgeous roses. Your roses are very inspiring.

So the storm affected you also? I don't think many areas in CA were untouched. I think we were lucky in that aside from receiving such a volume of snow at one it was pretty much business as usual around here.

Thanks again for the great pictures.

Kate

Jean, sorry you lost your PARADISE. 30 yrs? Wow! Hope you don't get hammered like we did!

Thanks Aamir. I always enjoy seeing your pictures!

Wow Snowheather! So I'm a legend, huh? Well, that's what happens when you're an obsessed "collector" I guess! LOL Thanks. Oh, and believe me, I get plenty of blackspot and powdery mildew! I haven't sprayed in over 10 yrs... for fungus anyway. I just don't have time. I do have to spray deer repellent tho, as Jean knows! If I didn't do that, I'd have no blooms! But as far as the fungus goes, I do get a lot in early spring, but it goes away once the high temps hit. My real problem is the thrips tho. I may just have to start spraying for them at least.

Kate, I have NIGHT OWL and ANGELFACE too. Just didn't get any decent pics this past season. I have only 1/3 acre and according to HMF, I have well over 1600 roses, not counting duplicates, unknowns and a bunch they still don't have listed on there yet! Yikes!!

My goodness. Those are great Beth! I love all the purples & mauves! How do you like 'Old Port?' I've been thinking of that one. Your 'Blue River' is really nice too. They all are! Wow. I really like your 'Stainless Steel.' I've been trying to think of a nice silvery one, that seems to fit the ticket just perfect. I can't believe you have all of those on 1/4 of an acre! You have lots of other really pretty plants too from your garden shots you've shown us. You must be really busy during the growing season!
Adrienne

PS ~ Hope the storm wasn't too bad! My family in the Bay Area said it was really something. My friend in Lake Tahoe said he got over 11 ft. of snow!!!
We even got slammed pretty good all the way up here. High winds and snow too!

Beth,yes Paradise was 30 yrs old.I have several others thats 30 yrs old,too.They were planted back in 72.They are Charlotte Armstrong and Chrysler Imperial,and two bushes that I believe is Blaze.All of them planted back in 72. My Tropicanna is also 30 yrs old,but it died and now its put up a little plant off to the side.Its been cut down 3 times with a lawnmower and refuses to give up.
The storms didn't get too bad around me,but was some Tornados in the state that done a lot of damage. We will soon have to fight the deer again to have any roses.My daughter came to visit the other n ight about 10pm and she seen 5 deer in my back yard.They sure not afraid to come up in town,to check for roses.I don't bother to spray during the winter cause the roses are mostly all dormant,but soon will have to start again.

Jean

WOW! Definitely tempting! Wish I had more room--that Melody Parfumee is calling me...thanks for sharing.
Becky

Beth:

1600 roses! Now I know why it seems you have just so many beauties to share with us. You know aside from the fact that I enjoy your posts, you have lots of good rose info to share and obviously many enabling photos I can now hold you up as someone who makes my rose preoccupation look like kid stuff. Whenever my husband starts making noises about me spending too much on roses I'm just going to say 'you know there's a lady on gardenweb that has 1600 roses at her place' and what will he be able to say?

Thanks again Beth:)

Kate

Beth--You have one of the most extensive rose gardens of mauve and "Closest to Blue" roses I can even maagine. Susan and I bought Blue Skies when it first came out for $25.00 but after growing it for a few years gave up on it because it did not grow well in our area on its own root.(Would like to try it again on Fortuniana root stock. Again WOW what a garden.--Ron

Adrienne, my OLD PORT is another still young own-root that hasn't gotten that big yet. So far I like it. Not quite as deep of color as I was expecting tho. But that could change with time. As for the storm, we were worried yesterday that we were going to get snow. It tried real hard, but didn't stick except up in the higher elevations a few miles above us, but it's melted pretty much again. Power is still out in probably 1/4 the town. Should be back up by tomorrow tho, so I hear.

Jean!! The deer are back already? I haven't seen much evidence of them being in my yard lately, but even if they do come, they can do some winter pruning for me!! LOL But in a few months, I'll be whipping out the repellent mix all over again. Yuck!

Becky, you need MELODY PARUMEE! It's a great rose. Tall and lots of blooms. And I love the range of shades and tones it gets of purples and mauves.

LOL Kate! Well, with my humongous amount as an example, you should be able to get away with quite a lot more before your husband balks too much!! The only other person I know of who has more than me is Cliff.

Hey Ron, I just recently got BLUE SKIES. I think I'm going to like it alot. It's one of the faster growing own-roots I've had. Too bad it didn't do well for you.

