Thank you !! We are so blessed out here , the view is more than we could have imagined ourselves ! And I didn't want to look at this house , the mls didn't show photos of the view just mentioned it .. luckily my dh had a hunch !

Queen of Sweden takes breaks without blooms for sure and it's spring flush is the best . I would say I get 3 cycles of blooms ? Last year I did not fertilize or move grass from the base so it wasn't treated the best . This year I will be able to give it a great start so im looking forward to seeing it again ! It is just so pretty !

Good luck with your blossomtime! I sure hope they pull through for you . It's a real trooper here !

Lily, if my 6 Queen of Swedens looked like yours, they'd still be in my yard. I grew her in the day when I expected perfect blooms right out of the chute and threw away a lot of roses because they didn't measure up the first year. I'm wiser now... I give them at least 3 years before I break out the shovel. :) Love Cloud 10 as well! TOO BAD YOU CAN'T BOTTLE UP THAT VIEW AND SELL IT!! Are you happy with the house, too? So exciting being young and starting out!!!

Rebecca

I think I have finally figured out how to post pictures again since someone changed the method. The above is a picture of a consistently pretty apricot floribunda called Fragrant Apricot. I have gotten rather attached to this rose with its hybrid tea-like flowers. It is on its own roots. I didn't get very many good pictures last year so I can't post much that I would want to admit to, but this one was decent enough.

On another note, the American Garden Rose Selections awards have been posted for 2017, and guess who was awarded as a couple of the winners. Munstead Wood and Lady of Shalott were two of the selections, believe it or not. The American Garden Rose Selections is the replacement for the discontinued AARS All-American Rose Selections program.

Thanks Rebecca !! I also tend to have a short Rose fuse sometimes.. I have my eye on my buff beauty . It's been around almost 4 years , and has two great flushes but that's it . I think our heat is too much for it . and sometimes ill just get an itch to replace things when they are at their worst !

Yes we love the house too! a house you can tweak, but the land you cannot! So I didn't get my white kitchen but my neighbors are cattle and horse farms .

Absolutely GORGEOUS, Lily!!!

Rebecca

Lilyfinch your views are absolutely amazing and your roses are gorgeous as well especially QOS

Lilyfinch, you're property is just dreamy - this is coming from someone who lives in a hot, dry climate. I forget how lush a landscape can be. Great photos.

Rebecca, not to make you miserable, however, here's Peace in my zone. A trade for how sad my Johann Strauss is?? You give me JS, I'll give you Peace? lol

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS PEACE!!!!! Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that? :) Try that Osomocote... JS loves it. :)

Rebecca

Sterling Silver

I do have to say though that it takes the bush quite a number of years before the blooms display the huge magnificent shape shown in the picture.

The fragrance is medium strength (maybe slightly more) but has the most perfect smell, like true damask mixed with freshly cut lemon.

(These are not my pictures but I just wanted to show you the perfect bloom shape)

The exact color of the rose can be variable depending on conditions. For me, the color was a little more of a bluish purple grey, and not as light in coloration, it really did resemble a "silver" color.

I don't remember my Sterling Silver being so mauve in color hue, it was more like this Blue Bayou shown here:

Despite these awe-inspiring pictures (and I do think SS is the most outstanding purple rose) be aware that Sterling Silver is not a vigorous grower (maybe almost a little feeble), is stingy on blooms (but when they do form they can be magnificent), and is prone to disease in climates that don't have a dry growing season.

There's a reason most nurseries don't carry it any longer, despite it having been a very popular variety in the 70s and 80s. It's not the easiest rose to grow.

btw, I think future rose breeding work should focus on trying to cross Peace with other blue colored roses, because Morning Mist was not the best parent. also want to point out real fast that I'm not entirely sure about when SS reached the peak of popularity, that 70s and 80s is very approximate. SS was bred in 1950, and I know one could buy it in the 90s.

SoFlo, your MOST EXCELLENT photos made me feel like I was browsing in an ice cream store and I wanted a double dip of every flavor!!! I'm a pale rose lover, but I have to admit that I liked the kick of Ebb Tide and Pretty Lady with all those pastels... Hmmm... may have to be thinkin' about that.

Parker, those old tried and true HT's are wonderful!!! I saw a picture of Peace in Audrey Hepburn's hands in a DVD of Gardens of the World Roses section. It was SO HUGE and the petals were so firm, and it was so beautiful, that I wanted to call someone and ask for a cutting. Gorgeous roses. Love that blue/grey color. Want some.

