I'm back from a weekend in Charlottesville and seeing Tufton Farms, which was lovely! It was great to see you Connie! It took all my willpower not to buy more roses after your talk. Ann, almost all my peonies bloomed except for a few I had transplanted or newly planted last fall which hadn't settled in. Christopher, I got my Quatre Saesons Royale from Sherando roses which is no longer doing business. Randy thought it was slightly different from the Four Season Rose hence the name, but I now forget what the difference is and don't have the other to compare. This one stays small (it does suffer from blackspot later on and is runty) and I just snap the buds off and not prune it back, but I could try to take some cuttings for you. Gringo, I think Munstead Woods is my favorite red! I would recommend it. Thanks La vie. My roses have picked up in my absence and are almost fully bloom now! Here's a shot with Cornelia, Constance Spry, and The Generous Gardener

Perhaps this might more easily explain it. I'm sure all who wear colognes or perfumes have noticed sometimes when you put it on, you can smell it for hours. Other times, you can't smell it for very long before it seems as if you haven't applied any. Part of that is your olfactories. You get used to it and don't notice it. Much of the time, it's because the conditions are too hot and dry so the scent evaporates. If you and the air remain warm and moist, the scent lingers for many hours, but let it get too hot, too dry or too windy and the elements which create fragrance volatize, dissipate, evaporate until they are no longer perceptible. It is precisely the same issue with scented flowers. Some have such intense compounds in such highly concentrated amounts, it requires extreme conditions to cause them to all evaporate. Some have combinations which evaporate at different rates so they actually have different scents in different conditions. Some have a lot of the same compound so when it all dissipates, there appears to be nothing left. Some have no scent compounds or so little, it takes very little for them to appear unscented. Duplicate the still, warm, moist conditions under which they SHOULD provide scent and you should be able to perceive it, at least to the extent of your physical abilities. Kim

Usually, roses drop foliage due to water stress or disease. If the plant isn't able to absorb enough water to keep growing and flowering, it sheds the leaves to stop transpiration, sweating, which generates the siphon necessary to carry water and absorbed nutrients from the roots to the cane tips. Loss of foliage means the plant can't feed itself as there is only the photosynthesis going on in the green cane parts. If the sun and heat are intense enough, the canes can be scalded, sun burned, which can kill them outright. The other common cause is due to fungal attack. Are you seeing abnormally high levels of black spot or rust infections on either plant? Are these grown against hot walls where the reflected/radiated heat is "cooking" them? Are they surrounded by hard scape, side walks, patios, etc., which may also be cooking them with unusually high reflected/radiated heat? How is the drainage under these two plants? Does the soil stay moist or does it appear to dry out completely? Perhaps they aren't receiving enough water to battle the heat they experience, or the soil is so porous it doesn't maintain sufficient water reserves to keep the roses leaved out successfully over the hotter period? It is quite common for larger plants, climbers in particular, to have "bare knees". The foliage at that level is older and often that portion of the plant doesn't receive enough light to maintain healthy, productive foliage so the plant sheds them. If your plants are bare up where they should have productive, healthy foliage, you have some serious issues which need diagnosing and correction. Good luck! I hope something here points you in the right direction to fix your rose problem. Kim

It looks like a rose from a fairy tale. So lovely. Great work rescuing it.