Lavenderlace: Deja blue is a thornless & mini-flora with good scent. Sold at Lowe's & Heirloom roses. Both Bluegirl and Judith from Texas got that from Lowe's. See comment in HMF. Mini-Flora & mini-roses are sold as own-roots.

http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.47594&tab=1

" bymonimoni i have purchase Deja Blue this season from Two Sisters Nursery. Wonderful strong scent."

alameda/zone 8/East TexasFebruary 4, 2012

I stopped by Lowe's today - to my surprise and delight, they had a group of roses by "My Bouquet" - they were several Mini Flora roses - Flawless, Deja Blu, Ambiance, Powerhouse, Double Take and I think First Impression [a yellow]. Judith

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1585646/roses-at-lowes

Thanks Straw, will check these out!

Khalid, I definitely agree with you about the fragrance so that would be a deal-breaker for me too.

They are now predicting a 60 degree drop in the wind chill in the next few hours. Some of the roses are just heavy with limp stems and won't shatter, just hanging there whipping in the wind.

I don't know if this is the right or wrong thing to do, but I know that I'm supposed to not cut anything this time of year. But I did pull some petals off just to lighten things because some of the branches are getting broken. Is that OK to do?

I didn't smell fragrance on most of them, including Jude the Obscure, except for Kordes Savannah. Couldn't believe it!

Soft-tissue pruning is OK (petals, blooms, upper shoots), but hard-tissue pruning can invite canker (black fungal) growth. Or bark-split, which can cause severe winter damage, down to the crown. One tip to kill a large tree is to shave the outer bark, like you "shave off" the outer-peel of an orange. Then the frost seep inside and kill the tree.

Rabbits can kill a tree in the winter by chewing off the outer bark, I have to put "tree-wrap" on lower trunks of my young & small trees (Japanese maples). Mice can kill the entire rose cane just by chewing at the lowest bark. That's why folks dump leaves on roses AFTER the ground is frozen, so less mice hiding in fluffy leaves. I dump my leaves on roses much earlier, since I have a large compost pile filled with yummy kitchen scraps (fruits & veggies). Once I started a compost pile of kitchen scraps, I no longer have mice chewing on my roses through winter, they have better stuff to eat from my compost.

Oh my goodness, I didn't even think about mice and rabbits!

And thanks for the clarification of hard and soft-tissue pruning. I'm so worried that these huge fluctuations in temperature are going to kill the plants.

BTW, we've had some cool, very high humidity (concrete is wet) days for a few days in a row. You mentioned that some leaves hold more waters than others.

Is there such thing as faint dark spots being the leaves overloaded in water or does it just mean that they have given in to blackspot?

I took pictures of mid-December Singin' the Blues who had been performing quite well in the heat I thought, but now the leaves look strange in this out of focus picture. Couple of nights in the twenties, also in the 70's. Grass and leaves are dead now.

The out of focus picture shows up something that the close-up pictures don't! (or my human eye)

Khalid, you are a professional photographer, right? Shouldn't the blurry photo show less than the more clear ones? Or maybe it was focusing on the leaves, not the flower, and that's why it became more apparent?

Thanks all, and I hope that it was OK to post this on this Khalid's terrific thread. Please let me know if not and I'll delete it at once.

Lavenderlace: I love your pics. please keep them here !! Sometimes I move my stuff out of Khalid's thread into a new thread, but it's for googling purpose to help folks on a particular issue. When it's cold, my roses' leaves turn dark-green. Your Singin' the Blues leaves are very healthy, such pretty color-bloom. Your loamy soil is gentler on roots in freezing temp than my frozen clay which destroys roots.

I have a few pots in the garage, it's -11 F or -23 C tomorrow. The loamy soil (lots of perlite) I still can scoop off. But the dense soil (100% peat-moss potting soil) is a chunk of ice, can't scrape off.

I can't even imagine such cold Straw!

Thanks so much for looking at STB. I guess next year might be different but today, he's much pinker than Lagerfeld, who has much more of a blue undertone.