Rebecca

Yes, the blooms on my Peace are easily between 5 1/2 - 5 3/4 inches in diameter. has a tropical fruity sweet and pleasant smell. It can take some time for the bush to become established and older before the blooms start becoming shapely/bigger and develop more fragrance. The blooms on an older/established Peace have a similar shape to those SS in the pictures I previously showed you.

Here's a picture of Sweetness (grandiflora) in the garden. The bush isn't old enough to develop shapely blooms yet. It is own-root.

can't remember what this one is, sorry.

(Ketchup and Mustard, maybe)

Charles Darwin

The blooms have a very comparable shape to Golden Celebration (though obviously smaller) but with more ruffling of the inside petals (which I like).

Actually, while Golden Celebration can display ruffling (like that prior picture I showed you), it is not as prone to. Still fantastic bloom shape but on average less scrunching and ruffling of the interior petals. Little tradeoffs.

For a lot of these roses, you really can't judge how the variety looks like from just one picture, so keep that in mind. They can display a fair degree of variability in their bloom shape (and sometimes color, to a lesser degree).

This one has been a really nice surprise in terms of flower quality and overall plant health. I don't see many people talking about it, but I wouldn't mind having another one if I had a place for it. Meet the AARS grandiflora Sunshine Daydream.

Teasing Georgia

Teasing Georgia is a real rambler, and blooms profusely. The canes can be rather delicate and weak, so without support it tends to bend over and wander sideways. The bush can get quite big and expansive. The flowers tend to exhibit a nice ruffled appearance but are kind of miniature sized. Often being sold as a small bare root plant, it does need a few years to get established first before it takes off, so some patience may be needed.

I get the feeling it seems to want a little bit more moisture than my climate has, so if you live in a dry climate it will be important to consistently water it to keep the soil moist. (Maybe it can grow fine but the dryness is holding it back from fast growth, which it wants to do)

I wish that I could click double or triple like for these exquisite pictures, thanks everybody. So inspiring!

And Lilyfinch, your views are just incredible, like a set from a dreamy movie!

Parker, I think your Teasing Georgia needs more water. Mine has big canes and big blossoms... I water with a sprinkler twice a week and supplement additional drip when it is in the 90's. It gets a lot of wet stuff. :)

Dear lord Lily your setting is breath taking. Can't wait to see more pics with all your new roses blooming. Everyone's pics are gorgeous!!!

Kelly: Can you please tell me more about your Dames de Chenonceau Rose? This is one I’m considering for my zone 10b, coastal Southern California garden. Your picture of her is so beautiful. Is she a profuse continual bloomer for you all season? How does she seem to deal with heat & sun? We get hot dry, summers here... and our afternoon sun can be scorching. Does she take a few years to establish and really shine? And feel free to share and pics you might have of her... I would love to see how she looks for you... even when not at her best. Thank you!

I think I can identify that red and yellow rose as the variety "High & Magic".

It's a florist rose and doesn't have any fragrance.

I've posted these photos before, but they are my great enablers and I never tire of them. Diane

My enablers are Angel Face, Boscobel/Golden Celebration, Augusta Luise, Colette, Evelyn, and Ascot. Diane

Diane,

Augusta Luise is to die for. I will research her better to see if she can go in my area. I don't think I can resist this although neither do I think mine could ever get to that level of performance. Dreamy!

Apparently, this is resurrected thread but who can't use looking at a few enablers? We all need to want things to we don't have (yet!) LOL.

Until recently I can't say I had any enablers. I have been trying to get the few bushes I have to perform at any level of "noticeability." This Spring it looks like they are stepping up.

However, I think I may have just purchased two enablers: Plum Perfect (first open bloom below) and Dee-lish (cheat bloom from the store, unfortunately this rose doesn't photograph well; the color is way more sophisticated than the common-place pink that shows up in pictures; and vibrant, saturated coral. I Will post photos of my blooms below, with the phone. ,

Plum Perfect and Dee-lish.

Ooh.. I only have daffodils and hyacinth...

@Kelly Tregaskis Collova,

Those are enablers too.:) I LOVE the hyacinth fragrance and I am determined to get some for next season as I had none this year.

Diane - someone should name a rose after you...man, those are gorgeous roses....especially AL!!! And your Angel Face is unsurpassed too!!

