Elina--This is a classic PNW rose. It is vigorous, tall, produces lots of flowers, very disease resistant, rain resistant, loves our climate, but no fragrance. It has cream colored flowers that blend softly with just about any other flower. It is a great background rose!

"Mulching resulted in exceedingly high plant growth, even though higher nematode populations were also observed. Under mulching conditions, soil temperatures at 5-cm depth seldom rose beyond 30°C throughout the year. Cover plantings of non-hosts, which had been selected by earlier inoculation tests, indicated remarkable retardation of plant growth of black-peppers, evidently due to the competition, and this also reduced the nematode population. Macroptilium atropurpureum (siratro) gave the smallest growth retardation of black-peppers. From these results, a combination of three procedures, i.e. Temic or Furadan treatment, mulching with grass straw, and cover-planting of non-hosts such as siratro, is recommended on black-pepper plantations for better plant growth and eventually better yield of black-peppers in the fields infested by root-knot nematodes." -- Integrated control of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, on black-pepper plantations in the amazonian region. Minoru Ichinohe1, Instituto Experimental Agricola Tropical da Amazonia, Tomé-Açu, Pará, Brazil. It isn't just us, they're everywhere in temperate climates. Here, agricultural crops are rotated every 3 years in different fields, and farmers like to grow peanuts behind well-tilled bermuda grass. I have some flower beds in which certain plants will not grow. Sometimes I just fill a bed with marigolds, which are reported to help decrease the nematode population. I'm not sure that helps, but the marigolds thrive and I feel good about it. One thing I do is to pull and discard plants including those disfigured roots rather than leaving them to plow under or cutting off the tops. As I mentioned before, I keep a list of plants that are most resistant and a list of plants that I'm just not going to plant again because of these devils. Sometimes I read the literature on plant research, but stopped cold today when I read about an infant who had soil nematodes causing a rash on her skin. Nell

Thanks so much for the additional information, nandina. Very pleased you had a chance to chime in. :-) And - glad you posted on the use of actually planting mustard plants and leaving the roots in or close to the tomato hole - or in the rows, because I very vaguely remembered you mentioning that before on the tomato forum. But it has been quite a while, and I couldn't find that info in older posts (or google cache). I thought I would mention a few tasty tomato varieties that I've found have good to great RKN tolerance: Momotaro - I've grown 100's of vars, but never got around to this one until this yr for fall crop for whatever reason. Yum - terrific flavor! Quite the pleasant surprise. Sweet, yet rich and complex. Good production of mostly tennis ball sized toms. It's a hybrid, and has been "tested/certified" for N tolerance. Yasenichki Yabuchar - not commercially available at this time, but I have seeds if anyone wants to try it. It is open-pollinated, and my observations on nematode tolerance are strictly antecdotal. But - in a 'tode infested bed, I left a plant in from spring crop and just got around to pulling it a couple of days ago. The plant was an absolute monster (grew all the way up and back down a 6' Texas cage, plus some, and was about 5 ft wide before my first light frost took it out). It was too big to protect, so I picked all the breakers and partial ripes I could before that happened. Very good to great flavored med sized red tomatoes, a great main cropper type, also sets well in heat. All said and done - this var gave me at least 150 nice toms from one plant. The roots had almost no galling at all when I pulled the plant. A very vigorous plant to say the least. At the largest part of the base, the stem made it to almost 7" in diameter, and got sort of woody. Roots were extremely large, most of them as thick as my pinky finger - had to dig this one out with a shovel. Mountain Princess - Another var that seems to have a fair amount of 'tode tolerance (based on my antecdotal observations, again OP, so not certified/tested). Very good flavor. Similar observations on the roots to Yasenichki when I pulled the plant. I like to grow a lot of different vars, and doubt I will strictly limit myself to only N tolerant vars anytime soon. But - I thought I would mention my observations in case anyone finds it helpful. A couple more (hybrids) that exhibit good N tolerance are Sungold and Sweet Quartz. I love Sungold, and wouldn't be w/o it, Sweet Quartz is also good, especially if you like a sweet cherry type. Big Beef is also a good one - admittedly not an 8-9-10 on the flavor scale for me, but then I'm kind of picky. Good to very good flavor, high production of med sized red globes. Better than many other hybrids for taste, imo.

Okay, before I continue, Roseguy you MUST post some pics of your rose garden here. 1000 ROSES!?!?!?!?! Wow, and all in Florida. Please share. Rachel, based on what I know about the soil in Central Florida and what I know about the weather pattern up there, I would suggest you plan out what you want in detail and begin section by section. Never get rid of a rose. Let that thing die on its own before you toss it. I've had roses with dieback coming up and down the stem and seen it make it with some TLC, so never give up. Shoot, I have a Crescendo that I got bareroot from Breck's with massive crown gall that I know will eventually succumb but I can't get myself to give up completely! Here's what I'd do (for what's it's worth, lol): 1.) Plan out your yard. Use MS Publisher or get a cheap poster board and plot out where you want all your roses to go. Make sure to take into account the rose's habit as well as the color scheme that you're going for. With all that space you have, you can afford to space out your roses using the three foot rule. Also, make sure to place your roses in the sunniest spots of your land, no use putting them next to root greedy trees when they will already have a hard time establishing a good root system. 2.) Create beds for your roses. I have installed my beds using Castle Rock pavers. I purchase them a little every weekend and now I have great big beds that look good. Once the pavers are in place dig out the existing soil down one to two feet. The task is arduous, but if done in sections it will seem doable. Call C&C Peat or The Bushel Stop and have them deliver several yards of their potting soil to fill in your beds. 3.) Plant your roses one section at a time. Remember to cut them back a bit and to place the weaker/smaller bushes to the outer edges of your beds to give them plenty of room and sun to grow. 4.) Apply mulch and possibly ground cover to your beds. 5.) Get into the habit of mixing in fertilizer onto your roses. I like to create a tea using alfalfa pellets, fish emulsion, and seaweed extract. Occasionally, apply a water soluble fertilizer like miracle grow in cooler weather. Remember, during the June to August your job is to maintain your rose's existing leaves and not to grow it further, so fertilize during the cooler months. 6.) Develop a spray program that works for you. You have purchased quite an arsenal, but there's no point using something that is not needed. For Florida gardeners, the go-to chemicals are Banner Maxx/Honor Guard, Mancozeb, and Conserve SC. Cleary, Subdue Maxx, and Alliette are other great chemicals that can be applied between applications of the aforementioned spray program so your pests don't develop an immunity to any of the medicines. Spray every seven to fourteen days as needed. Spraying too frequently may actually hurt your plants. 7.) Come here for help. Years ago I found this site (then under a different incarnation that has undergone two major changes over the years) and I found the answers to questions I didn't even know to ask. Know that you are among friends that share you passion for roses. 8.) Understand that the past five months have been atypical. When the nursery that produces the roses I buy tell me that they have experienced the same problems that I have had due to difficult weather conditions, I relax at the thought that little ole me, with my limited resources, am not alone in the problems. With any luck, the recent weather pattern will usher new healthy growth and turn the tide that has brought so much hardship to our rose collections. Good luck! -Adrian.