Ive been sooooo tempted to order Honeymoon from Northland but really don't need another climber. It looks gorgeous though. Curious to see what others say. Judy

I ordered all of them except Quick Silver from Northland this spring. Wanted to try something different. I have four metal obelisks (think thats what they are called). They are 5 feet tall and I'm planing on wrapping the cane around them. Since they most likely won't be cane hardy here I chose these due to the robust nature of my other Kordes roses. I'll just wrap them each season. If this works it won't take hardly any space and will make a nice vertical accent. So darn hard to find disease resistant climbing roses for the north. They will have a narrow presence making it a little harder for eriophyid mites to drop on them.

Saw my first bloom on Honeymoon, oh my it was lovely.

Love Honeymoon rose. I don't see it listed on Northland's website. Is that the only place to order?

It was the only own root nursery that I saw it at this year. I love Northland so that was good for me. This is going to be a gorgeous rose.

Judy, caved in & ordered pairs of both from Northland over the weekend during their buy-3-get-1-free sale. Not much info out there as yet. Couldn't find it on Kordes-rosen currently, but turned up a few offshore sites offering Honeymoon/Vanilla. The description at http://www.garten-dittmann.de/rosen-kletterrosen.php reads "Breeder W. Kordes Söhne 2003 bloom of creamy yellow tinge to almost pure white, filled, reach and duration of flowering, self-cleaning foliage leathery, deep green, shiny smell pleasantly light plant Vanilla ® has a strong-bushy growth, ideal climber for many uses (pergolas, façades and obelisks), also suitable for container plants, height 200 cm. It is highly resistant to fungal diseases and frost hardy." So your obelisks sound ideal, Patty. Another mentions the bloom size as 6-8 cm, to 3". It's won a few awards already, the latest reported at http://www.worldrose.org/trials/2015/latacita/latacita11.asp where the center color is noted as "creamy-pink". Planted in the Peggy Rockefeller Garden in 2012 & on their rose list for Spring 2013, but didn't find an update on their site. Still showing on Northland's website, Summers. http://northlandrosarium.com/classes.php?classId=5 Roses Unlimited lists it. Emailed Pat last Friday to check availability of Honeymoon & two other climbers, but in her reply Saturday she didn't mention it. She said they won't be shipping again until September. Since I'll grow the bands from Northland in larger pots till they gain substantial heft before planting out & young roses already here are growing enthusiastically, decided to go with the bird in hand approach. They were the only online source I found that also had Quick Silver.

I've loved my old fashioned looking Kordes roses. These two look very good. I just posted about Kordes' Eifelzauber on the Antique Roses discussions. The only rose that has been a little off is Jasmina which will not repeat here. Don't know if it's too warm or that I can't deadhead because she's high up a tree now.

Going to Palatine this afternoon, I will find out.

I ordered QUICKSILVER from Northland Rosarium a couple months ago. I can't wait to see what it does. Not many lavender climbers out there. HONEYMOON looks interesting too.

Are the Quicksilver roses at Palatine grafted or own root? I would like to get two grafted ones. If I can't find them grafted, I will get them on their own root. I have wanted a good lavender climber for the longest time. I searched high and low for a climbing Blue Girl but no luck.

Palatines roses are grafted on multiflora.

Thanks Patty! Hmm does anyone know how multiflora performs in Florida? I live in NE FL so the nematodes aren't as bad as in S. FL. Most of my grafted roses are on D. Huey but I also have a few on Fortuniana because those are the two that are available around here. I don't really know anything about the multiflora rootstock.

Now I know you guys were talking about Northland Rosarium in WA, not the Northland nursery in Canada. I was planning to go to the Northland nursery for a visit, saved me a trip.

:-)

Sorry for the Northland confusion, Summers, and thanks for asking about Honeymoon at Palantine! I'm with you, Beth - lavender climbers are scarce. With blackspot resistance & fragrance advertised, had to give Quick Silver a try. Honeymoon seems a good match for size & form to Quick Silver. Imagining they might set each other off nicely. Northland's package out for delivery today - my first order with them. Kitty, Eifelzauber looks lovely! Stepped back from considering Jasmina in part due to your experience - thank you! Liking that Honeymoon's reported as self-cleaning its petals - always welcome in a pale rose. Unknown whether it sets hips which may affect rebloom if not removed, ditto for Quick Silver. Patty, thanks for your early report on Honeymoon's first bloom - wonderful! Sultry, you might check with Palantine Roses to inquire whether they'll be carrying Quick Silver this season. https://palatineroses.com/contact Can't answer your question about multiflora rootstock in your area, but a new thread asking about that should turn up responses from local gardeners. Pam from Angel Gardens in Alachua grows own root & may be able to answer your questions http://www.angelgardens.com/ or try Cydney at Rose Petals in Newberry http://rosepetalsnursery.com/contact-us.php.

