Not sure what those spots are but hurray ML opened! Bloom looks great!

I can remember waiting and waiting and waiting for our ML to open...lol...Thanks for the memories...lol

I may try ML someday again...He was actually very disease resistant here the 4- 5 years we had him...

Ray- you're in same area as me and I've got spots like that on all outer petals. I think it's a touch of botrytis from all the rain.

Yikes! Good to know, thanks Nicole. Should I remove the bud and throw it away? What a shame seeing as how it's one of only two right now lol.

Thanks Jim! Glad to know I'm somewhat of an ML ambassador :)

Nope do not remove that bud...lol...See what it looks like when it opens...

Ok good :)

Is it normal for ML to lose his petals so quickly? It seems like once the buds open it's maybe 3 days and the petal start falling off. :(

Beautiful !! Mine haven’t opened yet. Will post pics on my thread when they’re out.... hopefully this year haha.

Does your ML smell amazing? So excited for mine to open. Yours really do look lovely :) x

Yes RAYGUN that's one thing I disliked about ML... Here they lasted only 1-3 days then fell... I ended up putting ours in a large pot the 4th year that way I could move him out of hot sun when needed and I got blooms to last 5 days...lol...Then trying to overwintering him in that pot he died...ooops...lol

Thanks Darren! They really do look great. The color, at first, is such a lovely red and the fragrance truly is heavenly! It's not even very hot here at all but they do blue after they fully open and then drop. I can't wait until they are established and hopefully more floriferous.

Jim, that is an unfortunate confirmation. I cut one while it was still a pretty tight bud yesterday and put in a vase inside. I'm hoping I get to enjoy it a bit longer. Ugh...next year, I plan on adding a couple more rose beds so I will need to plan a bit better. I'll definitely be asking this community for advice/suggestions.

RayGun, I am sorry to tell you that a lot of people on this forum have found Mr. Lincoln to be a disappointment. I tell you this, so you won't be put off growing roses forever. I had him briefly - a present from my son. The blooms were wonderfully fragrant and beautiful - but so few of them. Also, it was a one cane wonder, and a bs magnet, but then HT's don't do well here. Trish

Envy those of you who can grow Mister Lincoln. He hates the heat of SE Virginia (we're actually 8A here). I have fond memories of him in Ohio; he wasn't a generous bloomer, by any means but every bloom worth waiting for!

Here in our heat, both Oklahoma and Chrysler Imperial are better and come close in the fragrance dept.

Am hoping that Dark Desire will develop more fragrance as it matures. Such a vigorous, and healthy plant--- though it does grow awkwardly in all directions.

Titian, I'm learning that as I progress with the rose growing experience. I wish I had found this forum before I bought the bushes and I likely would have opted for CI, at least from what I have read about it on this site. You live and you learn, right? I certainly have the rose 'bug' and I plan on getting more bushes next year. For now, I'll stick with ole' Honest Abe and hope that as he gets established he becomes more generous. I have them in a long narrow bed on the side of the house and I had envisioned walking out the side door to the backyard along a beautiful path of fragrant red roses. So far a bit of a dud lol

Barbarag, I completely agree that the blooms are so beautiful. I think if I had other varieties I wouldn't mind the lack of flowers on him but since he's all I got...Either way I am thoroughly enjoying the overall experience and I can't wait to plant more next year! This year has been all about tackling the landscaping in the back yard and I'm not nearly done but I look forward to continuing.

For me in my area it was more trail and error kinda thing with roses RayGun... I learned about rose bushes that might do well in my area and then tried them... I do not spray so a rose has to be real disease resistant etc. on its own...

Look around your area and see what kind of roses might grow good in your area...Maybe there is a rose Society near your location? They could be of help...

All in all have fun! Even through any failures because when you catch the rose bug your see other roses you want so your need to make room sometimes...lol

Best wishes on your rose adventure!

Thanks Jim! I appreciate the encouragement. Like most endeavors it's a trial and error and I am enjoying the ride. I did try looking for a Rose Society and I didn't have any luck. Maybe my fellow Long Islanders can help with that. There are quite a few botanical gardens in the area I should check them out for inspiration.

Yes visit the botanical gardens and see whats growing good...Ask questions if you can...If you do not want to spray (that's your choice of course) ask them what roses might do well no spray in your area...

