Ingenious Mr. Fairchild- 3rd year. Wanting to grow the most, in full sun. It kinda scared me at first with its growth so heavy I almost got scared I was seeing witches broom... a sign of RRD. What do you think?? None of my others are showing this sign so I am not sure if this is just the way it grows to break dormancy

Teasing Georgia- 2nd year.. also wants to grooow. Gave me one octopus cane before winter. I didn't have the heart to prune it bc I am thinking about wrapping the canes around my mailbox.

Sharifa Asma- 2nd year. in a 5 gal pot. Has done better since I put in a pot.

Meilland Eden- 3rd year for the tallest one on right. 2nd year for the sad little twig on the left. The roofers damaged a lot of their canes that I had to cut out so I hope they bounce back. Maybe the one on the left doesn't get enough sun in winter or the planting hole is a mess ( a lot of the pine bark mulch might have fell in the hole when I was preparing it for this rose since I pulled out a old bush that was there)

I put all my roses to bed with coop poop and potassium this winter. I fed them yesterday with soluable fish and seaweed emulsions as their first feeding. Normally we don't prune or fertilize here until after Valentine's Day. But I checked the weather and it should be pretty mild. They seems to like it and I figured I should be more worried about feeding than any damage at 32-35 degrees F for a few hours.

Hi filly , great pictures roses look good.!!!

The ground hog saw his shadow so I got 3 more months till the roses grow. I am getting seedlings indoors started.

I lived in Pensacola for a while. I loved it there. That was 30 years ago. Your rose look like they are ready to go. I liked seeing your compost tea bucket. That is a nice setup. Maybe if you spray it on the leaves it will help. I think it worked fine. Last year was my first time trying it.

It rains good here too. I know it can rain hard sometimes there where you live. Some years I add some clay from the soil guy from a nearby town. I have sandy soil and I think I need a little clay. Your mulching looks good. Your soil looks like it's good and rich. Maybe at Joe Patti seafood they have some seafood scraps for the garden. I bet you can get good fish seaweed fertilizer where you live. That will feed the soil food web good. I used to work at the Marina next to the Joe Patti seafood.

Here's a pic of the DA delicate roses that need winter. Here in Adirondacks NY The rest of my roses are tough winter hardy shrubs that don't need all this.

Wow, filly, your plants look beautiful. I envy you such an early start! I'm still working on my Fall chores. I only wish my beds looked that good cleaned; I didn't see any mess at all, but I use leaves as my mulch so it always has that natural look. Please update with growth. Samuel, I love the DIY cold frame. I hope to do the same in a couple of years. Your work winter protecting definitely pays off. If you have time, could you let us know which beauties you pictured.

Very resourceful Sam! Proof is in the pudding in that second picture for sure.

Filly, your pictures are quite inspiring on a cold February day, thanks so much! How does Jude the Obscure do in your area? For me, his leaves never look as nice as Heritage, though they both pump out the blooms.

My neighbors don't mind the bags of leaves around in the backyard because in the summer the get to see roses. I put the names in after I put the picture. Champlain, Ebb tide, Heritage. VV got there just as I was typing them in. All those leaves turn to mulch as I reuse them and shredd em.

Sam, Wow! I love your garden, I hope I have full bushes like that this spring, its amazing they can go from that first picture in winter to as lush as they look in the after picture! I will try out more compost teas when I get stuff to make compost. This winter has been pretty bummer for my compost piles. I didn't get enough leaves in fall/winter to fill half my 3x3 brick compost/worm bin so I couldn't make compost. I am thinking of asking my neighbor who has horses in the country for a trash can size amount of horse poop for my compost and I'll fill it with alfalfa pellets, leaves I can find in my yard, fruit/veggie kitchen scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells. I can't use my grass clippings because my husband insists on truegreen... ... ....I won't say anything about that.... lol.... anyways, sometimes I find wild rabbit poop in my side yard conveniently near the compost bin so I scoop up those pellets and scratch directly in the roses sometimes, and it doesn't burn them. Can't tell if they like them or not but it helps me add organics to my sand.