Lavenderlace: You are most welcome to post your pics in my thread, I have no issues with that. However, as Straw mentioned, from googling point of view it is easier to name a thread specific to a certain issue / person otherwise it becomes very difficult to retrieve the information after a while. Many a times I mention something important in some thread or Straw does the same in another thread and after a while, we lose that important information as it is hard to retrieve it if it is in different places (different threads). And BTW, I am not a professional photographer. I am a hobbyist photographer who tries to capture the beauty God has created through the eye of the lens. My son is a better photographer than me but he takes most of the pics in RAW format and it is hard to upload those pics....

Straw wrote: "Soft-tissue pruning is OK (petals, blooms, upper shoots), but hard-tissue pruning can invite canker (black fungal) growth. Or bark-split, which can cause severe winter damage, down to the crown."

Straw, a question. If the temp in Lavederlace's area is dropping, is it not appropriate to prune the roses at this time? I will be pruning my roses soon. Would be grateful if you clarify your above statement....

Few pics...

Deepest yellow I have seen in Casino so far. Mild fruity fragrance.

Deep Secret on multiflora rootstock. The bush is not vigorous at all. Slow growth, few blooms but individual blooms are outstanding. A moderate fragrance that is not much pleasant, not to my liking at least......

Gruss an Teplitz blooms profusely..... fragrance is on the lower side nowadays......

Large blooms with moderate fragrance..

Mirandy is superb. One of the few roses that still have strong fragrance in my garden nowadays.

best regards

Thanks, Lavenderlace, for the info. of Lagergeld have blue-tone. I enjoy loading this thread to see Khalid's gorgeous blooms, and STB's nice foliage. Since it's the holidays (Christmas & New year), I started a thread on "open topics": favorite roses, foods, recipes, quotes, ideas ... hope to see your input, thanks !!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4339540/your-favorite-products-food-and-recipes-roses-wise-quotes-ideas

Here is a picture of Dr Buck.

I love buck roses. Do you have any Buck roses.?

Khalid, your photos always look like professional quality so I just assumed that you were. Excellent work and thank you!

I've been hesitant to start my own threads because I wasn't sure if my newbie questions were worthy enough for their own threads but you make a very good point about google.

My morning temperature was 9F which is very unusual for us. The roses seem to be very heavy now that they are frozen or maybe it's just because the stems have wilted. I've resisted cutting them though!

https://youtu.be/lGc0crcttAg. Lee Riech Compost.

https://youtu.be/Z5lJaCb-mGw Farmden

Lavenderlace wrote: My morning temperature was 9F which is very unusual for us.

9*F is almost -14*C which is very cold for zone 8 I guess. I pray for the health of your roses. Such an abrupt change in temp is dangerous for roses. Are you providing any winter protection to your roses?

best regards

Sam, I don't currently have any Buck roses, but have Quietness on order due, in part, to your and Kelly's pics. I'm expecting big things from it, if only I could decide on placement. I understand it can become quite large.

Khalid, your pics are a balm for a cold wintry day. I'm especially loving Mirandy and Gruss an Trepliz.

Indeed! Jubillee Celebration caught my eye again though.

I've got Quetness on my list now due to these forums. Maybe for my north wall if it can take shade? But I liked Straw's description of Marie Daly's wafting scent though not sure if she can take shade.

Of course, at a different time of year it will get baked in the sun with no shade at all so it will have to be tough. And preferably taller!

Yikes, that is cold for zone 8! I hope your freezing temps are short lived! Any snow? My Quietness seemed to tolerate a good amount of shade or at least filtered sun... I love Jubilee celebration but mine are 3 yr grafted so we'll see how long they last. They have a wonderful scent of fresh peaches to lemons depending on the temps.

Jubilee celebration

Kelly... your JC are absolutely fantastic. So many blooms..

Those JC are so fabulous Kelly and thanks for the description of the scent!

I've been admiring Khalid's and of course, are extra impressed since they can take that kind of heat.

The kind of cold that we just experienced was pretty unusual and I'm especially worried about the ones that just went in the ground within the last month. I wouldn't have planted them that late, but hindsight is 20/20 and our winter last year was nothing like this.

