Feeding is dependent on whether the rose is a once bloomer, or repeat bloomer. I feed my once bloomers and repeat bloomers ONCE with an organic mix in the spring (mid to late April here in MD) and my repeat bloomers (those that I water) a second time a smaller dose in mid to late June. Finally, I had recommended feeding again in mid to late August every couple of weeks for 2 or 3 feedings with something like fish emulsion. Folks who want to grow repeat bloomers HT size to the MAX, like exhibitors, and for Fall shows in late September or early October are recommending a 1X ( = 1.75 cups) spring feeding with an organic fertilizer (~3-2-3) in mid April, a X in mid June and a 1X mid August. These are spread across a 30" circle around the rose and very lightly scratched in (not deep). Of course water is necessary to keep these organics working. This is what some HT folks do for the MAX, and it may include fish emulsion as well in August and September. Note that I vary the amount of fertilizer that I use by the size of the rose. The amounts above are for mature HTs that grow up to 6 or 7  each season. I use somewhat more fertilizer on shrub roses  perhaps 2 to 4 -12oz coffee mugs. Very large plants might use1 to 2  1 lb coffee cans. I have had reasonably good results with an organic formula used by some other HT folks  see below. The roses seem to almost explode out of the ground by June with reasonably good basal breaks. Nearly similar results have been observed with Rose Tone. Others use Mills Magic Mix or Fertrell. Some rose people are now using a once per season product, Osmocote Pro, comprised of coated spherical chemical for slow release with an IBDU fast nitrogen phase. Organic recipe that I use: 1 - 50 lb bag of Soybean Meal 1 - 50 lb bag of Alfalfa Meal 2 - 18 lb bags of Cottonseed meal (Espoma) 1 - 18 lb bag of Dried Blood (Espoma) 15 lbs of Bone Meal (~ 1/2 of Espoma 30 lb bag) Mix on the driveway or a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, and store in a 32 gallon trash can. Note the weight (~170 lbs) Âso that the filled trash can will remain in place until partially empty. This can challenge DH! However, I find that it gets emptied very fast. One mix can fertilize well over 100 plants depending on the size, and I can go through a "trash can of mix" in a weekend. Note that I find that night "critters" (probably foxes or racoons) sometimes dig around my newly fertilized plants. Note also that for reasonably good growth, I have observed that folks using alfalfa meal and compost get very respectable results that keep the plants growing well. The bottom line is that for good continual growth, nutrients must be available on a continuous basis. Nitrogen and potassium are taken up or leached out of soils rather quickly, more slowly with the organics. That is why some dahlia growers use sulphate of potash (0-0-50) and urea (40-0-0) on a 2-4 week schedule during the active growing season. Most of the organic formulations appear to last 6 to 8 weeks (some claim 12 weeks) depending on their composition, the abundance of soil microbes, temperature and water. Note that in the HT case, those growers back off on fertilization in the very hottest part of the summer when soil temps get higher than optimal for rose growth, and the nutrient components may break down faster as well  thus the shorter effective duration. The nutrient dose may be raised again when the cooler temps of late summer and fall will again support more vigorous rose growth, if it is desired. In my case, I fertilize most roses once and many of the repeat bloomers a second time. By then I am knee deep in dahlias and the roses are just enjoyed the rest of the season and are not grown to the MAX. However surprisingly, the moderns, teas, chinas and hybrid musks seem to keep growing fairly well. I believe that my bourbons and hybrid perpetuals will need to be fertilized on a regular basis in order to perform throughout the season. Note also that I am still developing my soil and it still is not sufficiently well permeated throughout with organic material. I need to get one of those multiple prong fork things that JohnnnyÂs Seeds sells! I suspect that if my beds were prepared as they are at Montisfont - deeply dug and I believe a high composition of organic (manure) material, I would need precious little additional nutrient for years  except perhaps a manure mulch in early spring. However, Jon is the one to comment on Montisfont beds. Good growing!

I need some help in identifying a couple mystery roses I have growing in my yard. This first bush is a pic farther away, it's about 5'. It's a monster lol! Does anyone recognize what variety it is or perhaps know its name? I'm new to the site and to growing roses. I have heard of something called basal breaks and was wondering if this is what's happening in the photo? This is a pic of the blooms closer. The blooms have a bright pink/coral color. Anyone recognize this one below as well? I lost the tags, as I had purchased and planted these before I was into gardening, so I don't know what kinds of roses these are or their names. I know it's a long shot but I had to try anyway. Thanks for any and all help! The color of this rose is bright neon red. Bonus: Roses are just beginning to bloom here in 8b Oregon, Joseph's Coat climbing rose and Green Romatica... The climbing roses only get 4 hours of sun and it suffers from black spot and rust if I'm not careful. :( Thanks to those who can help answer some of my noob questions! Still Waters.

