Many many old roses take time to get established and start producing lots of blooms, as do many climbing roses. Since the roses I like best are either old or climbers, MOST of the roses I grow take time. It took me a while to figure that out, but now I just wait for them to grow up - patience is a virtue.

Jackie

Thanks for the tip about America being slow to take off. I just planted one this spring, and although it did bloom a couple times, the plant is just sitting now.

I can't think of anything in particular that I didn't like to start with that got better with time. Most of mine go the other way. I love them the first year and then they fall flat in succeeding years.

Not sure why I did not care for this rose at first. Flower Girl has turned princess of roses. Always healthy, graceful delicate and full of flowers. Even this year with 2 months without water she never complains.

I didn`t care for Angel Face for years. its blooms seemed to burn in the sun. This year it was beautiful and I never knew how much I liked lavendar roses.

I've got a couple that almost met the shovel. The HT, Remember Me didn't impress me much during the first year and I didn't give it any winter protection, thinking it would freeze and die. Well, it survived with no die back and I gave it another chance. It started producing pretty nice blooms on long stems and nice foliage from top to bottom. It earned it's spot in the garden and continues to produce beautiful blooms all season long. The foliage is beautiful and it is VERY winter hardy.

I have a Pink Knock Out on it's own roots that took 3 years to start looking like a rose bush with constant blooms. This is it's 3rd year and it is finally filling out and producing blooms that are worthy to be called rose blooms. If it hadn't produced this year, it would have been gone.

Then I have a miniflora, Shawn Seace, that took a full 3 years to start looking like a decent bush and producing the blooms it is known for. It was also on the hit list for the end of this year if it didn't produce the way I thought it should. It's earned it's place in the garden.

Sharon, in the spot where mine is planted, I didn't think it was getting enough sunlight and I just about gave up on it ever doing anything much at all, I had already had it awhile, when in 2013, it started growing and began blooming more. So it's been blooming a little more every year, and it blooms regularly. I do believe it does get enough sunlight, because it gets several hours of morning sun.

During the time when mine was just sitting there I didn't have time to care for any of my roses, I guess it's a wonder it even survived. I would think that with proper care yours wouldn't take nearly as long as mine did.

It's funny. I bought Cl America because the blooms it had at the nursery were crazy gorgeous but since it has been nothing be a disappointment. I'm looking forward to seeing what it will do during our cooler months. On the other hand, Pearly Gates, a sport of Cl America, has been a great rose for me.

Here's my contribution:

I picked up Grace de Monaco up at my favorite local nursery thinking it was Princess de Monaco. When it started to bloom I was convinced that Nelson's Roses had mislabeled another rose. When I looked it up on HMF I realized my mistake. This is now one of my all time favorite roses.

Kublakan, I can understand why it's one of your favorites! It's gorgeous!

Kublakan, I love your Princess. Did you get that at Cools?Does it not produce flowers - or does it also look stick like with no leaves?

Maybe Cl America doesn't do well in Florida. However, mine is not on the Fortuiana (sp) woodstock.... but it has plenty of enriched soil so it should not have been attacked by nematodes- at least yet. Let me know if yours does better when it gets cooler and maybe I will replace in with Florida rootstock if it does well in the winter months.

Thanks Sara! I'm glad you agree ;-)

Sharon, I have two Cl Americas and they are both on Dr. Huey, so maybe that's our problem. My Pearly Gates is on Fortuniana and it's a winner. I bought Pearly Gates at the Cool Roses sale that I think we met (?). The Grace de Monaco (pictured above) was purchased at Pop's Nursery in Davie (they sell Nelson's roses for $16 each). I love Cool roses, but they are an hour's drive away from me, so they are not my favorite local nursery. I would suggest you take a trip to Nelson's on a Saturday morning at some point if you haven't done so already. It's a cool experience.

Kublakan,

Yes. I think I met you and SoFla briefly at Cool's Roses. I should have paid closer attention to those of you who were there - I didn't realize the wealth of knowledge and the helpfulness of the people that I was meeting. Duh. Shame on me.

Looking back I should have realized. I think it was SoFla that actually posted the sale date of Cool Roses.... I didn't even know Cool existed until she was kind enough to list it on this forum. Now you are doing the same of Nelson's.

I have not been to Nelsons. I did not know they existed. I will check them out, though unlike you I live only 10 minutes from Cool's Roses, so it might be hard to get me to travel very far to make a purchase.

I had been buying bare root roses at Sam's, Costco's and Kmart - treating them as annuals because of the root stock issue. I also purchase own root roses from mail order at Chamblees. So far the own roots have held up, but I am sure over time the nematodes will get them..... though I keep amending my soil. It is probably a losing battle though.

The hard part for me is I see all of these roses that I want and they don't necessarily come on fortuniana rootstock. Guess I am a kid in a candy store, knowing I will get a tummy ache and not caring until I actually eat all the candy and have to live with the consequences. Yes, I laminate over the poor dying rose, even though I knew it wasn't going to live..... Hopefully, now that I found places that carry fortuniana root stock I can curb my "appetite" to only those that will have a longer and healthier life.

Does Nelson's carry a wider variety or a different variety of roses than Cool's? Someone also mentioned KandM and they seem to have a few different varieties..... I kind of want the Black Baccara - just because.

Again, Thanks for all your input