The change in wind chill also to a 60 degree drop was so brutal for us Southerners! I piled a lot of horse manure and shavings around the outside plants and put the pots in my garage. I hope that was enough??? Khalid, thanks for your kind words.

Everything had new leaves and was blooming so we'll see how they handle the shock. If worrying A LOT will save them, then we're good to go!

We didn't have any snow, just incredibly drippy humidity until it turned bone dry.

Should I water now that it's above freezing and should stay that way for a while? The new ones seem to drink a lot more water at the surface according to my water meter.

It hasn't rained in weeks by the way.

Lavenderlace: I didn't see my own thread since few days. How are your roses now? Have they been able to survive the cold wave? What is the temp in your area nowadays? - 13 is incredibly cold for zone 8.

Lavederlace wrote "Should I water now that it's above freezing and should stay that way for a while? The new ones seem to drink a lot more water at the surface according to my water meter."

I think Straw is the best person to give an advise here. I have limited understanding of weather in your area. I hope Straw gets to see this comment.

Few roses that are still blooming...

Khalid, are your roses that have fragrance now that it's cooler, the same ones that performed well in the sweltering heat? Or different ones?

Do you grow Jude the Obscure by the way? Mine lost fragrance as it cooled off but Lemon Spice is still good.

My Ebb Tides never really developed much fragrance this year but did have lots of blooms that stayed clean even during very humid conditions.

Lavenderlace wrote: "Khalid, are your roses that have fragrance now that it's cooler, the same ones that performed well in the sweltering heat? Or different ones?

Do you grow Jude the Obscure by the way? Mine lost fragrance as it cooled off but Lemon Spice is still good.

My Ebb Tides never really developed much fragrance this year but did have lots of blooms that stayed clean even during very humid conditions."

From Khalid.....Generally, the fragrance nowadays, after it got a bit cooler, is less than what it was in September and October. Fragrance in my my area is maximum during March and April and then in September & October. It is minimum in june and july and moderate / mild during the fall, ie, nowadays.

My Jude the Obscure bush has been pruned. It was a tall and lanky bush with long and weak branches.... I wouldn't call it a healthy bush. The above photo was taken on 11 Dec and the bloom didn't open up at that time. However, it had strong and lovely fragrance and a nice shade...

I would say you give some time to Jude and Ebb Tide and they will perform for you. Fragrance of my roses is good when I give them chicken manure.

best regards

I really appreciate following the growth of your roses, throughout the seasons, Khalid, especially the earlier pics of Cl. Crimson Glory which I have on order for the spring. Not many people seem to grow the climbing variety so I hang on your every comment. : )

You may have experimented in the past, so ignore my comment in that case, but I was thinking maybe covering your cuttings with a bottle might help them retain moisture better. You could cut the bottom off and that way use the screw on top to let air enter if need be so they don't overheat. I've kept mine in dappled sun, but yours appear to be in full sun. Just a thought since you're away during the day.

vaporvac wrote: "You may have experimented in the past, so ignore my comment in that case, but I was thinking maybe covering your cuttings with a bottle might help them retain moisture better. You could cut the bottom off and that way use the screw on top to let air enter if need be so they don't overheat. I've kept mine in dappled sun, but yours appear to be in full sun. Just a thought since you're away during the day."

Thanks vaporvac. I will definitely try this with cuttings in the ground.

best regards

Khalid, thanks for those great photos!

My temperature will be about 70 F this weekend so a lot of swings. I guess it's too soon to see if everybody will survive but the one that has some dead leaves already is Beverly. But they never looked great to begin with, lighter leaves when they arrived.

I think that she's related to The McCartney Rose so that's why I've been holding out on that one even though you said that it did well in the heat. Beverly gets good reviews for the heat from most people but hasn't been very impressive for me. But maybe she's a slow starter!

Jude smelled fantastic for me this summer and early winter but I find that the bush doesn't look that healthy for me either. And is prone to blackspot in high humidity. But those big blooms and that scent have been worth it for me!

