They must be happy in your garden. That's a lot of growth in a short amount of time. I planted a small fourth of july last year. It looks like it is growing well. Glad to hear it has vigor.

As for the grass - just dig it out & fill with more roses!

patty, we paid a company who is specialized in golf courses to treat our grass once. I don't know what we were thinking, i guess with all the excitement to have golf course grass we signe a contract with them. Its very difficult to have perfect grass bc, first of all it's expensive, and second it takes many sessions reseeding it to perfection.... My front yard is extremely shady, and for this reason the grass is a different type, kind of weird to be honest. The back is sunny from 11 am to sunset, and the grass is a brighter green and lusher..... It was expensive to do and as soon as the company left my house, the dog went outside to pee and poo... It keeps burning the grass since dog urine is so acidic. So, we gave up and canceled the contract. And now it is in God's hands.

HalloBlondie, my soil is red heavy clay....on summer time, its impossible to dig in it. Its basically concrete. When i planted my 4th of July i had to soak that spot for almost 30 minutes with a hose to loosen it up.... I dug a big hole, and filled it with everything i could find at Lowes..... Lime, mushroom Compost, Cow Manure, garden soil, clay breaker with gypsum, Organic Hummus, peetmoss, perlite, a little bit of the original soil and voi- a-la.... In April I put a bit of Epsom Salt on them and May, June and July I feed them with Holly-tone...Seems like it works very well. I have been gardening for only 3 years, and doing it since i started planting roses.. Looks like roses love it...and they grow like a vine.

Well you are definitely doing something right because your fourth of July is glorious. There used to be a Chinese restaurant downtown that had a huge Fourth of July in front of the door and I think they have to get rid of it because it got so big that it was eating people as they headed into the restaurant but it was a thing of beauty

Hi Kristine A Fourth of July planted by a restaurant? As pretty as it is, this rose bush has thorns as big and sharp as a barbecue stick. Wonder many people have been hurt by that bush while they try to smell the flowers. I hope my Fourth of July gets as large as the one you were talking about. I always wanted a vine wisteria where I planted my 4th of July, but after some research about wisteria, I realized I am not brave enough for such thing. I guess 4th the July will do the same job, as beautiful as, without giving me stress, worries and headache of that vine . I am very happy I bought two climbing 4th the July... it's always in continuos bloom and the striped colors are very unique and eye catchy

I am glad you got the rose instead of wisteria. The previous owners planted wisteria in several poor locations. Even after removing miles of roots it still comes up everywhere.

I didn't realize that 4th of July had such wicked thorns, no wonder the restaurant removed it.