First flowers on Stormy Weather!

Eden has stiff canes similar to William Baffin, the best I could do was train it at a 45 degree angle , I think it was too stiff to do anything else with. Darlows Enigma is a hardy shrub/climber for me, hardy to the tips. Starts blooming for me around this time with dark red new foliage. Repeat bloomer, sets hips for winter interest, very fragrant but probably the worst thorns ever. The blooms are single and white. Another very hardy climber for me is Seafoam, this rose will do whatever you want it too do. Starts blooming around now and goes well into the fall,no fragrance but that's OK because it has exceptionally healthy,dark foliage. The blooms are white, a little pink in thefall. I have another hardy rambler called Ghislaine de Feligonde. This reblooms for me, if I deadhead. Some people on the forum says theirs repeats and others say theirs doesn't. This thing is a MONSTER for me, and hardy to the tips even after this last winter. Blooms are yellowish to pink, very pretty. As far as structures go, they are always iffy for me. Eventually the older, thicker canes of the rose are what I tie the new shoots to. For additional color for my once bloomers I either plant clematis, liatris,daises or any tall perennial. Oh I also have Veilchenblau, it has always been hardy to the tips. Young canes are easy to train if you get there soon enough. Once bloomer, but when it blooms there are so many you can't even see the foliage. Orange hips in the fall, leaves turn a nice yellow than as well. Semi double blooms, every shade of purple, will get as large as you let it. It's practically thornless. Honestly winter protection is a gamble for me, some people bury the canes in the winter, I did this once and the rose got canker. It's just too much trouble. If I had a rose I loved with questionable hardiness, I would plant it close to the house where it would not be subject to northern winds.

The spot I had my Night Owl in was the hottest spot in my garden, because it was the west side of a south facing wall and my summers get extremely hot (108 F). The folliage and canes did fine in the sun. It's the blooms that burnt, like most dark colored roses. But, I was new to growing roses and didn't know that at the time I planted it. The hybrid tea that took its spot after I removed Night Owl, died its first summer due to burnt canes. Night Owl, in comparison was well protected and I would have kept it if I just wanted a healthy green plant. But I'm growing roses to see blooms. As for when it bloomed, it seemed to be with the main flush with repeat later. However, there were only a few flowers the first year, because it was so busy growing. I have 5 climbing roses and Night Owl grew the fastest. I saw Night Owl at the Huntington gardens and it was lovely. It made me a bit sad to see it. I will plant Night Owl again if I ever move to a property where I can provide it afternoon shade or filtered sun, so I can enjoy those red wine blooms.

Ingrid - so glad you are finally getting some rain! Your garden must be so happy. We have had 3 rain storms in the past 4 days, and fourth one is supposed to come in tonight, and another one tomorrow night. Yay! We have now gotten our "annual normal" (7/1 -7/1) amount of rain (35 inches), and it is still Jan! I grew up here, and can remember many winters like this, although of course not lately. The other afternoon we went to a nearby shopping mall (they recently re-did it to make it a covered mall, luckily) to see a movie. When the movie got out, we walked to the mall entrance nearest our car, and looked out (with a bunch of people who were standing by the doors). Ha! The rain was coming down so hard, and the wind was blowing so hard, that the rain was horizontal, and you could barely see. There was no way we were going to try to get to our car, which was only about 40 feet away. We waited 5 minutes, on the grounds that it must be a "cloud burst" which would stop, but it did not stop. So, dinner plans were changed, and we had dinner at a restaurant which was inside of the mall. The heavy heavy rain continued for another 1 1/2 hours, until we were done with dinner, and then stopped long enough for us to get home. Fun adventure! In the northern Sierra Nevada mountains, which are about 5 hours by car East of here, they are getting at least 4-6 feet of snow every other day. I am so happy to hear from you that So Cal is getting rain too - they said a few days ago that that part of the state was still under severe drought - hope it keeps up! Jackie