I love Playboy. Lowes had it the other day and I passed it up. Could kick myself now. OUCH!! Judy

All the plants have buds and Munstead Wood is the first to bloom-- 9 flowers have opened and 9 more developing. I gave them water and nothing else for weeks, then as they started getting bigger, sprinklings of bloodmeal and half-doses of fish emulsion. At some point I tried giving them a bit of diluted potassium with indeterminate results. (Maybe because I got muriate of potash instead of the potassium chloride, sulfide or whatever it is that's supposed to be better?) Once I gave them water left over from cooking beans (no salt) and they seemed to like it fine. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the whole plants yet, but they do seem like they are taking off. Though Munstead Wood, Lady of Shallot, and Jude the Obscure are growing with big open spaces between canes-- I don't know if these are the reported David Austin octopus arms, or pest damage to terminal shoots that would otherwise fill out the center of the bush, or particular growth habit in Houston, TX weather, or if it's just something it'll grow out of after a year and some pruning. The other, younger two plants that I've messed with the least, Lady Emma Hamilton and Brother Cadfael, have much more attractive foliage and look more bushy/shrubby. LEH has sixteen buds already and is nicely rounded, while BC, who has been growing tall thick canes and took the longest to leaf out and bud, looks more like a sturdy column shape. They are all at least two to three and a half feet off the soil level. So far the scent on MW is very sweet, like berry candy and rosewater (rather than dried rose petals), and seems stronger after a fish emulsion feeding. Can't wait for the others! Thanks to everyone for being present on this forum. I've been going through a lot of posts and learning a bunch!

Kate, First off, Scepter'd Isle is male. He is named in honor of the 14th. Century, British Monarch, King Otis the Wise, twin brother of Prince Merle (Otis was born first...too bad for Merle). In the world of roses in which the vast majority of roses are referred to as she or her, Scepter'd Isle has by now, developed an identity crisis, so I always refer to him in the masculine. No, I will take your advice to heart, and give him a reprieve, for now! Moses

I have a loamy clay here in zone 6. I have tried a number of Austins and I loved them, but I usually ended up with some kind of foliage issue. It's been awhile, so I don't remember what. I keep trying different roses that are thought to be good in a no spray garden and last spring I planted - Savannah and Beverly and Pope John Paul. Savannah is a Kordes - my first. It was enjoyable in it's first season. Pretty foliage and I liked the color and texture of the blooms. It didn't grow too much or produce many flowers, but I didn't expect a lot in it's first year starting off bare root from Palatine. But by the end of the season, it was suddenly showing some problem with one of the canes. Not insects, but disease. I left it alone and just hoped for the best this spring. This spring, it had some leaf buds on it, but they deteriorated as soon as they opened and while the other roses were pushing out more buds and then opening leaves, Savannah did nothing and looked worse. So I decided to cut all the canes back to the ground. And I thought that was the end of it really, but to my surprise, it sprouted new canes - about 3 of them. Right now it's about 6-8" tall and has leafed out and looks okay. Not a great start for a rose though. Beverly is another Kordes and last year it did fine and produced more flowers than Savannah and looked healthy. This year it has filled out with leaves. I usually have roses starting to open by June 1st, so, we'll see how it does this year. The foliage looked clean all season last year and so far this year too. Maybe by the end of this season I'll be able to make a better comparison.