To echo Jeri's comments, I don't think Sophie's Perpetual is a good fit for zone 6-ish. I put a free one from the Rogue Valley mystery roses into my virtual zone 6 pocket in my yard, and it sort of limped by after a very mild winter last year and totally disappeared this year. I think it's marginally hardy in zone 6, and better in zone 7.If it's in a container, you lose a virtual zone of winter protection and so you'd be a virtual zone 5 in a pot and not a good fit for Sophie's Perpetual. Pink Pet is the only China-type rose that survives well for me, but it's more of a Polyantha than a China in effect and it doesn't climb or get much beyond 3-4' for me. If you're looking for something from the RU sale that would climb well in zone 5, Awakening is rock solid hardy and has lovely pink flowers. It blooms just fine in part shade, and the only concern might be that it gets too big for even a half whiskey barrel. Mine was pretty thorny too. Among hybrid musks, only Lavender Lassie would be reasonably hardy in zone 5 and it would be a good fit for part shade. the mini climber Jeanne LaJoie survives fine in a typical zone 5 winter and is a much better fit for a pot. I think she'd do OK in part sun, though any rose blooms less in part sun. Antique 89 and Harlekin are both nicely hardy but they do die to the ground in my zone 5 and they only bloom sporadically in the year for me. Mine aren't particularly happy in part sun. Viking Queen survives fine in zone 5 but seems to die to the ground each year so you wouldn't necessarily get a ton of bloom. Veilchenblau would be an absolute trooper and climb or bush out huge in no time, and it's in dry shade under my oak tree. It's a once bloomer but gorgeous lush blooms for several weeks once established - here's mine in more or less full bloom with an admiring bunny that my daughter pointed out: Purple Splash and Stormy Weather both seem to survive OK in zone 5 and regrow from the ground reasonably well, so they'd be worth a try if you want the purple striped climbers. I haven't overwintered Quicksilver yet but the odds are good that it will be a good one for winter survival, being a Kordes. Paulspride is the only other rose listed as a climber on the RU sale that survives the winters well for me. Ghislaine Feligonde comes back reasonably well but it has tiny while flat blooms that aren't the attractive shapes others have, and I'm wondering if mine is the correct ID. Among the Austins, most of them are hardy but the ones that tend to be climbers on the RU sale list are the ones that survive the least for me - I can't keep Golden Celebration overwintered, nor Strawberry Hill or James Galway. Lady of Shalott is rock solid hardy as is Scepter'd Isle, Carding Mill and Heritage, but they get at most 5-6' tall by the end of spring since Austins rarely have surviving cane for me. Crown Princess Margareta is a climber and hardy, but I never get blooms from mine without surviving cane and it never has any. Rebecca in zone 5 has tons though and lovely blooms from hers. For other OGRs, Baronne Prevost and Mme. Isaac Periere are both fully hardy here, though BP would be better for a pot. She does Ok in part sun for me but would bloom more in sun. MIP prefers sun and doesn't bloom on new wood for me, so I don't get much bloom most years. Among shrubs, Alchymist is very hardy but a once bloomer. Autumn Sunset would survive fine in a pot and climbs well, but blooms very little in part shade for me. Belinda's Dream would survive fine and seems OK but not happy in part sun. Dames des Chenonceau is totally hardy and in my top 20-30 of roses I grow, and can be spectacular in part sun. As you move into part shade though, I'm not sure how well she'd do. Morden Sunrise is totally hardy and would be very pretty in this context, and White Meidiland would be a low-growing spreader in white and also very hardy. Among the RU sale roses, those are the ones I'd recommend for what you're asking. I'm all in favor of taking advantage of the RU sale!! Cynthia

Cynthia I actually saved the post in a document for future reference. For some strange reason it won't let me post the pics though. per Nippstress zone 5 Nebraska "Jen, I have yews in the front of our house that were there when we moved in that I use as backdrop for that bed of roses. Mine faces north so these have to be the very cold hardy and shade tolerant roses in my case. I like the look of the trimmed yews contrasting the dark green behind the roses, and during the summer/fall you don't notice the yews much at all. In winter and early spring, the yews make a much-needed green foundation for the picture window and at that point, you don't notice the roses at all. I also have a cottage-style garden, so during rose/perennial season it's the usual color chaos in front of the yews to calm down during the quiet seasons with just the yews. Here's a huge Jack's Wish rose in front of two of the bushes during prime time: Explorer roses, at least in my case, and quite a few Austins and Meilland roses are doing fine in those locations too. They're both also part shade locations, particularly the east side, so they might not bloom as much as elsewhere. So, since I have my location list open here, I'll list what's on the north side of my house, some of which you can see in the yew photos. This also happens to be one of the few beds I try to limit the colors, so there's an emphasis on white, apricot and burgundy (go figure - the latter two colors of course are harder to find in hardy roses): Easy Elegance (many of these are planted in multiples): All the Rage, Calypso, Coral Cove, Snowdrift, Sweet Fragrance - these are totally reliable bloomers in this spot all summer Kordes: Coco, Floral Fairy Tale, LavaGlut, Mandarin Ice, Mango Veranda, Queen of Hearts Freelander, Summer Memories,- also all very reliable bloomers except maybe Coco who's only occasional Austins: Carding Mill, Lady of Shalott, Queen Nefertiti, Susan Williams-Ellis, Tamora Meilland: Abbaye de Cluny, Alba Meidiland, Bolero, Coral Drift, Coral Meidiland, Passionate Kisses, Peach Drift, Canadians/Explorers: Campfire, Quadra (a lot more Explorers on the East side) - trouble free and easy bloomers all season both Other shrubs: Carefree Celebration (Radler), Elizabeth Stuart (Massad), Gentle Persuasion (Buck), Imagine (Clements), Lady Elsie May (Noack), Marylene (Interplant), Milwaukee's Calatrava (Tadler), OSO Easy Mango Salsa (Warner), Paloma Blanca (Buck), Prairie Sunrise (Buck) - except for GP, MC and OSO Easy all of these have been in this spot for 6-8 years and are reliable round the season Other: Jack's Wish (a Kirkham HT rose that's in my top 10 roses of all time - Long Ago roses is propagating from my cuttings - you NEED this rose), Peach Delight (miniflora, only OK here), Pink Abundance (Harkness - by far the weakest in this location), White Gold (Cocker floribunda that does rather nicely) Hope that helps. Cynthia" sharon