Val: I love your arbor shot ... mystical and beautiful. And Cloudert Soupert has the nice pink that my alkaline soil lacks (phosphorus) .. mine is white.

I like the orange colors of folklore and Shreveport .. both are Kordes roses. Folklore is on my wish list .. how's its staying power on the bush? I need more deep orange as cut-blooms.

Vanity, hybrid musk .. that's the 1st I have seen, very pretty color. I like your Rose of Sharon bush .. my double-blue, and double-purple Rose of Sharon died during spring flood, they are drought-tolerant and don't like wet feet.

I'm very pleased the holding power of Folklore so far in the heat. Both Folklore and Shreveport in my experience have relatively small blooms compared with other hybrid teas.

Sorry to hear about your Rose of Sharon.

I've grown Vanity for many years. It is a sprawling hybrid musk that doesn't have as many blooms as I would like for its size. In its favor it has a sweet scent, thornless and very shade tolerant

Hi Kahlid, my summers seem like your monsoon season. My soil is beach sand as deep down as I can dig. The organics were destroyed by poor agricultural practices. I add composted material about 4" not mixed in, just layered on and then I mulch heavily with whatever I can get my hands on. This year it's peanut shells from a peanut processing plant. I work on the theory that the soil microbes are found in the top layer of earth so that is where I want my nutrients.

I also try to keep much of the soil covered with flowering annuals, perennials and groundcovers. I want to keep my soil microbes protected and fed with organic material, so they in turn can feed my roses.

My Louis Philippe is the China rose.

More phone shots taking this morning.

Yellow Rose of Texas in front of giant hibiscus ( Lord Baltimore)

Marco Polo. Looking more intense yellow than in the summer

Bohemian Rhapsody, new this summer but so far so good

Heritage, my favorite Austin

Ivor a close up

Ivor as a 2 year old bush

Dame de Couer, one of my very best hybrid teas.

Quietness on of my best Bucks. This is such a special rose, disease resistant, heat resistant and fragrant.

Barrone Henrietta de Snoy. One of my best teas.

Another Buck's, Prairie Sunrise, it's new this year but so far so good

Khalid, Fragrance of Clotilde Soupert, climber is excellent. It is my garden, its my visitors' favorite rose because of the scent. It is also almost thornless and unlike the bush form, which I have also, has almost no trouble with "balling"

Val: How's the scent on Prairie Sunrise? I like its color & glossy foliage !!

Valrose: Beautiful photos. Prairie Sunrise looks quite impressive and I would also like to know the fragrance? Most of the roses that you have look great but are not available to me locally in Islamabad. I am taking notes. Thanks for the input.

best regards

Straw: Sorry I don't know, most of my roses in the heat as little to no scent on the bush. When things cool down a bit, I'll report back

This afternoon the butterflies where flying around my garden so I decided to bring out my camera. It's hard to capture butterflies with a phone.

Butterflies on my Mexican Zinnias

Leonie Lamesch, a polyanthus.

Perle d'Or

Honey Sweet, a Buck's rose. I love the unusual color. Hard to capture in a photo.

Polonaise, another Buck's rose. These make great pick flowers, they are long last in a vase.

More Polonaise

Miracle on the Hudson. I think I'm in love, it has the most wonderful, dark blue-green foliage

Maggie, great Peppery scent

Another Buck's called April Moon

Just a few more from today

Hermosa

My Giant Caladium, it was from my Dad's yard and has the largest leaves that I have ever seen on a Caladium

Carefree Beauty. The most famous of the Buck's roses. I love the way the little petals swirl in its center.

" The Yellow Rose of Texas". A most infuriating rose. We bought a liner tray of these roses a year ago and potted them up for use in our business. They were such an embarrassment. They preformed so poorly that we had to replace them in most yards that we had planted them. We gave away the remaining 50 plants. This year they are performing great and everyone who see them wants them.

One more none rose, a Rose of Sharon

Thank you, Val, for taking the time to post those beauties: Maggie, so many fantastic Buck performers, Hermosa, and Leonie Lamesch (best pic. ever of that rose), and Perle has the best color !!

If I had seen your post last year, I would not had bought "Lady of Shalott": gives me hell as own-root, 2 lousy blooms. Austin roses are so hard to please, I have Buck Prairie Harvest, practically neglect it, on a steep hill, rarely water it, and it's 100% clean, with tons of buds.

I see lots of petals on your roses & and deep colors too .. the high phosphorus does help with vibrant red. I'm sold on animal manures. Got horse manure this weekend, and my Evelyn leaves become so shiny & glossy .. LOVE IT !!