I also had a Mr Lincoln that opened one day, wind blew the next and he lost all of his petals, shovel pruned the following day!!!!!! Went down deep to get all of the roots but Dr. Huey still came up. So, I now have a Dr. Huey producing tons of roses and it looks great…. I don’t like the stupid thorns but he still deserves to live!!

LOL toolbelt you didn't waste any time, huh? I think I'll give him another year or two and hope the old addage of, "First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap", proves true!

Ray- I have had great success so far on Long Island with the Kordes roses- little to no black spot at all, wintered like champs with NO die back whatsoever after this cold winter. They even seem less tempting to the bugs (rose slugs and asiatic beetles) than my others. So maybe Dark Desire if you're looking for a red? I haven't tried it yet myself but I've heard such nice things. I also really love Tess of the D'urbervilles by Austin- starts a true red but ages magenta. The blooms last a long time both on shrub and cut in the house.

Thanks Nicole, I appreciate the info! I will look into those varieties for sure.

Jim, I've come across that pic too and had visions of the same success lol. Also, this thread from last year was literally MLgoals: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/the-mr-lincoln-the-most-fragrant-of-all-red-roses-dsvw-vd~4530262?n=34 

Oh, and I've heard good things about Kordes Desmund Tutu as well- a shorter more orderly red.

LOL...I've never seem more than like 3 blooms on our ML at one time...lol...We have many thunderstorms so I've had a ML bloom open and only a few hours later the petals were gone...lol....But there are people that can make ML sing...First you need the right climate and conditions...

I'm an optimist! Or is it masochist?

Looks like we have been inspired by the same pics and have the same ML goals! We can DO IT!!!! Haha.

Does anyone know how ML performs here in England? So far, my 8 have hardly grown and some only had 2 cains to start with and have had die back resulting in a 1 cain disappointment. Mehhh.

LOL Darren! I'm excited to see how yours turn out. Right now the biggest disappointment is just how quickly the petals drop. I have maybe 4 opened flowers and I'm sure they'll be gone by the weekend :(

You have 4 open blooms at one time RayGun? one better than I ever seen...lol...Great job!

Lol thanks Jim!

Darren Harwood, sadly Mister Lincoln is called the one cane wonder by many...lol... So that's sort of normal for that rose... But wishing you much success that ML grows better in the future for you in England!

Grafted Mister Lincolns can grow 8+ ft high in warmer climates... Your need a Step ladder to deadhead...lol

All three of my Mr. Lincolns have bloomed abundantly. The "secret" is heat combined with keeping it consistently well watered. I'm also reluctant to prune it back too far, so maybe some of you are pruning it down too far, or alternatively, not pruning back the stems at all and removing the spent buds. (I typically prune down about 3 inches from the bud, but you could prune 5 or 6, and if your bush is only 1 or 2 years old prune less than that) Also don't expect instant gratification, give your bush at least 2 years to get established.

One of my Mr. Lincoln bushes is behaving almost like a floribunda. (It was also planted in lose soil where a large bush had been dug up, so that may have something to do with it, it could be allowing the root system to more easily grow out in all directions)

Someone asked about Mr. Lincoln in England. It probably does moderately there. It is a hybrid tea, and hybrid teas do prefer more heat, but Mr. Lincoln has some moderate resistance to wetness and disease and is a fairly vigorous variety.

Your experience with any particular variety may be strongly dependent on what climate you are growing it in.

Planted him around second week of May this year, impatiently waiting over here in SE MI !!

Thanks Jim - appreciate the well wishes. Mine are quite close to opening .... very excited!

Have a great week! :)

D.

He has bloomed!! I'm hoping he lasts at least 2 days! we are having a heat wave here in MI, 90 degrees with very high humidity.

He smells LOVELY

Great to hear socalnolympia! Awesome!

Nice bloom shelbyndunn11!

Here's my Mr Lincoln showing me what he thinks about being pruned while dead heading - note the new red growth at top right - he really likes to be tall!

socal, that is truly exciting to hear your success story with ML. We've had consistently warm weather and I give them a good deep soak twice a week. Would you recommend more or less? Behaving like a floribunda? I could only wish! How old are your bushes? I'm well aware of the old addage, "first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap", I guess I'm struggling with the whole patience thing lol. Would love to see pics if you have any.

shelby, your blooms look great! For me, nothing compares to the classic red HT rose and ML is such a fine example. And yes, that fragrance is just so intoxicating and lovely - enjoy!

cyndita, that's basically what my ML's look like, too. I dead headed all of the spent blooms and he's already pushing out lot's of new red growth. :)

My friend, Darren, convinced me that I have enough room in my bed for three more HT's so I ran out and ordered Peace from Heirloom Roses. They should be shipping next week in gallon pots. I hope they're healthy and bloom for me this year!