Here's winter Jude the Obscure. The little branch broke off of another plant and I put it in the vase so these aren't Jude's leaves, which usually look terrible for me, LOL!

December Jude the Obscure (before hard freezes) reminds me of an orange creamsicle in scent and looks.

Lavenderlace: This is the best shade I have ever seen on a Jude. Lovely.

I LOVE that purplish hue on Khalid's Julia Child. I've never seen her look like that before!

Few more pics....... Many of my roses have been pruned. Photos of those that have yet not been prune....

Straw: After the monsoon, roses in pots in Islamabad are depleted of minerals as their is too much of rain and roses usually show up with multiple deficiencies that I have been discussing in various threads. So this year after the monsoon, I gave them a doze of one teaspoon potash, one tea spoon gypsum, one tea spoon of trace elements supplement, one tea spoon of organic apple cider vingar and one (or half) tea spoon of a nitrogen fertilizer mixed in a bucket of water (16-18 liter), twice a week. I did this for around 5 weeks. I had to resort to a method of quick replenishment of minerals as the roses looked exhausted after monsoon and my homemade compost wasn't ready yet. This time my compost included chicken manure, peels of bananas, apples, citrus, cucumbers, potatoes and other fruits and vegs, egg shells, use black tea leaves, sometimes coffee ground etc. But this compost tea wasnt' ready yet so I had to resort to the used of above.

Results:

• Fast growth and Very good foliage.
• Deep shades on blooms.
• Later, lot of aphids and thrip attacks.
• Fragrance generally stayed on lower side. Except a few like Mirandy, Tipu Sultan, Lady Emma Hamilton, Ebb Tide and few others, rest of the roses mostly had mild fragrance.

The above was done for roses in pots (around 8 large size pots). Roses in ground were just replanted (during September) in a fresh soil in the ground. I dug a 2 x 2 feet hole and replaced the original soil of my lawn with a better quality river soil that contains lots of minerals and is usually rich in trace elements.

Just a month back I gave a topping of chicken manure, cracked corn, sunflower seeds, melon and water melon seeds etc to my roses in pots as well as in ground. But that was just a month back and I am not sure if it significantly contributed towards enhancement of bloom shade and size. It is mainly the effect of the doze given during regular watering.

best regards.

Few pics taken on new year eve..... I had pruned many of my roses before leaving for the mountains last week. So not many roses with blooms and leaves nowadays....

best regards

Lavenderlace wrote in another thread, "Khalid, those pictures of your Rhapsody in Blue are just spellbinding! HMF says it doesn't like hot weather and is prone to BS. Do you find that to be true? Scent is rated moderate to strong. Any thoughts on the scent in your heat?"

Lavenderlace, since the photo was posted in this thread so I thought it might be better to post a reply here.

• My RiB performed very well during hot summers. The bush was in a medium size pot (14"). It grew well during hot summers and kept blooming too though the size of bloom was small.
• The scent has been correctly mentioned as "moderate to strong" during different parts of the year. It's a spicy fragrance which smells very pleasant to me. I rate it amongst the better fragrances in my garden.
• High heat effects the scent of every rose that I know, however, there are few roses which are not effected that much and do retain a reasonable scent even when it is hot. RiB is one of those roses that retain some fragrance even on the hottest days (when many other roses with strong fragrance become completely non-fragrant).
• Bloom shade become more "pink" when it is hot. When it is cool it is more towards slate blue / violette / deep purple kind. Please compare the shade in the photos posted below with the photos of December posted in the above threads....

Here are few photos of RiB from June and July when the temps ranged between 105 to 115*F.

Compare it with the shade that RiB has nowadays..... It's a violet cum slate blue.... a very pleasing shade indeed. I love it.

Bottomline..... I like this rose very much. I am going to plant cuttings in few days and lets see how it performs on own roots.

best regards

Thank you, Khalid, for taking the time to list the ingredients in the "liquid-fertilizer" for your roses. Will go back to your threads to see the trace-elements in that bottle. I'M AFTER DEEP COLORS. In my alkaline area, both rose-parks have less trace-elements available, and roses are washed out, beige like toilet paper.