Valrose: You have so many great OGRs and hardy modern roses in your garden. It's great to see a garden so great looking without the genetically weak hybrid teas and floribundas which we somehow tend to believe are a must for any rose garden. I would also love to have a garden with minimum of HTs and Floribundas..... a low maintenance garden. I am sick of taking care of these genetically weak roses. As I mentioned earlier, I am shortlisting those hardy roses that do well on own roots, bloom even in my hot summers and need minimum maintenance. I am updating my notes. Thanks for sharing these wonderful pics.

best regards

Every one is beautiful. I would have bought Maggie had I seen this post in July during A Reverence For Roses' sale. From where did you buy yours? My faves are Perle d'Or (more like j'adore!), and Leonie Lamesch. Burling suggested this one when i was pondering poly choices in the Spring, but I was afraid of overextending myself.... No thought of that now, so anything you can tell me about leonie, I'm all ears. :)

Really, it's too hard to pick a favourite, I appreciate them all.

Straw I have Prairie Harvest also. I love the color. My all time favorite Buck's is Quietness, great scent, form and clean foliage

For everyone: I just got poked by Sharifa Asma's tiny prickles ...OUCH, which ones of your roses have low thorn (widely spaced so one can hold the stem without pain)? Thanks.

Leonie Lamesch is a new acquisition, maybe a year old. It went into a bed where the soil is particularly poor, but with the new peanut mulch and the other added organics, it is getting better. The growth on Leonie has been slow with not an overwhelming abundance of blooms, but the health of the foliage has been excellent. I'll have a better idea on its performance next year.

I've had Maggie for around 25 years. My 2 existing bushes came from cuttings that I made when I moved 3 years ago. The original cuttings came from a bush found at a state historic site, Dudley Farm, where I volunteered. I helped propogate and restore the grounds with the roses that were found on site, Maggie was one of the roses.

I also love Perle d'Or. Great color, form, clean foliage, sweet fragrance, what's not to like?

More September roses from Florida

Folklore, a new rose this year, a Heirloom Band

More Folklore

Prosperity, one of my favorite hybrid musks

Aloha, a clean hybrid tea with great fragrance

American Legacy., a very short Bucks rose that preforms very well for me.

My very small goldfish pond

Your garden is beautiful! Wow everything is blooming so nicely! I have a couple of my roses putting out sporadic blooms (heritage had the most so far) and my August beauty gardenias are budding out too. I will share some pics when they finally bloom. I blame that on the fact they are all new (none older than 2 yrs). Also, since we are in the same zone, when do you stop fertilizing and deadheading? I did the end of August so the roses will harden off for our short winter. Thanks!

Valrose: Your Folklore and Marchesa Boccella look great and so is Prosperity. All added in my wish list. Thanks for posting these wonderful pics with comments on the performance of roses. That is a valuable information indeed.

best regards

Thanks Filly. My roses are young also, we moved to this property about 3 years ago. The difference in the amount of blooms is due to the varieties, many Austins tend to be spring/fall bloomers and they don't hit their blooming peak until they are older. Heritage is an exception, it blooms through out the season .I have varieties that are almost everblooming. 2 of my most prolific are Belinda's Dream and Louis Philippe.

If I fertilize, it's 2 times a year, end of February and end of March. I don't deadhead, but I do take fall cuttings for starting new plants. My cutoff time for cuttings is December. I figuring that is about 6 weeks before our first hard freeze, temps 25 F or lower. Temps higher than 25 don't cause stem damage. ( My own observations).

Many of my varieties are of Tea and China heritage so they don't go winter dormant.

Val: All your pics. are fantastic, I enjoy them all, esp. your pond, so beautiful !! Folklore has the perfect color, same with Buck Legacy. Prosperity is stunning, and Aloha has such thick petals. Thanks for sharing the beauty of your garden.

Oh, I agree. That picture of the pond is just magical!

Wow love your Louis Philippe, can I ask how old it is and how big?

Nancy: Val is off from her nursery/work for the winter ... thus no access to Internet. Below is the link to Louis Philippe in HMF:

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2044

Also Rose Petal Nursery in Florida, nearby Val, will provide any info. when asked. Many years ago I asked them about a thornless rose, and they were very nice & prompt to answer my question:

http://rosepetalsnursery.com/

Gorgeous photos! Thank you!

Hi all, I'm back, thanks for the photo compliments. My Louis Phillipe is about 5' x5' and is approximately 3 years old.

Val: Just let you know that all your pictures really help folks to know what's best in your sandy/loamy soil, hot, with 47" of rain Florida. THANK YOU !!

Lyda rose died in my soaking wet clay, I didn't know that it likes loamy soil. If I had seen your thread last year, I would had made the soil loamier for Perle d' Or (best wafting scent ever, really miss that rose).

Miracle on the Hudson (bred by Robert Neil R. in dry & hot & sandy California) definitely likes it dry & loamy. I saw it in pots at local store after heavy rain, its lower leaves turned yellowish .. it can't cope with excess water, nor dense & wet potting soil.

Very useful info Straw, thanks!