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there, too. :)

<3

Our Mr Lincoln grew decent the first season...From a small Heirloom Rose planted in May it was 2+ft high in September... If its Grafted it might grow even quicker... I had pics but lost them in the photobucket disaster...

I reread my thread from 2010... Heirloom Roses sent me Mister Lincoln by accident so I decided to try it...Totally forgot...lol

Ok planted it in a pot in May of 2010, by August it looked like this...

It looked good! Such a bummer that it wasn't vigorous enough for you. I dead headed all but one of my first 'flush' of blooms and I have 3-5 new buds out as of this morning. Did some aphid squishing before work today otherwise they look good. Is that growth of 2+ feet in the first year about normal? I was expecting 7' this year lol...would be happier with less.

Is yours a grafted Lincoln RayGun???

Own root Lincoln like I had only grow to a mature height of 3.5ft- 4ft ,well here anyhow...Grafted ML will be larger...

Mine bloomed like this...I'd get 8-9 buds the first flush... All buds opened at different times so only had like 3 blooms open on bush at one time...Then ML took a 4-5 week rest with no blooms then 2nd-3rd flush would basically be the same... If it got to cool out ML would not bloom a 3rd flush.. depended on weather...

Oh ok that explains it, then. Yes, mine is grafted to Dr. Huey I believe. I had heard it can be very large. With production like you describe I can't fault you for shovel pruning him. Any experience with Peace?

No experience with peace...Sorry

Maybe create a new thread asking that question?

Ok half of my ML seems to be growing/flowering. I planted him early May, but had to dig him up and plant him deeper about a month ago. He didn't seem too damaged from it..

It doesn't seem like he's putting out any new growth, or am I just being super paranoid? Should I fertilize or anything ?

He's on the west side getting at 2pm and on.

Shelby, that looks very healthy to me! I planted mine at the end of February so they've had a bit longer in the ground. Other than being a little bit taller than yours they look pretty much on par. My first flush ended about two weeks ago. Once the flowers were dropping petals I clipped the spent blooms about one or two 5-leaflets down and I'm getting a bunch of new growth from those areas. Currently have about 10 buds that will probably open up in the next week or two. If you haven't fertilized yet I would definitely suggest that you do so. I used Jobe's Organic Rose Food. First round of fertilizing was done Mother's Day Weekend and the second one was about a month later. They definitely seem to respond well to a good shot of food.

Good luck, keep up the great work and enjoy those beautiful blooms!

Ok great to hear! I've used miracle grow rose and bloom granules, when I moved it... but I'm not convinced I like this fertilizer too much and it may be a little washed out by now.

I'm sure the Miracle Gro works just fine and if you have it I'd say use it. I prefer the organic stuff as that builds up a good soil profile over time vs. inorganic which is just a shot of the essential chemicals. I'm certainly not an expert, not even close, but that seems to be the general consensus on this forum. :)

I think we all have the same white fence.

Ok, for a bit of a laugh, here's my Mr Lincoln. He's about 7 years old, and on Dr Huey, and I don't try to control his size (I gave up). I finally moved him along a 6' fence between climbers.

Nice Karen R.(SF Bay Area, 9b)!

Wow, Karen, he looks very healthy and happy in his new home! Half of mine are just wrapping up their second flush. So far I'm mostly pleased with their performance this year. I'd say my biggest disappointment has come from the blooms only lasting a few days and the blueing of the blooms. One of my 4 ML's now has 10 buds on him which look like they'll open up in the next week or two. I was not expecting that many this first year but I'm super pumped about it! When he blooms I'll be sure to post a pic.

Of all my reds, Mr Lincoln is probably one of my least prolific. For you red lovers, keep your eyes out for Crimson Glory (blooms non stop in sun or shade with fantastic fragrance) or Chrysler Imperial (not as prolific, but very good bush size, with big gorgeous classic HT blooms with fabulous fragrance).