Can you please tell what kind this Cecil Brunner is, most of the time it blooms twice, it just finished blooming now and it is June 15th, and I would like to prune it as it is huge and I don't want it to out grow the arch way on the deck. So do you prune it right after it stops blooming? Thank you for your HELP!

Kim, thanks for answering! I have a cl. Pinkie but not the cl. Cecile Brunner. I'd read there was more than one of them but didnt know which was best. Sounds like the spray CB is what I want. I have an Heirloom order coming, will get them to add to it. Last summer wasnt bad - but 2011 was the absolute worst heat I have seen in Texas. Hopefully.....we wont have another one of those! My cl. Pinkie was planted last year so is still a young plant and probably wont bloom to capacity until it is 3. I have grown roses for years but have just recently purchased a Cecile Brunner - its starting to bloom its head off in a 1 gallon pot - and I started wondering about the climbing form. Chamblees has a cl. CB but not sure if its the spray form. I love Pinkie.......but I have an arbor that needs a pink climber and wanted to see what the experts thought of these. I water everything well in the summer, so unless the heat was the issue, these roses will have good care. So Kim, if it was your arbor, which would you choose? I will end up having both, no doubt....but now am wondering which to put on this arbor - its in my backyard and in full view of the deck so want whatever is planted there to be the best bloomer. Thanks! Judith

Strip away, leave the flowers, they will bloom. The thing about spraying is: it is preventative, not a cure. Once the foliage has rust, spraying doesn't help at all. So you would have to strip, clean up under the foliage, lay down fresh mulch, and spray fungicide as the new foliage emerges to keep it clean. Now, if we don't get any more rain until fall, the new foliage will more than likely stay clean without spraying. More rain = more rust. No rain = no rust until the rain starts again in fall. If you think you want to spray, use the Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower fungicide spray, NOT the 3-in-1 stuff you pour around the roots. The 3-in-1 stuff isn't effective. You do not need the insecticide. Just the fungicide. Follow ALL package directions and wear protective clothing (long sleeves, goggles, gloves). What you could do if more rain is predicted is spray the day before it rains (so the spray dries) and then the foliage will be protected. If you really want clean foliage every year, you start spraying right as new foliage emerges in spring, and the day before every rain storm. Then spray once in fall around Labor Day, just as the nights start to cool down below 60F. Then you will have clean foliage until around late November or December, when the plant starts to abandon support for its foliage, and disease moves in anyway. You can have pretty immaculate foliage in So Cal spraying about 3 or 4 times a year. I prefer to get rid of the roses that rust badly, and tolerate a little disease, though sometimes I will follow the spray regimen if I want a really immaculate garden that year. "Banner Maxx" works even better than Bayer Advanced, lasts for Rust about a month, but it is expensive and an irritant, requires a respirator and staying out of the garden for 24 hrs following spraying. It has been a bad year for disease, some of my roses have black spot, not just Rust. However the plants generally have liked the periodic rain alternated with warm spells. Lots of basals this year. If your roses have survived more than a couple of years, drainage is likely not a problem at all. If drainage was a problem you would have standing water puddles that last for a week or more.

Wow is that cold! I grow several David Austin roses. I love the look of them, but they seem prone to a lot of problems. Fungus seems to be a major issue with them. If I buy any more roses I think I will branch out into the hardier sorts (other than DA) that are disease resistant. I think I was once at Northland, but it was many years ago. I have seen them at the Garden Expo though. They were selling some own-root roses. They were still pretty small, and a little overpriced. But if they are healthy and grow well here I suppose one can't complain. You will have to let me know how the Rugosas do if you get some. Have you ever been to the Garden Expo, at the Spokane Community College? It doesn't have as much as it did in years past. My favorite sale is the one at Manito Park. Such a wonderful selection; they have so much that I hardly ever go to nurseries any more. Have you ever been? There is a Fall sale comming up on Aug. 29th. It is open to the public around 10am I think. It is so great to talk with someone from Eastern Washington! I have only found a few other people on GW from this side of the state. If you would like to chat more about roses and such you can send me an e-mail. Just click on the 'My Page' part on my post and there will be a button to send me an e-mail. If you want to that is. ;-) Happy Gardening! Christin (CMK)