I'm glad I'm not the only one driving the nursery people mad by changing my orders! Good luck in finding spots!

Trish

Sorry about the Jesse Hildreth. Am I right in assuming that email came from Rose Petals? I have a couple of items on my wishlist for them, not Jess Hildreth, though. But I hadn't received any emails from them, at least I thought I hadn't. Then I checked my SPAM folder, and there it was--ten days ago. DRATS. I wonder which of my wishlist items was available because now, of course, they're both out of stock again. :-(

I hope you're at least a little happy about receiving Maggie. I'd love to hear about your experiences and see your pictures.

Ingrid this post made me smile after a very hectic and stressful day. I am planning on acquiring Maggie myself and I am very excited about planting her in the spring. I hope she ends up being one of those pleasant suprises for your, I know you were concerned about her color being wrong for your garden but she is supposed to be hear tolerant so maybe that will earn her keep with you :). I think she was destined for you despite being cancelled Three times lol.

I still have hopes of getting Jessie Hildreth in the next batch, and I'm determined to like Maggie now that I have her, even with her blackspot-spotted leaves, which are probably just from the stress of being shipped in the heat. I hope she'll do well and will definitely post pictures if and when she's show-worthy. Oh yes, Jessie is on my wish list from Rose Petals, belle. I'm not aware of any other place even having her. Trish, I have a terrible habit of changing my orders because something "better" always occurs to me, which in many cases has turned out to be "less better". boncrow, if this made you smile after a difficult day, I'm so glad. Since we'll have Maggie together, so to speak, that will give it some added interest. I hope we'll both love her.

Ingrid, we possibly are soul mates!

Trish, I've often had that feeling. After all we have canker, heat/drought and gardens that are constant works in progress in common, at the very least!

And we both love teas. And I Have an SDLM which makes me think of you whenever I look at her. She's actually looking quite good this year, has had some very pretty blooms, much less pale than previously, though still has mildew and BS, which I'm treating for the first time with milk.

But, Ingrid your garden so far surpasses mine, in both design and leafiness and floriferousness of your roses, that they really can't be put in the same bracket.

Trish, if I were permitted to offer you any advice, it would be to suggest putting in a drip system and planting a lot of tea roses in a design that pleases you. I think you would have the leafiness and abundance of flowers you crave, and your garden would be transformed. If only I had known sooner what a huge difference it would make it would have saved me much heartache and I might not ever have had canker. Roses that have enough water in a steady supply are much more immune to disease of every kind. I would water a lot with a hose and then dig down an inch or two the next day and the soil would be completely dry. If your soil retains moisture well then it's a different story, and I don't really know what to recommend. I'm sorry that you are having these problems when you love roses so much, but I'm glad that at least your SDLM is improving and I hope the milk experiment works.

Ingrid, I do have a heavy loam over a clay base, so don't have your terrible 'soil'. But it is surprising how dry it can get, as you say, just 2 or 3 " below the surface. As I've said, I have lots of terraces, and beds with no water access, so I'm not sure how easy a drip system would be to install. I do have one of those hose attachments that drips, so I think in future I will use that a lot more than the sprinkler.

My latest concern is that both neighbours have planted things that grow huge along the fencelines!, which is where I have most of my roses. Ah well, I can do nothing about it, so I'm just going to enjoy my roses while I can.

As for the milk, I do think it is working. We have had a lot of rain this last week, and the roses I sprayed, so far, have shown no sign of BS, where others I didn't spray, have.

And, please feel free to offer me advice anytime! It's most welcome.

Which roses do you have along your Tea walk? I'm sure you've detailed it in other posts, but I didn't make a record.

In order from left to right I have La Vesuve, Rosette Delizy, La Vesuve, Carefree Beauty (not a tea but has replaced Mrs. Dudley Cross, which mildewed constantly and Souvenir d'un Ami, which produced few and often unattractive blooms), Miss Atkins, Belinda's Dream (replacing W.R. Smith), Mrs. B.R. Cant, Rhodologue Jules Graveraux, Mme. de Sombreuil and Mrs. B. R. Cant. I wouldn't plant Mrs. B. R. Cant, whose blooms are an unattractive reddish color here, or Belinda's Dream, which develops older leaves that are partially yellow and dried up. So many things I'd like to change but I'm not about to dig up mature roses unless they're really poor performers.

