Hi Treehugger: Krista in zone 5a likes her Kathleen Harrop: thornless, but only spring flush (some scattered blooms later). There are 2 Kordes climber: Jasmina (light pink), and Laguna (dark pink). Laguna is VERY disease-resistant, but Jasmina is iffy on that. I saw tons of Laguna at local Meijers, sold cheap for $10, and the smell was AWESOME: intense floral and spicy. Every single Laguna plant was healthy, but a different hybrid tea in a pot nearby got BS.

Nahema is an almost thornless climber. The scent is the best I ever sniff, repeat bloom is good if plenty of rain. it's very stingy in my heavy clay and wimpy. However, Predfern in my Chicagoland likes Nahema ... he has looser soil, he trained Nahema on his chained-link. One bloom of Nahema is immensely gratifying. The scent is amazing, like a butter-frosting crème-petals. I'm not sure if "thornless" Nahema is vigorous enough to climb a 10' arch, but Laguna is vigorous (some complaints of its nasty thorn).

Clotilde Soupert has few thorns & fragrant & good rebloom polyantha, but the growth is like a mound, will be hard to train up an arch. From the pics. I see, Kathleen Harrop, pink & thornless is awesome to climb up an arch, it's thornless (a sport of Zeph. Drouhin). If you google "Kathleen Harrop", you'll see many pics. of its climbing up an arch. Colette also climbs up an arch, but that one is THORNY and iffy in disease-resistant. Three that I have seen, and like: Nahema (almost thornless), Kathleen Harrop (almost thornless), and Laguna (thorny). All are intensely fragrant.

Hi Treehugger, I live in zone 6 MA and love Climbing Compassion. I purchased this in May 2014 and had 4 flushes of roses. They smell heavenly and are a blend of pink, peach and yellow. It is supposed to be very hardy, right now it's under 4 feet of snow so we'll see how it weathers the very cold, snowy New England winter. But I loved it so much that I have 2 more on order from Brushwood Nursery for this spring.

Sharon

You could also try a real vine, like lonicera periclymenum, which would give you an extended season of bloom, real fragrance, and no rose diseases (and probably little to no disease period).RHS Lonicera Periclymenum Serotina Florida

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I'm going to go look at all of them. Thanks!!!

treehugger101

Wondering how your Julia Child do here in Pa??? Do they get much BS or powdery mildew??? Thanks

Hi Jim, I have Julia Child in my black spot haven. She was almost 100% clean with no spray, had fantastic repeat and smelled heavenly. CL. Compassion was also disease free, phenomenal repeat for own root just purchased in May from Brushwood Nursery and smelled heavenly too. If they both survive the winter they will definitely be keepers. :-)

Sharon

Thanks for the info enchantedrosez6... :)

Hope all is well your way...

Hi Jim, other than almost 5 feet of snow, more on the way and a fractured rib from slipping on ice, everything else is fine :-) So looking forward to spring. How are things with you and your wife? I hope all is well. You must be anxious for spring too.

I went overboard again on roses... I have a big order with Roses Unlimited, Northland Rosarium and Chamblee's plus some perennials from a couple different vendors. One in New York, Graceful Gardens, sells 32 perennials for a flat fee of $85 so I bought some New Zealand Delphiniums, daisies, fox gloves, perennial lobelia, Echinacea Prima Donna, a white coneflower and some Echinops Blue Glow.

Roses on order are: Kordes, Pompon, Poseidon, Cream Veranda, Plum Perfect, Figi, Dark Desire, Fire Opal, Pink Enchantment, Climbing Golden Gate and Summer Romance plus Easy Elegance Music Box along with Francis Blaise, Bolero, and Austin Tamora and Darcie Bussell. I have NO idea where I'll be putting all of these plus the ones that never got planted last year if they survive the winter. I think I'm a bit obsessed ;-)

Sharon

Sorry to hear you slipped on ice and fractured your rib! 5ft of snow. :-O Things ok here for me but my wife having a lot of problems with her MS. You will have to let me know how all those new roses do for you... :-) I normally try not to judge how roses are doing in there first 3 years since I had roses that did great for 2-3 years then all the leaves started falling off due to BS every year afterwards... :-/ Now if they get severe disease right off the bat I usually give them to a friend who has tons of room for wayward roses...lol That way I can see how they do each year... So far my decisions have been correct in gettng rid of all the ones I did...No improvement in any of them...

