I am glad for you, Ingrid. With luck, soon you'll be posting photos bursting with colour. What a lovely SDLM bloom. Mine has been a bit disappointing in it's first 2 years, but this year it's coming good, and has produced a candelabra of blooms.

And I can see no sign of BS or any other problem on those leaves - I'm almost as green as they are!

Lovely, Ingrid. Your SDLM is much taller than my one year old. I hope it's not taking after me.

Ladies, I think I've mentioned before that I tend to think SdlM likes it warm and dry. Sheila, I gather you get a lot more rain than I do and not that much dry heat, and from what I recall, Trish, I think you're more humid too. Nevertheless, I hope in time both of your SdlM will prosper. I do have another one-year-old SdlM and it's not even a third as large even though I bought them together. It's in a shadier spot and I think that might be the problem.

Looking great, Ingrid! Your efforts to create an oasis of beauty in your difficult landscape have paid off well. I'm glad your irrigation is working out.

:-)

~Christopher

Thanks so much, Christopher. I'm cautiously optimistic, and I do love the drip system. It saves a lot of time but, more importantly, I can see visible improvement in a fairly short time so this method is truly working.

Very pretty again Ingrid. Sometimes roses with insignificant individual flowers may be very nice if they develop into large, healthy and floriferous shrubs. I don't know about No 92, this is a general comment. This can often be the case with Chinas and, of course, many species-like shrubs. That N92 of yours looks pretty young to me, I would give it more time.

Great pictures Ingrid! I like Pink Rosette! Such a voluptuous bloom pictured there. Souvenir de la Malmaison is a timeless classic: classic beauty, classic fragrance, and classic culture! I don't pinch off the buds on my bands as I'm too impatient. The two I received last year grew and grew fine without doing so, but they were in containers. I'm sure in-ground roses might respond differently.

Your garden is looking lovely as always to my eyes and everything appears happy with your new irrigation system. Keep us updated on your garden's progress.

Another thing, I love the fact that you show the entire bush in your posts!

Jack

...all very nice... I like your N92 and would want to keep that as I'm liking these strange China's very much... but only you know what's best for you...

I have been too busy too look too closely, but my sdlm is blooming too

No 92 Nanjing was acquired in the spring of 2013 from Vintage who imported it from France. From the one picture I saw then I had expected something different, especially since it was sold as a tea rose, which this definitely is not. The rose is two and a half years old and the flowers are 1 inch across at the most. I've had or seen many China roses and none have had blooms this small. I will definitely keep the rose until next summer before making a final decision. What bothers me most is the really loud cerise color. It it had been a softer pink I would have had no reservations at all about keeping it since it's such a healthy rose.

I've been shocked, shocked, shocked by how variable blooms can be here in the Rogue Valley with weather fluctuations. We actually had 21 days this summer 2015 over 100 degrees spread over June-Sept. We are also in a drought 2013, 2014 and 2015. Usual rainfall was 18inches/yr mostly in winter. Ingrid, I wonder if your blooms might be quite different with drip and El Nino. I'm only one year here, in the warm climate, and getting drip in as fast as we can, so I'm grateful for anything at this point with own root bands mostly all in the last year. Obviously, if your blooms improve too much you could get so elevated you won't even talk to us.

I love your pinks, I am in the pink, white, light salmon camp when it comes to flowers, and true blue. I love your SdlM and am seeing how mine and Souvenir de St. Anne's (had to have it also because of the name!) that I just planted do in zone 7 in Northern CA.