My kid as pre-teen & her classmates like Bernie Sanders. I chose Bernie too since he's thrifty & our government won't over-spend.

Below is Grandma's Blessing rose right before it came down with RRD, thanks to my dumping salty-chemical fertilizer, plus sulfur in hot & dry June .. that was 4 years ago, and none of my other 50+ roses have RRD.

In my 30 years of growing roses, that's the only RRD rose that I ever had, thanks to salt in chemical fertilizer and lowering soil pH with sulfur. Pine bark (pH 4) is worst in lowering soil pH. As the pH drops, less calcium and potassium are available ... leaves become thinner and more susceptible to pest-invasion. RRD is carried by a mite.

Father Hugo's Rose

Hi Samuel AdkNY That is gorgeous photo of Father Hugo's Rose. Definitely not something that I have seen growing in Florida, love seeing roses from different areas

Wow!!! That's a gorgeous Rosa Hugonis!!! I have a couple of cuttings of that rose. Can't wait until it looks like that! I wish it was a repeat bloomer...but it's so pretty that I guess it doesn't really matter.

Lovely!

Carol

Oh wow!!!!! I just love it!!!

Carol

What a beauty!

This is a species Rose, Cinnamon Rose plena. Rose du Saint Sacrament . Mystery Rose probably from France found on a old farm road on a mountain.

Beautiful!! I love it's upright growth!! Lovely flowers and color!!

CArol

Sam, your bush of Cinnamon Rose looks absolutely stunning. Thanks for sharing.

More cinnamon rose

Gorgeous, I like the leaves and the lavender color, very unique.

Stunning!! Is it a once bloomer? Looks heavenly!!

Carol

Indeed a stunning bush. Absolutely fantastic

Mayflower the first Austin rose in America.

That's a lovely bush Sam. So many blooms..... and the size is very good too. Thanks for sharing...

How utterly beautiful.... so many blooms... oh these are such pretty roses!

Wow!!!! Sam, that's gorgeous!!! Such a wonderful looking shrub shape!! Love all the beautiful flowers!!

I found a bunch of Austins at a local place yesterday. Fantastic find!!! One of the choices was The Mayflower. I bought Princess Alexandra of Kent.

PAOK is a wonderful rose Jess. you would love it

Carol ,

Mayflower is very cold hardy. I think Paok is even more so. Idk

Thanks Sam!! I'm surprised that PAoK would be more cold hardy than Mayflower. Interesting!

Carol

After a few very cold rough winters my shrubs are making a comeback.

Sam: Knock-out and Zephie have nice colors & so cute !! Your Heritage is awesome .. best-looking ever. So many blooms and very healthy. I like those gray stones you have.

Just got back from getting neighbor's lawn-clippings. It's our garbage-day so folks leave their yard-waste in nice brown bags, I picked them up for my compost, and I mix their grass clippings into my clay to get ready for the 10 roses I bought from RU sal.e

Sam your garden is so special I love the natural look & feel... thank you so much for sharing this with us... you have amazing roses and they are reaaallly healthy!

are you seeing a difference yet with your compost spray?

do you only use compost (the compost you make yourself) and the compost spray?

Mayflower is lovely... and I think your rose-supports with the twirls are stunning, much better than my sticks and ropes...

Sam - your roses look great!!! Such nice, large shrubs with a ton of roses!! Love it!

Carol

Sam: Your Heritage bush is absolutely fantastic. I bought Heritage this winters but unfortunately, it turned out to be Teasing Georgia when it bloomed and I already had TG. Bill buy it again this year.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos.

Viking Queen tied on three metal trellis.

That climbing rose is big and healthy. Rarely I see climbing rose in zone 5a. That looks so nice & neat tied up on metal trellis. My CPM is a mess, crawling on the ground.

Wow, Samuel! Is that ONE Viking queen? I really like your sun on the left of your trellis....

Viking Queen looks so beautiful....

It's one rose ,. In the spring I pruned it to 9 long main canes. 3 trained horizontal tied across on each of 3 trellis.

For winter protection I lay down the canes and cover in leaves when It's cold and blocked the wind too.

I think the aerated compost tea spray is keeping the leaves healthy.

My plants got the alfalfa tea this year with a little fish seaweed.

I think Straw is so smart to get some more material to make compost. Two years ago I collected 19 bags. Last year's was 22 bags. Next time I will get 25 bags of leaves. It is amazing after I use them for winter protection then shredded them they are mostly gone to worm food. There is a small amount left in the compost pile to use as a gentle treat for the plants. Elaine Ingham says it should look like 70% dark chocolate. Mine does.