I hope I have better luck than you do...I'd hate to lose them all to black spot. It's such a horrible, frustrating disease and a bane to rose growers. Hopefully these will do well. My other Kordes roses do great, very little black spot. So I'll just have to wait and see how they do through time. Generally the roses I buy get black spot the first year so maybe I'll be lucky and they'll stay healthy :-)

Hi Jim: I'm praying for your wife's MS ... hopefully she gets better. I agree with you about 1st year roses are 100% healthy, and it gets worse. In my garden it's both nutrient depletion, plus tap-water hardening up the soil. 2011-2013 I used my hard-well tap water, high pH with calcium hydroxide and found the soil become rock-hard, due to calcium's alkalinity binding with potassium & phosphorus & trace elements. 2014 I installed 3 rain-barrels, and roses bloomed more with fluffy soil.

Also notice that roses which get BOTH trace elements and rain water, plus fluffy soil are healthiest. I'm going after the anti-fungal trace elements (zinc, copper, boron, mobylleum, calcium) for 2015. I'm too lazy to get horse manure, but I'll get Azomite (up to 70 trace elements) at 5 lbs. for $8 from Amazon .. thank you, treehugger, for informing me about Azomite.

Hi Sharon (Enchantedrose): I'm sorry to hear about your fractured rib from slipping on ice. We used so much salt last winter, that really hurt plants. This year I got lucky with free gritty lime, so I'll use that on my sidewalk. HomeDepot sells "Eco-tract" a gritty mineral-based to spread on sidewalk, it doesn't get mushy like kitty litter, and doesn't kill plants. I looked for "Eco-tract" at Lowe's but didn't find it, all they have is potassium chloride to de-ice, with salt-index of 116.2 .. that's the chemical name for muriate of potash in many garden-fertilizers. That's why I ordered sulfate of potash with salt-index of 43 for $11 from Kelp4Less ... then in the summer that doubled in price.

A year ago my husband slipped during Thanksgiving, while running and broke his front tooth, that incurred pain plus costly dental expense. Now he runs on his treadmill down the basement, much safer. He's buying me Young Lycidas, Lady Emma Hamilton, and Firefighter (I lost it during our worst winter) ... that's for Valentine. Roses give so much joy: sniffing, plus I can spread joy to neighbors & friends whenever I give them fragrant bouquets. Plus I appreciate my husband more with the rose-gift he gave, much better than cut-flowers, since rose bushes can last for decades.

hi friends!

I think I finally, finally was able to figure out this new setting. I am usually welcoming of change but I kind of want the old gardenweb back.

This is a great topic and I have much to catch up on reading everyone's post but I am just so happy that I can post again. I was going through withdrawal symptoms.

Jim, I hope your wife recovers her health soon. I will also keep her in my prayers.

Straw, I'm also getting roses for Valentine's Day! Well, I kind of got them already. They came in the mail yesterday from Chamblees which promptly got me to assemble a grow light stand using PVC. Now I have all my rose seedlings that I started last year and were overwintering in the garage plus my two valentine roses growing under the light. I've attached the video that I use to make the plant stand and also a photo of my happy roses. BTW, I also have Young Lycidas on order for this spring. I've seen photos of Lady Emma H. She is definitely

on my wish list.

Mas

I'm glad to hear from you, Mas, Thank you for that Youtube, neat stuff there. Your rootings & rose look good & very healthy. Thanks for sharing with us.

Your rooting & roses do look good mas_loves_roses1!... :-)

I hope you have better luck than I do also enchantedrosez6...lol... May all your rose leaves stay shiny & clean and intact on your rose bushes...lol... I'm only trying 3 new roses this year enchantedrosez6 ...

Thanks Straw!

Jim, I am keeping my fingers crossed! I've had pretty good luck starting roses from cuttings but I have not done them under artificial lighting. That is a first but I'm excited about the adventure.

It is so cold around here that I need some projects to keep myself busy. I've gotten enough garden books to last me a lifetime. I now need to read them.

Mas, I found this silent video on rooting rose cuttings in potatoes. I think I'm going to try this method and see how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqA9jG6QUvk

The potato is supposed to provide necessary nutrients and helps to keep the roots moist. It does sound intriguing and if it works it's a nice way to get own root roses from grafted plants.

Strawberry, nice to hear from you too. Do you have a lot of snow in IL? We are getting another 6-12inches this weekend, so much for going out on Valentine's Day, and an additional storm is predicted for mid week. Way too much. No one has anywhere to put it, plus we're so tired of shoveling. The snow is well over 4 feet, I'm concerned it will break my brand new picket fence :-( Plus it has been steadily cold here, usually we get a thaw this time of year but temps are below 0 at night and not much higher during the day.

And Jim, thanks for your shiny rose leaf wishes!! from your mouth to Mother Nature's ear!!

Sharon

We have snow coming soon. I spent 2 hrs. the last time shoveling ALL THE WAY to the bus stop so my kid can walk easier. The potato rooting sounds great. I failed miserably with the zip-loc-baggie method of rooting. My 4 successful rootings were with 1/2 perlite and 1/2 Schultz potting soil, in open air & shade. Zero success with MiracleGro regular potting soil (green bag, pH 6.5) .. too much peat moss, and too wet.