And the adventure continues...

I just ordered Honeymoon, Guy de Maupassant, Fraulein Octavia Hesse, Mrs Herbert Stevens from Northland Rosarium. This is my first time ordering from them. Hope they have bigger plants. :-)

I am going back to Palatine tomorrow to pick up my roses, I will ask them about Quick Silver for you guys.

You can find images and descriptions on the Newflora site. Quick Silver only released in N> America. Both climbers repeat well.

Summers, turns out they do send bigger bands than usual, in pots 3.5 x 6.5 inches rather than the more typical size of 2.75 x 5.5". Roots are visible at the bottom of the pots, so these will be ready for larger pots as soon as they rest from their cross-country journey & acclimate. Quick Silver has a bloom 3" across that matches photos in color & structure, quite lovely & impressive for a baby! Thinking that bud finished opening on the way here, it's so fresh. Matching petals of other blooms fell during the trip & both QS's show there were pairs of blossoms even on such young ones. The leaves on both Quick Silver & Honeymoon are not as shiny as some Kordes, I'd say semi-glossy as compared to Polar Express' glossy ones. Three sets of climbers are each 18" high from the soil line & well grown with two major canes from beneath the soil that each show multiple branchlets. Only a few leaflets lost & the rest green & fresh. Another pair of Kordes climbers, Golden Gate, came along so that was six. Chose White Licorice & Firefighter to total 8, which made 2 of the roses free during their sale. (Would have ordered a pair of Moonlights but they were out.) Very pleased!

I paid for those roses, now I just noticed they're closed for the reason (July 18th), I didn't see it, went straight to their rose list..... are they going to cancel my order? Their website let me went through the purchase.......now what to do?

Thanks Vasue, it's nice to know they have bigger plants. I hope they can ship those to me. I will try to call them again tomorrow. I hope they're nice people.

Hi Summers, I called them Monday bc it was supposed to be their last day but they told me that was just for their nursery not online sales so your order should be safe. They told me I had until the end of September. I really wanna order a few but trying to hold off. I did order 2 Koco Loco and 2 Love Song and they were nice plants. Very impressed. Would love to order Plum Perfect and Honeymoon and QS so still trying to decide. Judy

Your order should be fine, Summers. They're still shipping & they are very nice people. Spoke to Pat & Carol (the owner) last Saturday. Pat looked through the roses & emailed me back after our phone conversation. Carol emailed an invoice for approval & then a shipping notice with tracking number. Both were delightful.

Also thought they were closing the 18th, but that was just the walk-in nursery, as they told Judy. Message on their homepage http://northlandrosarium.com/index.php now reads:

Northland Rosarium is now closed for the 2015 season. Thank you to our wonderful customers for a great season. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about fall events here at the Rosarium. More to come!

You can still order roses for shipping and we still have a good selection of roses and we will be adding to our inventory regularly. We ship every Monday through the month of September and you can order roses for the 2016 season. We will be updating our website with new roses as they are ready.

Prettypetals & Vasue, Thank you so much for the good news! I was frozen when I saw their closed for the season message. I am so glad to hear they're good people and I can still get my roses! I selected July 27th as the shipping date, can't wait to grow them. :-) I was going to order Honeymoon from Palatine in sept for 2016, but that's a long wait......can't buy any more roses for a while. Have 5 bikes need to pass inspections this month, need 4 new tires. Thanks again.

I came back to the US with 8 Palatine roses! :-) Rene & Eva are very nice people indeed. :-) I might go back there later to check on their mark downs if they have any. :-)

I added on an Albertine rambler to my rose pile. :-)

I asked Eva for you guys, she won't have Quick Silver next year.

Hi guys, I cancelled my order with Northland today, she is out of 3 of 4 roses I ordered. It's too much for just order 1 rose band with the shipping. I will order Honeymoon from Palatine later for next year. :-)

Well my camera skills aren't great but here is a photo of Honeymoons first bloom. It's a creamy bloom but I was picking up sunlight on it.