Lavender, I put Jude the Obscure in Fall. He always wanted to grow but I had him in a bad spot so he never bloomed. He is in a better spot now and so we will see. I've not had him very long.

Heritage on the other hand, is a really strong grower and blooms a bunch even though its in a partial sun spot. This is her 3rd year so I am guessing this will be fabulous since I had 6 foot canes last year her second year. Gets BS sometimes but its in a terrible spot.

I make them both sound so terrible but I don't spray anything unless absolutely must and very mild stuff. (neem oil hose spray- for flower blight and aphids on my Camilla japonica shrub or Mrs. Meyers soap watered down with a little olive oil- on my August beauty gardenias to help keep away the white fly and minimize sooty mold... I hardly ever talk about those. haha) I must share pics of my other southern fragrance shrubs even if its a little off topic and pics! they are amazing if you make it to the area you can grow them. Their smell and shape alone would make you want to grow them.

I am looking forward to seeing pictures of everyone else's like Khalid's. His area equiv. to zone 9 looks like his is already pushing leaves too. I will post pictures once I get some spring buds :)

This is a great thread filly. Thanks for starting. This thread also motivates me to post the pics of sprouting roses. Many of my roses are also sprouting and have a lush green foliage on them. I think I need to take a few pics.

A question... what is that white stuff in the bed of crocus rose?

best regards

Khalid, that's the Florida beach sand that is our soil. I have to always add a lot of organic matter to it because it disappears and returns to sand.

Sorry it was 30 years ago when I lived in Pensacola. I remember the beach sand squeaked when I walked.

I never even imagine growing anything when I lived in Pensacola. I was younger. It's sand every where. Then there is that red clay sand some spots. Lots of pine trees. I think the best thing I would love to do is get seafood scraps and put that in the compost with a lot of pine needles. Way up the top of the bay there is good swampy mud near the college. I miss it there. But I remember the soil being sandy. I remember way up on the hills by Alabama the red on the tires. You could tell what town a person came from with the red on the tires.

That's how it is at my house here and I have been putting truckloads of organics too for years. I found someone with topsoil with clay in it maybe that helped a little. The roses seemed to like it.

It's warm here during the day and chilly at night. Mar is the official start to my growing season here.

Only Ingenious Mr Fairchild is putting out buds, he's the only in full sun.

The others get shifting sun all day, east to west exposure, so they haven't produced buds like this.

I planted Abraham Darby a week ago and he's settling in nicely. His hole was amended with 3 banana peels, alfalfa pellets, gypsum, and mint compost.

Fertilizing: I've had almost 3 weeks of fertilizing. So far they have received, 2 doses peters bloom booster (going to stop using until fall now), 1 dose fish emulsion/seaweed, alfalfa pellets, coop poop, gypsum or lime accordingly.

My soil is sandy sand and leaf litter. There are some grey sandy loam spots. Soil is on the acidic side, and I water with lake water. I mulch with lava rocks to neutralize acidic rain water, although I have a few mulched with pine bark (cheaper)

For reference here is a list of which side of soil ph prefer in my FL garden. All my roses are own root. My goal is to prove you're roses won't die or decay from Root Knot nematodes FL is infamous for.

1. Heritage- likes acid, gypsum

2. Golden Celebration- likes acid, gypsum + lots of water; heavy feeder

3. James Galway- likes acid, gypsum, does benefit from lots of calcium too (have provided oyster shells and it did fine with slow release shell lime)

4. Crocus rose- likes acid, only have given alfalfa pellets and fish/seaweed since replanting

5. Lichfield Angel- likes acid, I think I need to feed with emulsion/seaweed and give more water.

6. Carding Mill- I'm not sure. Mine looks a little sad. Maybe need to be fed more too. Any tips would be appreciated

7. Abraham Darby- too new to tell. But I think he likes it acid since he's doing great.

8. Jude the obscure- was a band last season, like acid, only used organically and solvable fertilizer on.

9. Evelyn- likes alkaline, added dolomitic lime since it looks sad and hasn't produced any blooms. Need to try more fish/seaweed fert. Didn't like alfalfa pellets. Not sure if coop poop was beneficial or not.

