I have a twenty-foot tall 'Jaune Desprez' in part shade that is in generous and sweetly scented bloom at the moment. My rose is grafted--I don't know if that's important--and was slow to get started, not blooming at all its first year and not much the second. It's a good handsome floriferous rose now. Pay attention to pruning. It gets more disease than some roses, but my roses live a spartan life, with no disease or pest treatment or supplementary water, and it does well this way. I would give it time: the pale silky roses with their button eye are worth waiting for. The musk fragrance comes to greet me as I walk toward our yard. I think that 'Zephirine Drouhin' is a rose for full sun. I have it and it does well enough, but it has a reputation, merited I think, for getting a lot of disease if it doesn't like its conditions. At the point you're at in your rose gardening, I'd say that patience is still a virtue. A lot of climbers take a while to get going. Melissa

Happy Holidays, Michael! 1. How long do they usually take till they usually have their first blooms? Six weeks to never. Some can flower within a month and a little more. Some never flower. Not all are able to flower. 2. I'm not so much concerned about color as that can be a left as a nice surprise but I would like highly fragrant roses, so should I only be growing rose seeds from fragrant varieties or is that also left to chance? Pretty much left to chance. Two highly scented roses can easily produce one without scent, and vice versa. There are many things which affect scent. An old article of mine on Help Me Find - Roses helps to shed some light on scent. There are likely more recent discoveries, but the basics are still there. 3. Could I winter sow seeds? It's my first year trying that with other seeds so I figure why not rose seeds? lol Winter is when you should sow rose seeds. Their germination slows to a virtual halt once temps rise much past about 70F. Some will continue germinating, but MOST will stop. If you live where winter is really severe, you may have to plant them indoors in a basement or greenhouse. I live in "The Land of Endless Summer" (Southern California) so my planting time is right now. Most of what will germinate this year must come up before the summer temps hit. A few continued germinating in the high heat this summer, but they are the exceptions rather than the rules. Good luck! Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Fragrance: Much Ado About Nothing?

See if your ROS develops leaves this year. Plants can't "eat" if they don't have leaves. Could the bugs have eaten every single leaf on your bush? It didn't have even one or two leaves last year? I don't think a plant or bush or tree can survive without leaves. Pruning wouldn't have killed it, they are tough bushes. Hopefully, you will see life soon on your twigs. Keep your eye out for them soon, my ROS are already waking up with a little new growth. Good Luck!

Might be 'Tropical Sunset'. You've got a pretty one there. Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of Tropical Sunset Rose