Hi Terri: Your bouquet is GORGEOUS. What's the dark pink in the center? Thanks. Quite a few zone 6 folks lose Love Song. Angel Face isn't good for cutting (stem is too short, and it shattered in vase within 3 days).

My most long-lasting roses are: Firefighter (2 weeks on the bush & 5 days in the vase), Versigny (5 days in the vase), Bolero (4 days in the vase), and Veteran's Honor (zero scent, 5 days). Evelyn (4 days in the vase). I ordered blue Lagerfeld since 2 people stated that it lasts long in the vase.

Below are some links that might help:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2134793/bouquets-of-no-spray-roses?n=208

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3282015/best-roses-for-the-vase-and-bouquets-of-no-spray-roses?n=37

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3300892/experiment-the-best-buds-for-vases?n=28

Thanks, Straw. Missed being here. Wound up writing a book for a year and barely left the house the whole time.

I will check out the links.

As all my rose folders are gone forever, I can only guess. The only roses that dark pink rose could be are either Queen Elizabeth (very open) or Heirloom. I think the flash distorted the color.

Do you have a new rose fav for 2017?

I'm excited about Versigny (died few years ago). For 2017 I ordered Firefighter, Sonia Rykiel Versigny, Nahema, Bolero (these 5 died on me through a harsh winter), plus Lagerfeld and Barbara Streissand.

Sonia Rykiel tends to fade in the vase, so I hope for a FRAGRANT DARK-PINK that doesn't fade & plus last long in the vase. Any ideas? Thanks.

I hope you have better luck with Lagerfeld than I did. Mine died the 1st Winter.

Pinks: I have 5 Mary Roses grown into a hedge with Walker's Low Catmint and Lady's Mantle in front. It looks amazing. Wait. That has to be that middle rose. Either Mary Rose or Beverly. I'm thinking Mary Rose because Beverly is more pointed and this rose looks DA to me. What do you think? Mary Rose and Beverly are both moderately fragrant to me but I'm not sure how many days they hold up in a vase.

Straw, Which do you think has a sweet fragrance and longer shelf life in a vase: Mr. Lincoln or Firefighter?

I have been reading through the posts. Your roses are still gorgeous and the info a great read!

Terri Sommella: You have a wonderful collection of roses. Would love to see the photos once they are blooming.

In my zone 9 climate, The McCartney Rose, Chartreuse de Parme, St Ethelburga and Crimson Glory have strong perfume and good vase life. McCartney is perhaps the best out of them. However, I am not sure if they will perform the same way in your zone 6 too.

best regards

Terri: Mr. Lincoln has a slightly better quality fragrance, but Firefighter is much stronger in strength. Firefighter LASTS much longer in the vase & on the bush. I can sniff Mr. Lincoln 10 times a day, but Firefighter's scent is so strong, that it's best to perfume the entire room, rather than getting an overdose by close-sniffing.

Firefighter produces 10 times more blooms than Mr. Lincoln !!

Thanks to Lavenderlace's questions, I found the secret for winter-survival: dig deep for drainage past 2 feet (in case of heavy rain & then freezing temp), plus topping with 6" of mulch in case of zero snow, plus watering in Feb & March & April, if there's no rain or snow.I keep track of why roses die:

1) poor drainage, can't handle freezing ice in winter

2) Dry spring with no rain or snow in Feb & March & April.

3) Zero stuff on top to prevent frost-penetration (can go down 1/2 foot in zone 6, and even deeper in colder zones). At least 6" of mulch is needed. Al in zone 5b Chicagoland piled tons of leaves and he kept his Peter Mayle alive for over a decade, while others lost their Peter Mayle. See below link for the secrets of winter-survival, the roses which I followed the above 3 steps: leaves are still green now, despite -10 and -13 F weeks.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4329440/keep-roses-alive-through-winter-and-differences-in-roots-rootstocks?n=21

Straw, Please clarify. I just read that leaves cause the already acidic rain to be compounded and create molds and fungus like "kimchi." Which mulch did you use for the top?

Fantastic question !! That's what I did in fall 2015 (piling up acidic leaves), and a bunch of my favorite roses died through the winter: Sonia Rykiel, Romantica Sweet Promise 2007, Bolero.

So in fall 2016, I topped my roses with TWO applications of horse manure (pH 8, with shell-lime), BEFORE putting acidic leaves on top. Plus I dug down to below 2 feet, to prevent standing acidic rain water.