Severe - those roses are looking good! :)

Kelly - that hyacinth!!! Wow! I've never seen a hyacinth...so I don't know how it smells. Wish I did. :)

You know how you can have several roses and they are wonderful but there is always that one or two that make you a bit giddy.

I think if you have a rose that you talk to, then it is pretty special.

For me that rose is Munstead Wood and Crimson Glory. I have never had a rose that I rooted for more than Crimson Glory to thrive, and yez, it has finally taken off in its new home.

I spend a bit of time talking to Munsted wood.. He is definitely a favorite.

kristine_legault's ideas · More Info

Munstead

kristine_legault's ideas · More Info

Crimson Glory

Gorgeous, Kristine!

Thank you!!

Kristine - mmmmmm :) Those look like 2 really fun red roses! I especially love MW!! They make me smile. :)

I have never been overly impressed with Ebb Tide. It has always been in a pot and just ok.

I moved it in to one of my huge planting boxes and man has it taken off.

It could be a new enabler. I cant wait to see what it does this year

Kristine, I have three Ebb Tide roses, and yes, they could be enablers, but I'm still a Twilight Zone fan. I agree that Munstead Wood is a great enabler, and was the next on my list to post, but I didn't want to have too long a list (lots of roses are enablers, for sure). Here are Ebb Tide, Twilight Zone, and Munstead Wood. Diane

Diane, I really loved the color of my Twilight Zone, sadly lost it but am replacing with a standard next spring. I would get it this year if I could find it.

I would love to see a standard of Twilight Zone. I've never seen it offered for sale. To clarify, the first three photos are all Ebb Tide. The second two are Twilight Zone, and the third is Munstead Wood and Ebb Tide. Diane

@Diane Brakefield I am a big fan of Angel Face, but you are single-handedly the reason I have Ascot, August Luise, and Rouge Royale. I look forward to my first blooms! You should probably get some kind of commission from Palatine at least. Ha!

Diane, I saw it offered at Edmonds but by the time that I decided to pull the it was gone. Next year for sure.

Boy, Laural, I hope your roses, Ascot, AL, and Rouge Royale do well for you. I feel responsible. You are not the first person to suggest that Palatine give me a commission. Do they sell Rouge Royale, too? I didn't realize that. I shouldn't tell you this, but I have spent the last two seasons' pruning sessions reducing the size of my Ascots. They just were too big. The largest lost about five feet of height last week.

Kristine, I got my first Twilight Zone the year it came out from Edmunds. I've always thought there was something special about that early TZ. It's much darker than my newer TZ that I bought locally. I'm probably just imagining this, but I'm really hoping you get a standard--I'm interested in its color. Idaho still won't let Edmunds ship here, which is so disappointing. Diane

@Diane Brakefield I don’t believe Palatine sells Rouge Royale but I actually switched out a Heathcliff I had on order through Regan when a handful of Rouge Royale became available. That was after a discussion by you about how how incredible this rose is....and then the pictures you posted! I couldn’t say no. Ha! I’m so envious of your Ascot! I know mine probably won’t get the size that yours do but I put her in a spot where she can sprawl just in case.

Laura, (sorry if I spelled your name incorrectly in my last post), Ascot doesn't sprawl, it just gets big, and needs no support. The canes are very thick. But it both pushes out the canes and pushes up canes--like a big shrub. The shape is quite "orderly" with no strange canes shooting all over the place. Good luck! I hope your RR doesn't prove too mildew ridden. We don't have that problem here in the desert--no blackspot here, either. And I didn't mention that originally. Diane

Diane - SWOON!!! and SWOON again!!!! Really? You pruned 5 feet off of your Ascots? Incredible! :) :)

Kristine - TZ would be GORGEOUS as a standard!!

@Diane Brakefield i hope my Ascot grows well here! I’ve given her a good amount of space to do whatever she likes. when Ascot came in it definitely had the most canes...I think Forever Rose had the thickest canes but Ascot had the greatest number. I’m hoping that indicates she’s a “full” grower? My Augusta Luise came in the smallest...just a wee thing compared to the others. Rouge Royale I plan to park in a spot with full, all day sun and excellent air flow to hopefully avoid much of the disease she seems prone to. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for sharing all your beautiful pictures and inspiring newbies like myself!

Laura, my Forever Rose also came looking really healthy. I am excited about that one. It is in honor of our daughter's adoption.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw I‘m excited to hear how you like it! You’re in that magical zone 8 that all us cold zoners envy. 😋 Post pictures when you start getting blooms!