Very pretty indeed!

Patty, that's lovely. Thank you!

That's odd - this is a reply to jasminerose asking how these roses are doing & how they bloomed in the heat of Summer. Poof - the question's gone.

Both pairs still leafing out & one Quick Silver sprouting a new basal already 3' high. They overwintered in 10-gallon pots green to the tips. (Low of 4F, plenty of nights in the 5-20F range & days below freezing with little snow.) Quick Silver arrived with a bloom, so knowing it was the proper rose, pinched buds that formed later. They arrived cross country the 3rd week of July during hot weather that continued in the daily 85-100F range with matching humidity levels for another month till late August. Kept in morning sun & then bright shade on the front porch, the original bloom lasted 2 weeks still fresh with the color true & unfading before dropping its petals cleanly. Honeymoons allowed one bloom each with other buds nipped, this time in full sun from 10-3, also held fresh for a similar period & self cleaned. Impeccable foliage in this no spray garden right through to final leaf fall in mid-January. Looking good! http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3558261/northland-rosarium?n=11 

Thank you, Vasue. Oops, so sorry. I deleted the question, because I was thinking I shouldn't have asked it when you haven't had the plants long. I won't do that again and I really appreciate your response. Thank you. I wish I had more space, because I would really like to try both of these climbers. I have one HT rose that is on shovel prune watch and the shovel just got a little closer.

You're very welcome. With a newly released rose, a preliminary gardener's report may be of some value. Beth's grown Quick Silver a few months longer in your neck of the woods & hers will likely bloom before mine. Newflora gives the height & width at 7'x4', so perhaps similar to many HT's in CA? Canes are flexible at this point, so easily spiraled on a support, trellised or loosely confined. Reminds me of Golden Celebration at that age. So far they don't sprawl, growing gently upright & arching at the tips, and already 5'. Letting them show me how they like to grow while we get to know one another...

It's so hard to decide. I love the bloom form of Honeymoon. They make me wish I could be a lady bug, so I could lie down on all those soft petals. However, I may get Quick Silver, because lavender is my favorite color. How do the thorns compare?

Northland Rosarium charges a minimum shipping of two roses, so I'm now looking at additional roses. I could be at this all day :-)

Just checked the thorns on both & they're nearly identical - thin & short at 1/4" long with a faint curve at the end, spaced between 1 to 1-1/2" on opposite sides of the canes rather than studded all around. I'd call them minor prickles, not even sharp at the ends when prodded with a fingertip. Easy to handle the smooth canes in between. Just noticed new laterals budding that weren't apparent yesterday. And yes, the petals on both are sumptuous & amazing as they continue to unfold deeper layers, beautiful in all stages. The initial blooms on both were also so close in form as to be indistinguishable one from another. Picture Patty's Honeymoon in lavender & you have Quick Silver. Perfume from both was lovely, too, much greater than expected from the one of three stars given at Newflora. (Tending to up the ante on Chris's fragrance ratings, since she's remarked that others often note more fragrance than she does on Kordes' roses.)

Since you'll be ordering 2 roses for the shipping, go ahead & buy both. Believe they would be beautiful grown intertwined & intend to do so myself. That's the only way you can compare them for preference. If you love one more than the other, you'll still have a wonderful gift for a lucky friend!

Thanks! Vasue, that sounds wonderful. Your detailed description helped me make up my mind. I purchased Quick Silver and for the second rose, I chose Lavender Veranda. Quick Silver will already mingle with another climber that I have on the other side of my patio column. A few other mini roses will be displaced to make this happen, but I can find other spaces for them. The roses will ship on April 4th!

I have a 3-year-old Honeymoon Kordes climber that has beautiful foliage, but the white/pink blooms look dirty pretty much all of the time—in cool early spring, whether it is dry or rainy, and now in the full 85-degree heat of a very dry early summer. Next to that rose is an older Tchaikovsky, also a mostly white rose, but its blooms are very clean looking in comparison. The habit, foliage, and general health of this Honeymoon climber are great. Anyone know what to do about the dirty look of the blooms? I treat all my in-ground roses with the same amendments, but could it be that this rose needs more or less of something? It does get 10 hours of sun, some of that in late afternoon, but so does the Tchaikovsky right next to it.

Pam, pictures could help.

