That would be all my roses! Over the years I have got rid of all the ones on other rootstocks and only buy new roses on fortuniana roots so can't demonstrate any 'comparisons' but yes they are very vigorous and are bloom machines. The are good if you have poor dry sandy soil like mine. Other rootstocks tend to suffer from nematode problems here.

Can I see pictures of them? And the names. Thanks

You can take a look at my pics on Karen's post of ' 5 Best bush pics of the last year' first and I will post a few more here when I have time. Cheers

I went to an open garden tour at the Belendez home in Southern California. Their roses are huge, because most are grafted onto fortuniana. Here is a link to a photo of their rose bush: St. Patrick. I think it was larger when I saw it in person. Here is a link to their rose bush: Hot Princess. It was 8 feet tall and gorgeous.

I have a small garden, so I can't have roses grafted onto fortuniana. But it is a popular rootstock of rose exhibitors and people who have lots of space in their garden.

Hey Jasmine, that St Patrick looks my Julia, grafted on old Huey. Diane

I bought some Julia Child on Fortuniana among others. I am wondering how big they will get. Yours is beautiful nanadoll. I fear she may be a monster in my zone and on Fort. I guess I will find out. I have given them plenty of space out by the road inside corner picket fence.

I saw a Mr. Lincoln on fort and it was 10 feet high.

Diane, I think all your roses are amazing!

Fragrancenutter, may I ask where you purchased the Evelyn and PJPII on rootstock? I'm hoping it was mail order? Thanks. Your roses are fantastic!

Sorry to disappoint you Towandaaz, but I am in Perth, Western Australia and all the proper rose nurseries here graft all their roses onto fortuniana as it is the superior rootstock that performs in my climate. The roses sold in supermarkets and hardware stores are usually on Dr Huey unless marked otherwise. They are only 1/2 the price of those grafted on fortuniana but over the years I have learnt the importance of rootstock on performance and I only buy roses grafted on fortuniana nowadays. For an extra $10 per plant I can have 3 times the growth and even more flowers in a year so I think it's money well spent. Besides I think most of the cost would be in the time spent on trimming and pruning and mulching and watering and fertilising and soil wetting agents rather than the initial cost of the plants anyway.

Such beautiful roses. When you think about how much cut flowers are in the store, $10 extra for years and years of roses is not a problem.

The magic of Fortuniana combined with a long growing season, I can't even believe a PJP II can get that huge, damn!

I've heard that in Florida many plants on Fort. get so huge that gardeners have to use ladders, etc to do pruning. Incredible. I wish I could grow plants on that rootstock here.

Fort is by far and away best rootstock for me. If winter protection weren't required in the first few years and they were more available I would buy all my roses on Fort. It really kickstarts those Austins too! I have several roses on fort and they are big beautiful blooming fools!

Towandaz, K and M roses in Mississippi is the largest source of Fort that I know. Our rose society orders them for fundraising. Evelyn is on the list. So is PJP II.

fort roses at K and M

Thanks Fragrancenutter, I didn't realize that you're in Australia!!!! lol Susan, thank you. I just emailed K and M about Evelyn. The Evelyn's I've seen in person have not impressed me, but perhaps this one on Fortuniana will teach me something new.

the Austins I have on Fort are really something! I need to give Evelyn a try too. I've tried it on Huey, multiflora and own root. All duds. Oh, and the Abe Darby on Fort???

Instant climber!!!!

Susan

AFAIK Fort. won't make it in zone 6

I got a few roses way back when (10yrs ago) from Johnny Becnel Roses on Fortuniana, just to try them. They are doing ok now, but took a couple yrs to get going. I think I lost the yellow one, BAROCK in the septic dig-up last yr, because I can't seem to find it. It did not do very well for me tho. Rarely bloomed and didn't grow very big. The others are SOUTHERN BREEZE, PARK PLACE and PINK CRYSTAL. PP only grew to about 3-4ft and rarely blooms. PC is a little better, maybe reaching 4-5ft and blooming a bit more. But SOUTHERN BREEZE all of a sudden has really taken off and last yr got way over 6ft tall and about 3-3 1/2ft wide. But the blooms were a lot more prolific and huge and longer-lasting. I expect to see it do really well this yr. Hopefully the others will catch up.

If you want a first hand look at fortuniana rose's, call Jim Mills at K&M Roses and set up a quick to his nursery. This way you get a chance to see mature roses. You'll really enjoy yourself and probably come home with a car load of roses. I'm headed out there in a couple of weeks to pick up my spring order.

I think the rose garden at Florida Southern College, put together by Malcolm Manners, has all its roses on Fortuniana. If you google his name, you'll find his photo albums, which include pictures of the rose garden.

:-)

~Christopher

Fragrancenutter, your roses are beautiful and so healthy looking. Can I ask how old they are?

At the time the photos were taken:

Sonia Rykiel - 12 months old

Angel Face - 12 months

Augusta Luise - 12 months

Barbra Streisand - 5 years

Beverly - 12 months

Crimson Glory - 8 months

Double Delight - 10 years

Evelyn - 12 months

Nahema - 12months

PJP II - 18 months

For me a rose grafted on fort will mature very quickly and provide huge amount of growth in the first year that by the second year it is almost mature sized.

Also fragrancenutter, how long is your growing season?

I have a few roses on fort. The first ones were planted last spring. They did very well during the summer. No suckering either. (for fort you do not want to bury the graft, if the rose goes own root, it defeats the purpose of getting it on fort.) They all made it through the first winter. The Pruning is a bit different, you don't want to take too much cane off. There are many articles on the web about growing fort roses.

I hack half of my rose bushes back in July and the other half in August when there are only a few blooms around and my first Spring flush starts in September and October. There is no real rest period. Two weeks after I hack them back in winter the new shoots will come up again. I spray lime sulfur as soon as I hack them back because if I left it for another week or two the lime sulfur will burn the new buds coming out.

Of course, with your climate being a "zone 10b" there is no rest period, so everything gets huge, Fort or no Fort, Fort probably creating monsters.

My experience with Dr Huey in my dry sandy soil is that the plants get stressed much more easily than those on fort. They also get more trouble with Nematodes which greatly reduces flower production. If you have a nice water retentive soil I am sure Dr Huey can do very well as well. But in my area where there is water restriction and there is no rain at all for the three months of summer, sometimes even longer, the roses on Dr Huey are not productive in the really hot months and they need much more water to show vigour. That's why I SP'd all of them, and I had quite a few to begin with as I was attracted to their cheap price. The ones on Dr Huey didn't die when it was hot and dry but they just sat there and did nothing until the rain came. I am not very patient and I need my plants to produce flowers all the time in order to keep me happy.

Fragrancenutter, your roses are absolutely beautiful, so fortuniana and whatever else you are doing is definitely working for you. They are a treat for me to see.