I first observed how acid plus cold-temp can kill rose quickly in Feb. 2012, when I dunked used grapefruit rinds in a bucket of pH 9 tap-water, and watered Wise Portia early Feb, then the temp dipped below zero freezing. All canes became black with canker, I almost killed healthy & vigorous Wise Portia with that acidic water.

While my other roses bloomed early June, Wise Portia was a tiny shoot (shorter than my ankle) in late June 2012.

I used the same principle (acid plus cold) to kill a tough WOODY weed that's taking over my Dogwood tree. For two years, I poured 2 gallons of vinegar in summer & also in early fall .. that weed refused to die. So this Christmas, I asked husband for his left-over vinegar (used to clean his coffee machine), and dumped 1/2 gallon onto that weed at 20's F, below freezing. I succeeded in killing that at last.

The best time to kill tap-root weeds like dandelions is to pour vinegar in freezing cold winter. In winter 2015 we had tons of rain in December, then it froze. In poor drainage clay, many 15-year old trees could not take acidic standing-rain water, nor freezing ice, and many street trees died in spring 2015, zone 5a.

Lol!!! While I LOVE the smarts in you and others here I must say it can be very confusing. The gentleman in the link you posted uses leaves in winter to mulch with good results. And yet, in your wonderful and unique style, you explain your experience and how the roses dies using leaves as a mulch. (This is me tearing my hair out!) Have pity!

Terri: if you have access to free wood-chips, they are safer to mulch roses than leaves through the winter. 1998-1999 we had over 50 inch. of snow in Chicagoland. That wet winter I mulched my dozen hybrid-teas (grafted on Dr.Huey) with 8 inch. of leaves. But my neighbor mulched her 2 dozens hybrid teas (grafted on Dr.Huey) with 6 inch. of woodchips, which she got for free from Com-Ed (electric company), which trimmed trees and ground them.

The result? Spring of 1999, 90% of my roses died with black canker, while hers ALL SURVIVE winter, and vigorous & blooming in June, while mine are below ankle, black with canker, from the acidic wet leaves.

Moisture retention is needed in case of a dry early spring (zero snow), and a thick layer of wood-chips can easily keep the ground moist, but not soaking wet like acidic leaves. Niels in Denmark, zone 5b, lost 1/3 of his hundreds of roses in a mild winter .. his roses were grafted on Multiflora (prefer wet & acidic) .. they got dried out, since he topped his roses with sand.

So leaves work great for ROSES GRAFTED ON MULTIFLORA, which prefer wet & acidic. But acidic leaves really hurt ROSES GRAFTED ON DR. HUEY, or some own-roots which prefer alkaline, like Wise Portia or French Meilland & Romantica roses.

I have no access to free wood chips. I could pay a tree trimmer but it would cost me and would need to rot for a couple years. I have done this before but that will not help me this year and I want to fix the roses. Additionally, you mentioned that black walnut could be mixed it, right? They are everywhere around here, too. I can call my electric company. However, I do not own a truck.

By the way no one around here uses wood shavings for their horses and since I do not have a truck, I can't get any of what they sell anyway.

We have had zero snow this year. Lots and lots of rain but no snow. 5" so far in January.

I will rake up my leaves tomorrow and put them in the leaf bin to compost. That will leave the roses with no protection to freeze/thaw at all, though.

Terri: Since you have no melting snow, plus dry spring, it's safe to put leaves directly on top your roses, IF you sprinkle shell lime (pH over 9) on the ground first. My melted snow is so acidic that it converted rock-hard clay into fluffy soil.

Amazon sells 6 lb. of Oyster shell lime for $11.

https://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-6-Pound-Oyster-Shell/dp/B001B2W8BA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485714954&sr=8-1&keywords=oyster+shell+lime

We have 3 days on non-stop heavy rain this Jan, I knew our winter would be wet, so I already dug up roses to fix drainage, down to 2.5 feet. I put 2 layers of horse manure (pH 8 with shell-lime) before topping with acidic & fresh leaves.

Dr. Huey is a deep & tap-root system like dandelion .. tap-root system is much more sensitive to acid than cluster-root (multiflora-rootstock or tomato). I use vinegar to kill dandelions. I dump used-lemon water on my tomato or snapdragon flowers .. they like that. But used lemon water or acidic brewer's yeast made roses with woody-root break out in blackspots or mildew.