Sharon, your rose list is exciting with many new roses: "Kordes, Pompon, Poseidon, Cream Veranda, Plum Perfect, Figi, Dark Desire, Fire Opal, Pink Enchantment, Climbing Golden Gate and Summer Romance plus Easy Elegance Music Box along with Francis Blaise, Bolero, and Austin Tamora and Darcie Bussell." I looked them up in HMF, and some don't have pics. yet. Figi is so-pretty, so is Dark Desire. No pic. for Kordes, Pompom, Fire Opal nor Summer Romance ... they must be new roses. Pink Enchantment looks good in pic. but people in CA reported fading and washed-out.

I tested the "high phosphorus" to deepen pink-color, but it DID NOT work on Sharifa Asma, since I put too much calcium sulfate (gypsum) to break up my heavy clay. Francis Blaise is a heavy-bloomer like Bolero in my clay, nice apple-myrrh scent. Music Box is bred by Ping-Lim, Easy Elegance. I had one Easy Elegance before and it didn't like my alkaline clay. French Romanticas & Meilland roses like my alkaline soil & hard-well water best.

mas_loves_roses1

Good luck with those cuttings using artificial lighting... Let us know how that works out for you... Thanks

We have not had snow for awhile so we only have about 4-5 inches left on the ground. The remaining snow has turned to ice since our nights are dipping toward zero and below zero...

Evening friends!

Wow. Sharon, that project sounds very creative. I might try the potato method as well. I have a few roses that I want to propagate.

I love seeing all the rose lists. Doesn't it feel like the equivalent of showing your toys to the other kids the week after Xmas? Too bad we can't play with each other roses.

I have a few of the roses in my spring list that Sharon has. I can't wait to see them all in bloom. Sadly, I believe I have reached my max capacity of bushes that I can plant while keeping it decent looking so I'll have a couple of 'floaters' growing in pots until a spot in the garden opens up. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make. :)

going back to the potato video, I kind of lust after having soil that is dug up so easily. I have pure, sub-soil clay with a little bit of compost/manure that I have added on top. Sometimes I need to jump really hard on top of the shovel and many times it does not budge.

It sounds like my rock-hard clay here. I broke my shovel while digging up a dead tree. I bought a new one from Menards for $15 and it's WAY BETTER than my old one, not only fiberglass is stronger, clay doesn't stick to the new shovel like with my old one. Agree with you that roses are great gifts. Growing roses is a way to give oneself joy & others joy ... I am grateful to an old man who used to bring cut-roses to us 9 girls (I'm the youngest girl in the family). I am grateful to that house with a rose garden in the front ... it was the highlight of my daily walk from Junior High.

Keeping roses free of diseases is the toughest challenge. After spending 1 day researching, and reading countless reviews on Amazon, I solved my kid's underarm deodorant problem .. check out my recent post in Products & recipes that you love, Part I. Even with my B.S. in computer science, minor in chemistry, and taking classes like genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, pathology, etc... I HAVE NOT SOLVED the black spot problem with Comte de Chambord, while Nahema is always clean. Some roses' problems can't be solved when the root is wimpy, can't go through my hard clay.

Sharon: Thanks to your rose list, I remember how impressive that Easy Elegance which I bought at HomeDepot ... there was more blooms than leaves. The pot had large chunk composted pine-bark mixed with soil, well-drained. It also had Osmocote-like blue round tiny pellets mixed in. I suspect those blue-round-pellets have acid (sulfur) to neutralize alkaline tap. I once did a research on trace elements in chemical fertilizers, and Osmocote was the only one THAT DID NOT RESULT IN ANY NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY whatsoever.

I didn't recommend Osmocote, since those brown granules didn't work on my herbs in pots. However, that type was discontinued, and there's improved formula in the Osmocote for flowers, NPK 14-14-14, it has a perfect rating on Amazon, can't find a negative review. I tested many chemicals vs. organics in pots. Organics work best for the ground, given microorganism and earthworms to break it down. Chemicals isn't best for clay soil, which retains salt well. Chemicals is instant-food, and work immediately in pots, or well-drained loamy soil. The danger of chemicals is salt-accumulation in pots, esp. with soluble fertilizer.

After seeing those blue-round slow-released granules, and tons of blooms on Easy Elegance "Grandma's Blesisng" in a pot ... I'm sold on such, if I can find it. I'm going to test the perfect-rating Oscomote and compare that with organics for pots. I still remember how Sonia Rykiel gave me 15 blooms in a pot, fertilized with MG soluble, plus organics (alfalfa mixed in potting soil).