Thank you for asking. Here are photos of the Honeymoon Kordes with two pale roses on either side of it, Tchaikovsky is the taller with the yellow cast and Pretty Lady has an apricot cast. I should add that it is unusually hot, humid, and dry for June here, and that a recent soil test shows that we have too much phosphorous and potassium in the rose garden, need more nitrogen and lime. I added lime and nitrogen 2 weeks ago so not expecting to see any result for a few more weeks.

I broke down and ordered both own root from roses unlimited. ..

Pam, I read somewhere that too much potassium can dull/mess up color of blooms. I will have to defer to experts here. I wish I knew more.

Thanks Sheila. I will continue to soil-correct through next season before I judge and keep up with the deadheading so it doesn't look bad.

I am beyond jealous and envious of the people who can visit the stellar garden centers like Palatine. and Northland.

Airhead question: What's the different between grafted and own root roses? What is better for zone 5-6 (Southeastern Massachusetts).

How do you prepare your climbers for winter? Do you cut them back shorter? Or just keep them pegged against your arbor?

Thanks!

cotto, an own root rose is one that is developed entirely from a cutting of an existing rose. The grower sets a cutting in a rooting compound, then puts it in a pot or the ground. A grafted rose is taking an established rose cane—a more mature rooted rose of a different species which works for this (often a Dr. Huey), and making a slit in that at the base, and putting the cutting into that. The advantage of a grafted rose is that you will get a mature rose much sooner, The disadvantage is that if anything goes wrong, the rose you bought will die off at the site of the graft and you will be left with whatever it was grafted to, which is never a rose one would care to spend time growing. The advantage of an own-root rose is that you may get more abundance from it longer, and that if you get die-back for any reason, the surviving rose will be the rose you planted and not the grafting host. The disadvantage is that you have to wait longer to get the showy results, which is why all of the roses you can buy at big box stores are grafted. However, own root vs grafted can depend greatly on the species of rose and the area where you live.

As to winter prep on climbers, where I live we are encouraged not to prune our climbers, but for your zone, this may help. http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/roses-winter-care.htm

and/or

http://enews.a-b-c.com/t/ViewEmail/r/A84FEABB5755FAFC2540EF23F30FEDED/9937F8233F3E3902F1E87EB810D8F10A?utm_content=buffer2080e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I did want to mention that Chris from Newflora has said that many of the Kordes roses sold at Lowe's are now own root. I don't know if it applies to those above. I think most of the Drift roses are own root as well. So you have a few choices for OR at the big box stores, but not many. All the ones in the plastic wrap are grafted. I think it also depends on the cultivar as some roses have more vigor grafted. I've read it 'just depends', but as a newbie I wish I knew on what it depended. :)

vaporvac, I almost bought a Dark Desire at Lowes this past spring—so leery of the big box stuff I didn't—but I will definitely take a closer look next spring. Thanks for the heads-up!!!

I feel your pain, coto! :) I am fortunate to live near Northland Rosarium and make a pest of myself during growing season. Carol and her staff are expert rosarians and lovely people who have an uncanny knack for remembering a rose you wanted the year before, or the one you were worried about, etc.

There are advantages of own root for colder climates. #1 - When roses suffer winter dieback, the roots are probably still alive and will send up shoots in the spring, so if your rose looks dead, give it a little time and look for a bit of green at the base. If it hasn't shown any new growth by end of June-early July, I'd assume it's a goner. At least that has worked for me. #2 - New growth from the roots are true to the variety you purchased. Suckers from the graft are not desirable. #3 - Own root roses survive winter better. A good layer of mulch is all you need, no wrapping in burlap or piling leaves or straw on each bush. #4 - Own root is said to be healthier, more resistant to viruses.

On climbers, I cut back any extremely long, wispy canes that look weak and gently tie the rest to the support with nylon stockings before the winter winds start.

These are my own experiences - I'm not an expert. Hope it helps.

Just a comment on the larger, own root roses sold at some of the big box stores last spring. I took a chance and bought Dark Desire, Summer Romance and First Crush. I kept them separated from my other roses and watched for disease. They have proven to be healthy and vigorous growers. The main worry, for me, is rose rosette disease. So easily transferred and difficult to treat.

I think it's the Rosa Gallica. It's bubblegum pink. Thank you all so much! I really appreciate your rose knowledge! Phew! Do you know how long I wondered about this one.