10. Alnwick- not sure since it was a band last season. I had to prune out a lot of damage from roofers so it looks like a stick. It likes fish/seaweed feet.

11. Molineux- likes acid, also had to prune out a lot of damage.

12. Ingenious Mr. Fairchild- likes acid, good if drought. Need full sun.

13. Teasing Georgia- likes acid, good if drought. I think this is going to get huge in full sun. Gave me a 6 ft cane that I am training around my mailbox.

14. Sharifa Asma- likes acid, in a pot. I think she needs more fish/seaweed and sun...

15. Eden- likes alkaline. Richt now I put waaaay to much acid stuff on it, mulch is pine bark; I put alfalfa pellets and coop poop on it and it's watered with lake water which is acidic so it doesn't like it. I recently added dolomitic lime and some chunks of lava rock to see if that helps.

Other plants blooming in my southern garden:

1. Tea olive- likes acid, smells like Georgia peach fragrance from Bath and Body works. Tea olive is my favorite shrub. I have 4 planted on my property, here are 2 from the backyard

2. Banana shrub- like acid, all 5 were damaged badly from the roofers. Here is the one closest to my house with a small bloom and white spots of insect damage.

3. Camellias are finishing up blooming. They were blooming in Jan-Feb this year. Here's some pictures from that time.

4. Gardenias- likes acid, needs to warm up before it will start blooming

5. Hydrangeas- my endless summer looks sad and so does my little lime... any tips? Or is it supposed to look like that right now?

First blooms of the season!

Ingenious Mr Fairchild (pink) and Molineux (yellow)

Wow filly, thanks for all of the great pictures with the super info with them!!!

I was planning on pulling Evelyn out of her pots and planting by Jude and Heritage since I thought that she could take the heat. But from your notes, it sounds like she won't appreciate the same soil that they like?

Lavender, I do not recommend planting with heritage and Jude.

I have Evelyn on the SE corner of my house (prime sun real estate with afternoon shade), right next to a sprinkler, and the water run off drain from the driveway... and I am figuring it's my soil ph being off or mineral def. so this year will be experiments to see what I can add to soil to make her bloom. Maybe she does need more sun?? I can't make a call on sun exposure.

But, soil-wise I do not think she would be good with those two. Abraham Darby would probably be a good substitute!

Evelyn is one of those that I hear great things about or that she is stingy. So that's very interesting to hear of your experiences since you are paying attention to the ph, thank you!

I have some in pots and she is very vigorous so far, but no buds yet, unlike Sharifa Asma. But I'm afraid that SA will just turn white in full sun summer heat.

My soil is sandy but not as white as yours. I had seriously considered Abraham Darby but heard that he liked to BS so decided to avoid last summer. But I must like a challenge because I just bought 40 more BS magnets like Angel Face! So he'll fit in fine if he does BS, LOL!

Filly , Can you get hold of some yard waste compost for the Evelyn rose. Maybe that will work.

Thanks for sharing the nice rose pictures!!!

It's a while for me till I see roses here.. 25 below zero wind chill factor.

I will need to check my compost bin and see what it looks like! :)

that is is way too cold. I think I'd die. Stay warm!

filly: That is a great update giving which rose likes what soil pH. This is a very valuable information and thanks for the wonderful photos too.

I am particularly fascinated to see your Tea olive. Your report that it has wonderful fragrance is very encouraging. I will definitely try to loos for this one.

best regards

That is so cold, sam, but it's still preferable to the tornadoes and gale force winds we just experienced. it certainly makes me thankful I had the dead oak limbs removed that were hanging over my roof!

Khalid, here is a link to the University of Florida information on Tea Olive: http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/tea-olive.html

The shrub was introduced from China back in Victorian time. I think it might grow well for you since you're zone is hotter than mine but it's very similar so it should grow regardless.

If you can find a banana shrub, get it! Those blooms smell just like sweet bananas! Here is a link on michelia figo: http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/banana-shrub.html

Filly, neither of those links worked for me, sorry!