The question is: Are oscomote pH-dependent? Does it require neutral tap, or acidic rain water to break down? The old brown Oscomote that was discontinued, it could not even dissolve in rain water !!

I gave MG-soluble to Frederic Mistral in the ground, and he was still stingy. But when I brought the pH of my tap water down with sulfate of potash, plus trace elements in molasses, I got 40+ buds/blooms. My tap water is so alkaline, that MG soluble crystallized at the bottom ... It worked only when I put used lemon to help it dissolve. Below is Liv Tyler in my pH 7.7 clay, mulched with cocoa mulch at pH 5.4, plus horse manure (pH 8), and with rain water (pH 6):

Strawberry, your Liv Tyler rose is stunning. You definitely have a knack for growing gorgeous roses. Do you ever have ANY insects chomping on your roses? They are always so breathtaking! If I have half the success with my roses as you do I'll be happy. I bought Centennial Rose, an easy elegance white to palest blush rose, last year and it did really well. I wish these roses had some scent though. if they did they'd be perfect.

Hi Sharon: No insects, very few Japanese beetles. My neighbors have many bird feeders ... lots of birds as predators. I agree: Easy Elegance roses are so disease-resistant, alas, no scent !! My best success with potting soil was with MG ORGANIC potting soil, with large chunks of composted pine bark ... similar to the potting medium for roses at HomeDepot.

Finally found the blue-slow-released fertilizer granules in those rose-pots sold at HomeDepot. It's a commercial-type of fertilizer, see picture in the link: Blue-round slow-released fertilizer NPK 12-12-17

Since the medium was mostly composted pine bark, that would be slightly acidic to offset alkaline-tap water, and to help the blue-granules to dissolve. The higher potassium ratio makes sense, since I had more success making roses bloom with higher potassium, rather than higher phosphorus.

Hi Mas, I know, soil to die for!! I have some raised beds in my front yard with the most gorgeous soil. The bed is about 15 years old and you can still sink a shovel to the bottom. However the rest of my yard is New England rocky. No matter where you want to plant something it seems you always need the pry bar to pull out the boulders and then have to fill the hole with soil since we basically have a bout an inch of soil covering the subsoil.
Doesn't the potato idea seem intriguing? I'm def. going to try this since I've had no luck at all with other methods.
Sharon

Jim, Sorry for the delay in response. I am in 6b. Julia Child shows zero BS or mildew over 2 years. Same with Belinda's Dream. Heirloom a gorgeous purple also shows zero BS/Mildew. Of the climbers here, New Dawn had no BS and St. Swithum little to none. I ordered two more Julia Child for this year. She's gorgeous, maintenance-free and has a lovely scent.

Thanks.

Terri

I'll have to consider trying those two roses in the future... Thanks treehugger!

Let me know how Heiloom makes out for you in the future... Thanks

Treehugger, Zephirine Droughin is disease resistant, very fragrant with a classic damask rose scent, re-blooming, and up to 10-12 ft if trained as a climber....It is THORNLESS, and can do better than most roses with shade...Some herbalists use it for tincture and rose glycerites and honeys because of all these qualities...t does well in 7B so i imagine it will do well for you...I have ammended red clay here..... Responding to other comments, I picked up new Kordes "Dark Desire" for half price at Lowes distressed plant section a couple of months ago (They have even MORE distressed versions of them now for half price...I'd reduce them more with the heat wave we are having and the condition they are in) and it has been doing very impressively. Very beautiful, very little black spot despite my composted soil that never got very hot. Very productive. Wonderful fragrance. It bounced back with my wonderful organic fertilizer, with frequent but very dilute foliar feeding.....

Thanks for the info, Elizabeth .. will have to check my local Lowe's.

Hi Sharon (Enchantedrose): How are your roses doing? Also how are the perennials that you bought: You wrote "One in New York, Graceful Gardens, sells 32 perennials for a flat fee of $85 so I bought some New Zealand Delphiniums, daisies, fox gloves, perennial lobelia, Echinacea Prima Donna, a white coneflower and some Echinops Blue Glow.

Roses on order are: Kordes, Pompon, Poseidon, Cream Veranda, Plum Perfect, Figi, Dark Desire, Fire Opal, Pink Enchantment, Climbing Golden Gate and Summer Romance plus Easy Elegance Music Box along with Francis Blaise, Bolero, and Austin Tamora and Darcie Bussell. " Enchantedrose.

I would love to hear how the above rose performed for you. The rose park in my zone 5a zapped (burnt) their Tamora bed. Too much phosphorus fertilizer isn't good for Tamora, it has Rugosa heritage, and Rugosas dislike fertilizer. Anyone know if Poseidon is fragrant? Thanks for the info.