When Minnie Hill Palmer passed, The Acre was deeded to the city and fell under control of 'Parks and Wreck'. The Chatsworth Historical Society was formed to save The Pioneer Church and finally came to support The Acre. Candy and Dean Craig resurrected the gardens and added many OGRs through their friendship and connection with John MacGregor, Clair Martin's predecessor at The Huntington Library. They were rose garden volunteers there and it was they who introduced me to the place and got me started there. Candy also had a friendship with Peter Schneider, the editor of The American Rose Rambler, a marvelous rose newsletter, and now the editor of The Combined Rose List, which he generated with Bev Dobson (who originated it) and whom he succeeded. The Craigs lost a daughter to a drunk driver and Peter named an apricot floribunda he created for their daughter, Eden Ellen. There was a bed of it growing there for many years. They surrounded the house with roses, making it a popular venue for weddings and other parties, arranged through "Parks and Wreck". With tightening belts and the aging of the Historical Society and surrounding rose societies which often used the gardens to hold their pruning demonstrations, it appears roses (not all, but from the photos, many) have been removed (or, perhaps died) to reduce maintenance and probably to increase room for events. Candy held an annual Rose Festival in conjunction with Pioneer Days, a community festival, for many years where she sold old, rare and unusual roses to help pay for the potting soil and other supplies required to maintain the gardens. Many of them were passed through her by Peter from his imports and were the source of things such as Julia's Rose, Greensleeves and quite a few other unusual European roses not in US commerce at the time. A number were propagated from the OGRs existing on the property when they came to be the volunteer caretakers and many more came from The Huntington and my old Newhall garden. There are still some roses there, I'm not sure which though. It's suggested to start plants out in pots which best fit their root ball size so the roots fill the pots and knit a solid root ball. Starting a band out in a five gallon can will frequently lead to weakened root ball between the crown of the plant and the pot edges due to the long length of roots between the center and edges. Removing the root ball from the pot could then permit loosening or even damage to the roots at their weakest point, between the crown and edge of the mass. Starting a small plant in a gallon until the roots fill the pot wall surfaces shortens that distance, creating a more solid root mass. Increasing that from a gallon to a two or three and permitting it to then fill out the increased mass results in a more solid soil/root ball which is less likely to fall apart or otherwise be damaged by removal or handling. The organics in the soil break down, digest, over time, leaving only the inorganic material (sand, clay, stone, etc.). Eventually, all potted plants require replanting to replenish and refresh the soil in the container. A looser, weaker root ball is more easily damaged than a tighter solid mass, so the plant will experience less damage and shock from the root ball falling apart. If you're trying to protect smaller pots from heat and cold extremes, it's far easier to protect multiples than one. They can be grouped together so each helps shade and insulate the next. (another logical "excuse" for larger pot ghettos!) If your goal is to keep the plant potted until it's matured sufficiently for planting, this would be the more secure method of accomplishing it. If you intend to keep it potted, it still may be safer to start with a smaller size them transplant into the desired size to stack the deck in your favor for safer repotting when the time comes. You may be able to safely accomplish transplanting after starting the smaller plant in a larger pot, but the chances of the soil ball breaking up are greater. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: American Rose Rambler and Combined Rose List

One looks fairly easy to identify. I believe what you are seeing on the leaf of the second image is black spot. It is a fungal disease. In my very dry climate we do not see much of it at all. At a previous home I had over 100+ rose bushes so maintaining the health of all bushes was extremely important as an issue with one rose could spread to others, and as a result, I did minimal spraying using neem oil and insecticidal soaps etc. Now, I have about 12 bushes and just keep more of a watchful eye, am more careful of the conditions, like air circulation and things like that. I hose off aphids and mites with a forceful spray of water. The garden is easier to watch, maintain, and potential replacement costs if something horrible happened would be lower, so I use nothing and am all organic now. If you have a good nursery with people who actually know their product and horticulture, you can take the leaves and photos; they can usually tell you exactly what is going on and what needs to be done. Their recommendations should be specific for your area.

Betty, The shade might be a factor. I think the bigger factor was the rock mulch and lack of nutrients. I'm glad your rose is bouncing back. It was 100 degrees yesterday and 98 the day before with those lovely winds! Check the moisture regularly since your rose has already been stressed. Roses do want full sun for the most part, but full sun as sea level is different than full sun at 1 mile elevation. What side of the house is the rose on and how much sun a day does it get? It looks like the tree is giving it some shade. I think what you've done so far should restore your rose to health over time. Keep an eye out for aphids and other critters (aphids and grasshoppers are showing up at my place 20 miles north of you). If you have compost or humus now, put some under the mulch and plan on feeding the rose lightly again in a few weeks. We may get some rain over the next few days that will break down the fertilizer you've already put down and get it into the soil. Nice work! Barb

Chris, if that hip has been pollinated you have to leave the hip on the plant to ripen before the seeds can be grown. This takes between 90 and 120 days to happen depending on the variety. The hip should start to get larger as it develops so you'll know if it has been pollinated or not. If you don't see any change in the size in 2 to 4 weeks or if it starts to turn brown and dry out then it wasn't pollinated and you can remove it. Most times you can tell the hip is ripe when it turns yellow, orange or red in color. But some rose hips don't turn a color so leave the hip on the plant as long as you can in the fall. After that there is a process you need to go through to get seeds to germinate and grow. When you get to that point you can post another question on here on how to do it. I will note that sometimes leaving the hip on to ripen will cause fewer blooms the rest of the season. Also sometimes a hip may start to grow and then suddenly just abort and fall off. Sometimes the seeds will start to form on the outside top of the hip. That's OK. They're still good so let them go on to ripen. I really think that this being such a young plant you should not try for hips this season. Some people don't even let 1st year plants bloom at all in order to get the plant to put its energy into growing a good root ball and putting on good top growth for that first year. But it's up to you.