I notice fertilizer are more available when there's an acidic agent, like your apple-cider added. Without acid, both gypsum and sulfate-of-potash remain a solid, plants can't use.

My Pat Austin as own-root has aggressive root that can produce acid, and the scent is lessened when the soil pH is acidic. During rain I give my Pat pea-gravel (pH over 9) to enhance its scent.

Rouge Royal is known to be stingy, own-root can't produce much acid. I want to buy Rouge Royal, but Pat of Roses Unlimited informed me that it's no longer available as own-root. Stingy roses can't do "acid-phosphatase", and need SOLUBLE fertilizer high in phosphorus/potassium.

Your Tom Brown is such a pretty bush, same with Pat and Lady Emma .. lovely apricot colors !!

Just saw your post on Rhapsody in Blue. Beautiful bush and amazing deep blue color!!

Is that low-thorn like your Shocking Blue? My Blue-roses can have the best quality perfume like Heirloom, Bluegirl, and Angel Face, or it can have average-clove-scent like Deep Purple & Poseidon.

Really like the shade of pink on your Pink Perfume. Do the blooms of Rhapsody in blue last long on the bush? Thanks. That rose is hardy for zone 5a folks as own-roots, so it's vigorous.

Thanks Khalid for you RiB information. I definitely gravitate towards the cooler blue tones but your photos still show a very fresh looking flower in extreme heat so that's always impressive.

Straw, do you grow Angel Face? I've been sitting on my hands on that one because of all the reports of BS even from people who use chemicals. But I suspect that I would LOVE it otherwise and have nearly ordered it multiple times! I'm very open to being talked into it, LOL!

Lavenderlace: I grew Angel Face twice: First time in my last house as grafted on Dr.Huey, it was really short. Second time as own-root, it was tiny, and produced 1/4 the amount of blooms as the grafted.

It was healthy in a DRY raised bed, but I moved it near the rain-spout, then it died over the winter. Pros of Angel Face: Can take extreme heat well .. folks in dry & hot climate like Angel Face. Wonderful Scent, and blooms can stand up to heat & full-sun. Also prefers alkaline pH, roots produce plenty of acid, and it blooms easily as floribunda.

Cons of Angel Face: too tiny as own-root, best as grafted on Dr. Huey (it will sprout an own-root if you bury it at least 4" deep). Will blackspot if drainage is poor .. but you have loamy/sandy soil so that won't be a problem.

Lavenderlace: Please do keep in mind that in extreme heat, RiB will turn pink and will no more be slate blue. In cooler months shade will be blue / lavender.

Straw: RiB is low to medium thorns I guess. I am in love with this rose now and I wonder how it will perform on own roots. It has a wonderful clove spicy scent that I love to sniff again and again.

best regards

I love the sounds of Angel Face but Heirloom took away a bit of my confidence regarding BS! The drainage is fine but a couple of very humid drippy days seems to do it in.

Do you think that AF will behave the same way? Happy as long as it's hot and dry and then defoliate after a drippy day? Our weather is quite erratic. 75F yesterday but teens coming again. I hope all the manure and shavings that are piled up didn't get too hot now that we finally got a bit of rain.

Khalid, thanks for the kind words on my Jude the Obscure picture!

The scent was the strongest the darker the peach color. They went really dark pumpkin for me and that scent was fantastic compared to my more yellow ones in clay. The photo shows my average color of peach.

Lavender: Angel Face is more BS-resistant than Heirloom: thicker leaves and thicker roots. I tried Heirloom 3 times and gave up: twice as grafted, and third time bought as own-root. I would grow Angel Face again, but it can't survive zone 5a winter: too short !! I have seen Angel Face as grafted-on-Dr.Huey, very healthy in pots at local stores & lots of buds.

That's good to know about AF. However, I'm getting quite discouraged about Heirloom because if you gave up on it, then I have no chance, LOL! Glad that I have only two of them. I moved them acres away so that I don't have to see them all day! Last I looked, one was covered in spots and the other one wasn't, planted side by side, go figure.