I have a Robin who comes bobbin along every day.

Just gave my pale Lady of Shalott alfalfa tea yesterday. IMMEDIATE green-up, that pale rose with tiny leaves (perhaps multiflora?) really love alfalfa-tea. And it's safe for my Stephen Big Purple (likes alkaline) .. leaves are glossy & darker green.

Sam, next time I am going to spray the compost tea. However, my compost is designed to be used in pots and beds as it contains layers of river soil. That way, it's not a compost made purely of organic matter. adding thin layers of river soil accelerates decomposition but I wonder how will that go with the making of compost tea for spraying on leaves? Any view, Sam & Straw?

best regards

Would it be possible to start a compost heap now already, and another one in winter...? Then by next spring this one would be very well matured and you could then leave the second one for later in summer...? :-))))

Jess that sounds good. I use the back corner of my yard. Then I have another little one in the other corner two. Bob Cannard uses barrels. Fungal dominated and bacteria dominated.

I have sprayed my muck dirty aerated compost tea. It's great. My leaves and blooms get dirty. Then I know I have a protected layer of the soil I put on there. No diseases can get through my coating of soil muck.

I have created a nice biome.

How does it not clog up your sprayer?

I have to filter again as I fill the sprayer I use my compost tea bag a second time after I rinse it.

Sam: That set-up looks like fun, I threw corn-meal on my roses one year, and saw that the leaves which didn't get dusted got mildew, but the leaves with corn-meal-dusting stayed clean, in less than 2 hours of sun and wet fall.

Corn meal is quite acidic at pH 4 .. that kills fungus. Jay-jay in the Netherlands spray acidic sulfur for his mildew ... dusting is so much easier.

Bacteria produces vitamins to feed plants. Plants need vitamin C, and vitamin B just like humans. My last batch of alfalfa tea I used 1/2 gallon of pellets, and let it soak for 2 days .. it didn't get sour enough, so I didn't see green-up. But my recent batch of alfalfa tea I used 1/4 gallon of pellets, and let it soak for 7 days .. it gets soured & stinky and works great in green-up ... faster than kelp even !!!

Kelp has salt, but my alfalfa tea (kimchi) doesn't have salt. From Wikipedia on the increase of beneficial bacteria and nutrients in fermented veggies, or Kimchi: "Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber,[15][16] while being low in calories. One serving also provides over 50% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C and carotene. Most types of kimchi contain onions, garlic, ginger, and chilli peppers, all of which are salutary. The vegetables used in kimchi also contribute to its overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron,[17][18] and contains lactic acid bacteria, among those the typical species Lactobacillus kimchi."

People make "tea" out of weeds too. If I run out alfafa-pellets, I'll use chopped up Chinese (garlic) chives or mint .. they are weeds in my garden. The bees prefer my garlic chives' flowers more than roses even .. so it must be really nutritious.

In the morning each week when I fill the Sprayer, it is a dirty job. But, I know it is my (soil compost dirt )that I made all over me. That makes it not so bad knowing that it's mine and not somebody else's fungus and bacteria and soil. I think to myself "so what are you doing?". " spraying all muck over your roses.". life is in there. That is the good guys life. Fighting to protect my roses.

Sam: Lovely shot of your garden. You have a nice patio furniture for outdoor picnic and to enjoy your roses. My climate is so hot & humid in summer we never buy patio-furniture, except for bench to store my garden tools underneath. When I go out I have to spray myself from head to toe with mosquito-repellant. That was BEFORE I got rain-barrels even.

So I cut roses for the vase indoor often .. I can't stay outside long .. too many mosquitos. My clay retains water too well, so it's always wet around the bushes .. mosquito thrive in wet clay.

Sam: Heritage bush looks absolutely out of this world.... superb

Here is another Viking Queen picture.

Beautiful! Considering VQ was bred by the U of M, one would think it would would be cane hardy in Mn...Such a tease!

Around Christmas, I lay the canes down and cover them In shredded leaves. I am on the line between zone 4 and 5. I have to block the cold drying wind from it.

Here is a DBL knockout.

I have to block the cold drying wind from this one too in the winter. The canes turn purple on this one but that is just normal hardening off that the rose does for the winter. Here is Heritage. This one I fully winter project with a bag of leaves corralled around it.

You have a million blooms on each rose plant Sam (!) very inspiring...

How sun-hardy is this amazing Moss rose?

I like your Moss rose w/o winter-protection. Double-knock-out looks good (lots of blooms) Heritage is marvelous !!