Terri, Straw has been a huge help to me also!

I found that Kordes Savannah Sunbelt rose lasts a long time in the vase and the scent lasts with it. Way stronger than Beverly here. Same with Jude the Obscure.

But I never walked by the area and smelled them though some have. Maybe when they are older?

If you like the scent, Memorial Day can be smelled from a distance and lasts a long time.

For lavenders, Twice in a Blue Moon, Singin' the Blues, and Lagerfeld were the strongest for me.

I'm planning on ordering Neptune but have heard mixed reviews on it. Any thoughts? Also intrigued by Angel Face but all the reports of blackspot kept me away.

Lemon Spice has been such a pleasure for me and I'm not a yellow person!

Radox Bouquet (a floribunda) has the best fragrance I've ever smelled in a rose!!! HMF says the blooms are 4 inches and that it's excellent as a cut flower.

I agree, I find all of this so confusing. :) LOL They can explain it in a million different ways, and I still don't get it. But that's on me. :)

Carol

Oh Carol, I like the sound of that! Off to check out whether it can handle the heat, thanks!

Carol, In my garden Neptune is amazing both as a plant and the color. The scent is nowhere near as strong as Blue Moon but pleasant.

You know I spent years only buying blackspot resistant roses and most had little scent. But now, everything I thought I knew about roses and black spot I just chucked out the window. IMO there are just too many variables and here in Southern PA cool nights and warms days are common in Spring. So, blackspot on some anyway.

And I wondered why Aloha which should be very disease resistant and vigorous rose despite being own root looked pathetic and had black spot. I figured out it is because it is on an arch near a mature Colorado Blue Spruce and apparently those are water hogs. So I guess what I am saying is that we can talk about which roses are blackspot resistant, but placement on your property matters so much I am not sure that it matters. I never thought about what plants were within their own root zone and what THEIR water needs are.

Mission for 2017: to be a better keeper. I will keep diseased leaves cut daily and removed. And fortify the roses with the fish emulsion + seaweed I just bought from Amazon.com as well as enriching the soil and adding manure when my new load finally rots down. I will keep to a better watering schedule weekly or more in Summer. I will battle Japanese Beetles as best I can and not let that keep me inside. And I am going to buy bushy roses that are first and foremost extremely fragrant and secondly hold in a vase. If they are supposed to be blackspot resistant, too, so much the better. This year I am making a commitment to enjoy my roses more, blackspot, Japanese Beetles or not.

While I have placed my order for this year, next year I am going to find a place for Gertrude Jekyll. English /cottage gardens are my thing I guess and she was voted the #1 rose in Britain. That one is a no brainer.

P.S. on my Roses List... I keep finding roses I forgot about. Westerland climber on a rose pillar in mostly shade is amazing. Strange color unless you like bicolors (sort of a duller softer orange and yellow) but has a lovely scent. And VERY resistant to everything (or maybe it just likes the spot.)

lavenderlacezone8 - I can't tell you much about Radox Bouquet, because it was a bareroot last year. The fragrance, though, was fabulous!!! Let us know what you find out about it.

Carol

Carol, HMF's member's ratings have it as "good" for heat and disease but there aren't that many ratings. "Excellent-" for cold hardy so perfect for you!

You are so lucky to be able to grow from bands and own root! I am jealous!!!

Filly, Heritage sometimes shatters for me like that too so was disappointed with her in the vase. I'm just going to use her for landscaping now since she's beautiful and her foliage is so nice.

I'm glad to hear that you like Sharifa because I have a fairly new one in the pot!

Thought I had already posted here. Anyway, Sugar Moon is a beautiful rose in all phases from bud to fully open bloom with a scent that persists in any weather. I visited a regional rose garden after their first flush on a 95deg day to see what was still blooming best with super fragrance. Sugar Moon was one of the tops. I found one cheap (grafted) at HD in August and it exploded into bloom after planting. They last a long time on the bush and in a vase. The petals are very stiff and the blooms as big as my small hand. I adore this rose and regret I didn't buy the second one for $8. BTW, it's a blooming machine in morning sun only. It also seems to be doing just fine after some single digit temps. Will try to find links to pics. Did I say I love this rose? ; )

lavender - I grow mine in pots and overwinter them in the garage - so zones are no worry for me. :) Wonder which rose you're going to get?? :)

Carol