Sara-Ann most of mine have been super growers as own root. I can only think of 2 that are not growing roots here. I'm not sure the reason for this. Jolie as 2nd year plants could be pulled up by hand. My Soleros are 3 years old and not developing good roots.

Mine are mostly own root first year plants (not sure about the 3 from Lowes)

I have acidic Clay soil and a humid mid Atlantic climate. Growing fine and everything but the climbers bloomed at least once. Zaide grew the fastest from a 1 gallon to 4 feet and trying to climb. Heaven on Earth bloomed the most but stayed small. 5 to 12 blooms per flush on a 1 foot bush.

I have OR versions of Rotilia, Kardinal, and Korfizzlem, All new this year. All doing well. I believe the proprietor(proprietress) previously indicated, on this forum, that only cultivars known to have done well in field trials OR were permitted to be sold here.

I grow 2. Sunny Sky (HT) and Dark Desire (Grandflora). Both grow great but after their spring bloom, they are kind of stingy with their blooms the rest of the year. They have very healthy foliage on long stems.

Thank you so much everyone. I do appreciate it very much.

May I ask how your FCrush and SRomance are blooming? Many have found poor flowering, so I'm wondering if they may improve over time or with different cultivation. I'd love to hear about Aloha Hawaii as it's not much mentioned.

I have flamenco rosita and it is unbelievable ! I ordered it from chambleess last year . It grew from one gallon pot to about 5 ft tall and almost 6 ft wide. It bloomed all season , no disease, and was the last Rose with blooms this season. I cannot recommend it enough!

Thou not a Kordes rose, Flamenco Rosita is an excellent own root variety. Easily over winters here. Even little baby plants survived. Blooms all year, no disease as Lilyfinch has said.

I've seen some wonderful photos of FC and SR. Hoping that mine will bloom in their second year.

Ask away! My initial Summer Romance arrived as a gallon from Chamblee's last June. Potted on, it grew well but never offered a bud that year. Patient by nature (or stubborn, flip the coin), just let it take its own good time. When the sun finally shone after a wet & dreary Spring, SR decided to bloom...and kept on blooming in flushes till recently. Each flush was fuller & more rapid than the last as the season progressed. By late Summer, new buds formed as older buds unfurled in sequence in sprays. Loving this one! Beautiful color & heady perfume, shaping up to be a first class rose. More detail on this thread. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3608306/guy-de-maupassant-or-summer-romance?n=39

Also picked up 2-gallon ownroot Summer Romances at Lowe's this Spring. They'd arrived in bud & bloom but suffered the usual neglect for several weeks by the time I brought them home. Bounced back with remedial care & bloomed well all season. Yet, oddly enough, not as bountifully as my original plucky plant did this year, perhaps due to that earlier neglect, combined with acclimating in an unusually hot Summer as a more mature plant.

"Rescued" a pair of disheveled First Crushes from the markdown table at Lowes late this Spring. Both cleaned up nicely & rebounded. Originally not much drawn to First Crush, going by photos showing a rather drab blush I suspected would pale out further in strong sun here, found it more colorful & very appealing in person, endowed with rich perfume. Parked in high shade to recover from abuse & gradually introduced to full sun, they trooped on. Somewhat slower & less generous bloom than Summer Romance attributed to its setback from longer neglect. Expect it will reward patience next season after a Winter rest. Happily, blooms didn't bleach in the sun, maintaining a lovely pale pink to petal fall. Goes to show how far assumptions will get me, and how valuable feedback here can be!

Neither of these strike me as particularly thorny. Aloha Hawaii - now there's a rose studded with thorns! Some straight, some hooked, but still enough room between them to handle safely barehanded. Beautiful full blooms in sunset hues open saturated pastels, mellow with age & drop petals cleanly. Solid fruity fragrance with spice & damask. Dramatic first flush with smaller flushes regularly through to Autumn. Reblooms whether deadheaded or not, with fat glossy candy apple red hips. Healthy & hardy to the tips here. A pair grown in big pots set out in the garden the past few years are graceful plants that arch with height. This past season they bookended a vacant obelisk. New shoots leaned against it for minimal support, yet showed no problems when recently relocated for Winter. Now 10' high by 4' wide, all but the central leaders are still flexible. Trained properly to an arch, trellis, wall or other support, expect it will be even lovelier. Believe this could alternately be grown as a freestanding large shrub. Sue

PS: Really should make up my mind concerning placement of Aloha Hawaii! Garden dug & potted last year (roof replacement) & not yet reinstalled (rain, high heat & now poison ivy with prodigious roots being grubbed out as energy & weather allow).

Lordy your good at reviewing your roses. Your right there with Cynthia at selling a rose to a dead man. Thanks for the optimistic report.

Patty I'm sorry I was sure it was a kordes .. forgive my error ! :) either way I couldn't recommend it more!!

I'm sorry Lilyfinch I didn't mean it that way. My computer has been away from home so I just saw this. I agree with you Flamenco Rosita is a fabulous own root variety. I'm in love with her foliage as much or more than the blooms. It's so graceful and gentle kind of hard to explain.

Sue, love your comments. I too start my own-roots in pots and ask them to let me know when they're ready for the ground.

Dark Desire slowed its growth significantly before the end of its first season here and will be going in the ground. Seemingly doesn't care for life in a pot.

Savannah really took off; I could NOT keep up with pinching all the buds as much as I tried!

Pink Enchantment seems to be a sparse vase-shaped HT; love the quality of the blooms but it is clearly going to test my patience. Let me report back after its third season!

I went crazy on my spring orders for my garden and the one at the arboretum and have ordered Beverly, Eliza, Plum Perfect and South Africa.

In the past I've been uncertain about Kordes in our intense 8A humid heat so the only others I have now are Lavaglut and Caramel Fairy Tale. Both very good here, BTW.

Quite correct about DD - it does not like to be root bound. Out of a pot it is very vigorous. I would say the same is true with Pink Enchantment as it likes to push deep roots to support the large plant it will make over time. PE is somewhat susceptible to anthracnose at pruning time so prune in dryer weather.

I have a three legged Garden Arbor with 2 Quicksilvers and a Poseidon growing own-root, in large pots. They are all doing well here. Poseidon thinks its a climber and is about 10ft up now. The Quicksilvers are about 4 feet. No blackspot. I can't wait till spring to see how the arbor looks when the Quicksilvers catch up to Poseidon and they all bloom together.

Oh that is going to be stunning!

Wow! I can't wait to see the pics! I bet it's going to be gorgeous!!!

Poseidon at 10 feet? Wow! I wonder if you have a climbing sport or if it just grows that way in Florida. I found your other thread with a photo: Poseidon-as-a-climber. Somehow, I missed that thread before.

Looking forward to more photos with Quiksilver this spring :)

My Poseidon is still in a pot, but I have noticed that it wants to grow very tall and narrow for me. I'm not quiet sure what to do with it. Those beautiful blooms don't like my dry heat, everyone of them fries in the heat. I don't want to give it my limited ground space if the blooms can't handle my climate. Lisa

Poseidon is shade tolerant. My backyard faces north and was in full shade by October. Poseidon still bloomed and looked healthy.

modestgoddess, I am heartened by your experience with a north-facing garden. This is my situation with a 8'wall...although it was Nov. before fully shaded, I think. Not to totally derail this post, but what other roses flourish for you in this exposure?

Great to hear that Poseidon is shade tolerant! Thanks modestgoddess, that opens up more places for it. Lisa