Lagerfeld was my alternate way of getting the scent of AF. Please let me know how they compare when yours gets in the ground!

I think that Straw and Khalid like lavender too so just saw this. I wonder if it really looks like that photo, wow!

http://www.heirloomroses.com/roses/new/violet-s-pridetm.html

Khalid, if you like a clove type of scent, Midnight Blue has done very well here so far. The smell is like Ebb Tide's, though both have very faint scents for me as first year plants. But enough that I can tell that I'm going to love it when it gets stronger.

Took a chance and bought Violet's Pride today after all!

What a treat! Lovely roses, GSP (our family used to have a German Shorthair) and kitty.

hmmm...... Angel Face is available to me here but I haven't heard very good things about it's disease resistance. But I smelled it a friends place and it has a lovely fragrance. Midnight Blue..... yes. That is also available here and I think I will get it.

But I am ordering today following roses today....

Boscobel, Olivia Rose Austin, Poet's Wife, England Rose, The Lady Gardener, Princess Anne, Young Lycidas, Tranquility, Maid Marion, Lady Salisbury, Abraham Darby, Kordes Perfecta, Stephen Big Purple and few OGRs.

best regards

That's a fun list Khalid!

I've heard good things about Abraham Darby in the heat but haven't grown it yet.

As a first year plant, Midnight Blue would sometimes look just like Ebb, and then later would have some blooms that had a blackish purple velvet quality, hard to describe and very unique. The blooms are smaller but quite interesting for contrast in a bouquet.

I ordered another Evelyn based on Straw's description of the scent also yesterday. Plus, I can't believe how much it grew over the holidays! Still in a big pot but I came back to all of my pots needing a lawnmower for the grass and clover in them!

Lavender: It's good to have 2 Evelyn since the blooms are so large it takes a while between flushes.

Khalid: Fantastic list you ordered. I see many nice roses !! I grew Kordes Perfecta at least 20 years ago .. zero scent back then (grafted on Dr.Huey). A person from Texas mentioned that England's Rose needs shade. Carol mentioned about the Poet's Wife unpleasant-scent of marigolds.

I saw 3 Abraham Darby at nearby rose park. The scent was strong: floral and grapefruit. But that was in full-sun, and the color was bleached out to ugly whitish-beige. Their Abraham Darby refused to bloom during summer, I only saw spring flush, plus one or two blooms in cold fall .. and it was at least 7 feet or 2 meter tall as grafted on Dr.Huey in late fall.

Stephen's Big Purple scent is good (clove & Old Rose) with tons of acidic rain, the color is more purple with lower pH & more potassium.

I wish I could comment on your list, Khalid, but I don't grow any of them yet. it looks interesting with many varieties I don't see many having. I suppose some day I'll have to get Evelyn since you so highly recommend it, Straw and I love fragrance .I'm seriously considering SBP. Did you mention buying yours from Burling. If so, I may just get it come Spring since it can take a while to grow from bands even though I doubt I'll have a bed for it until autumn.

Thank you, LL for you critique of the Kordes roses. I got 1st Crush late in the season as a mark-down from Lowe's. I checked on it yesterday and it's STILL putting on new healthy growth as are so many of my roses! I have yet to move it to its final home, so I'm thrilled it can take some shade as I want it in an Eastern exposure bed. How long have you had yours and how tall is it getting? Is it a bushy, well-clothed plant? Ideally it will go with Heathcliff, Othello, cl., Viking Queen and Sugar Moon, but if it's tall, it could go in my new North-Easter bed with Mme, A. Carriere and Tess Cl. I also want EA, but worry about her height, also. I may wait and see if Lowe's carries her in the Spring so I can see her blooms. She's stunning though in pics.

VV, I feel terrible that I posted my own root comments on the wrong thread. So sorry Khalid, didn't mean to derail!

I tried to transfer everything to:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/roses-that-perform-well-on-own-roots-dsvw-vd~4346048