Hi Beth, I've been pretty busy and somehow each time I tried to get on here at night the forum shuts down. I keep forgetting that 10pm is eastern time. I got to look through all your beautiful roses on Mon evening and then got interrupted before I could say anything. Apparently I forgot to come back and tell you how much I liked all of these. These are tops of my favorite colors too and your photos are excellent as always. It's such a pleasure to sit and look at your pics. I couldn't get on here earlier today to get my rose fix, LOL*

I picked up a few more myself and wanted to ask, I didn't see it here, if you have Blue Magic, the mini? There aren't any pics that I can find of this rose.

I was able to finally post a thank you today for my Birthday greeting, but thank you again here, that was really appreciated:)
Leslie

Leslie, I should've posted a mauve rose in your birthday thread. I hadn't realized you were a mauve/purple rose lover! BLUE MAGIC, mini huh? Nope. Sorry that's one I don't have. I'll have to look that one up!

Gorgeous shots, as usual! Since I mostly collect warm hues blooms, I only have two from your collection, NICOLE CAROL MILLER & WILD BLUE YONDER. WBY fits in nicely with the oranges and yellows and NCM is just too beautiful and fragrant so had to come home with me. PARADISE always looks great where ever I see it and MELODY PARUMEE is indeed tempting but probably way too big for my little yard, I am still struggling with where to put all my other new ones still in their 1 gal. pots.
Thanks for your winter entertainment!

Beth, thanks so much for your marvelous pictures. The purple roses are my favorites, even though I have many other colors. When I see pictures of a flower or rose garden, my eye just naturally gravitates to that color. I plan to get Wild Blue Yonder and am also considering Reine de Violettes. I'm in awe of the number of roses you grow, and the amount of work that entails. I'm going to look you up on HMFR, in the hope that there is an overall picture of your garden.

Thanks again,

Ingrid

Hi Beth,
Thanks for the 'eye candy', spring just seems so far away yet.
Was wondering if you find intrigue and stephen's big blue to be stingy bloomers or does it take a few years to settle in. Both are on year 2 for me and the shovel is getting antsy.
I'm on the look out for long season bloomer, likely grandiflora or floribunda.......was thinking fragrant plum, lavender lady or maybe shocking blue. What blooms longest for you?
Thanks,
flora2b

Could someone tell me what HMFR is? Thanks, Judy

Thanks Sue & Ingrid!
Flora, INTRIGUE and SBP are both a bit on the stingy side for me too. I'd say some of the best rebloomers for me are MELODY PARFUMEE, AZURE SEA, PARADISE and LEILA VERDE.
Judy, HMFR is the Help-me-find Roses website. I usually only use HMF as abbreviation. There's a link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: HMF

Beth, your photos blew me away...
I was a rose grower in my last house, but when I moved 3 years ago I vowed not to do it as I don't have the time to give them what they need. I'm starting to slip, though, and I'm putting up an arbor and looking for climbers. I am a purple/lavener junkie---can you/anyone recommend some vigorous climbing lavenders/purples? Night owl is on my list, but I'd like a lighter one alongside it....
Thanks in avance!
Ann in 7A!

About the Blue Boy, there are two roses with that name, one is Kordes and it usually does not repeat and the other is Blue Boy by Interplantz, Holland (2000) mauve flower with 60 petals, floribunda shrub. Here is a picture of it:

{{gwi:1199535}}

Hey Beth, Thanks for clarifying the HMFR. I feel goofy. I have used the HMF plenty of times but just never put the two together. Thanks again, Judy

Hmmm... Bgrose, I bet my BLUE BOY is the Interplant one. Altho, I'm sure Hortico is listing it as a Kordes rose. Mine looks very similar to your pic, and does repeat, altho not all that often.

Beth,

Please see the difference between your Blue Boy picture on help me find and the other pictures of blue boy on Help me find:

Your Blue boy (many petals):

{{gwi:1199536}}

Other Blue Boy (less petals and different flower):

{{gwi:1199537}}

They are two different roses though the names are the same. I know because I bought a Blue boy bush this year and on its label it was written that it is developed by Interplant, year 2000. on the label it was also written repeat blooming. I bought it because i liked the flowers on the photo of the label and because it repeated. When I went home and researched the rose, I was shocked that on Help me Find it was written that Blue Boy does not repeat. I called the shop and they explained to me that my rose is a different rose that repeats. Anyway, I will understand what I got when I see how it blooms this year.

Thanks Bgrose!! I always wondered why mine really didn't look like the other pics, and why it repeated. I checked HMF, and they don't list our BLUE BOY. I'll contact them to get them to add it, then I'll move my pic! Thanks so much for clearing that up!!