Thanks, Ingrid. Not that our climates are similar, but I wondered if the roses you have might do well for me, as we have a few roses in common that do do well for us both.

I have just planted WR Smith ( no blooms as yet), Etoile de Lions (blooms but not opening), another Anna Olivier, which did well for me till canker, and Mme Berkeley, which has shot up and has a couple of dozen buds. I've never heard of anyone dis-budding here, so I don't. Also '2 La Vesuve', which are definitely not LV.

If any of these don't do well, I am considering giving Rosette Delizy another go, but in not as hot a spot, as it burnt and balled for me, but I love it. I was considering Mrs BR Cant, but now I will go to the 'local' (90 min drive) rose nursery (if they have it) and have a look. I also nearly ordered Souvenir d'un Ami this year, so I will check that out too. Neither Miss Atwood, Carefree Beauty or RJG are available here. I will also give the real LV a go, as a friend nearby has it, and it does well for her. Mrs Dudley Cross did well for me (a bit of mildew) till canker, once she got over having goose-necked blooms. I cut her to the ground, but got no further, and she has sprouted a number of canes, so she's got a reprieve at present.

Hmm, I wonder what your "false" Le Vesuve might be. Does it look like a tea to you? I've had Mme. Berkeley in the past and it was very healthy, but for some reason the flowers just didn't appeal to me. Many people really praise this rose, though. I loved the blooms on William R. Smith but, in spite of having thick canes, the plant deteriorated until I finally took it out. Well worth having if it does well for you. Disbudding is optional, but if a rose is a slow grower and not very vigorous, it helps because the bush doesn't have to put its energy into flower production. Since the roses don't look that well in the heat anyway I'm disbudding all the younger ones I have which weren't doing well in the heat until we put in drip watering. They're doing much better now but I'm still disbudding, it's as though I can't stop. The mature teas I leave alone since it would take me all day to disbud them, but I try to take off the fried blooms because they're so unsightly, although I never get them all. I love Mrs. Dudley Cross but mine mildewed quite badly, but it was wedged between Le Vesuve and Souvenir d'un Ami, which did not help matters. All teas are not created equal, and in my harsh conditions I don't have a single one that is perfect. Still, there are always times when they're at their best.

I did post a photo of my false La Vesuve, but no-one was sure what it was. It's much paler, and is certainly a tea. I think it's lovely, but my friend who has the real one and this one prefers the real LV. I haven't seen hers in bloom yet - must do so. My one seems very similar to G Nabbonnand, in both colouring of the bloom and thornlessness, but the nursery I got it from sells both, so that seems odd. Also, it has a much more spreading habit than a GN I had before, and the blooms hold their shape better.

I'm looking forward to William R Smith, I hope the blooms open for me. I got rid of Maman Cochet as hers didn't. Well........ there's always next year and the fun of a new order.

One of my favourite blooms is Angel's Camp Tea. I think you would like them as they have a fragile air, and the colours are delicate pinks and creams. But, just remembered, it does get mildew, so probably no good for you. Anyway, as you say, it's finding the spot!

I love Mrs DC too, such huge blooms, and reminiscent of clotted cream - a wonderful holiday in Devon as a child with my best friend's family! She's a possibility to replace WRS if he doesn't perform, as is another ACT, I moved mine, and pruned it back to do so, which it's never recovered from. It was only later I read on HMF that it didn't like to be pruned.

I do hope you get some cooler weather so as not to have fried blooms. Though, I suppose, your roses keep flowering through Winter, as they do here? Late Autumn and early Winter are often the best time for my roses.

We should be getting cooler weather in late October, but then who knows when the "torrential rains" that we've been promised will begin, which will also ruin the blooms. I'm learning to live one day at a time, and enjoy whatever little victories each day brings.