Gorgeous blooms, Vesfl. Glad to see the roses rebound so well, they are sturdy roses....

I grow bellflowers, as well... I have a variety that produces blue and white flowers on the same plant... I was amazed to see it... I need to check to see if I still have this plant, if it survived with the blue ones.

Reine des Violettes is one of my garden favorites. I love the fuchsia/purple color, fragrance and graceful habit.

Thank you, Krista. I also love bellflowers, there are so many kinds and varieties. This one is 'Telham Beauty'. I wonder which one is yours, it is indeed amazing that it has both blue and white flowers.

Vesfl, wow, love your garden. Such a big difference from winter. Gorgeous blooms. It is a beauty and I am glad they came back and bloom. Love Madam Hardy . The white color is amazing and so pure.

Mary rose is wow. I wanted that rose so bad. I ordered it but the vendor forgot to bring it :(

Lovely selection and I am eyeing on RdV and Ispahan. Hopefully, in fall or next Spring.

Jin

I'm so impressed those Roses do well in Florida. You must be a wonderful caretaker despite what you say! :-)

Vap, you are funny. I have actually have a black thumb but somehow roses been good. I give them all the credit.

So now I pass 6 months let's see what happens the next 6 and hopefully into next year. So far, pots roses are more challenging than in ground for me. Still learning n long ways to go but thank you . You are so kind and sweet . Jin

Gorgeous roses! I have had most of the OGRs you show and RdV was my favorite followed by Madame Hardy. I am seriously thinking of replacing RdV as I miss her and also my Madame Isaac Pierre. Something about the color! And the fragrance!

Your rose are so very beautiful and I just love the title of your post. Against all odds it’s so very true. Not to many bunnies here thou there is a groundhog that’s quite fond of bell flowers. Enjoy your day!

Resurrection gives us all hope

I don't see the bellflower in bloom, it might not have survived. Thinking back to past years, it appeared that the flowers were on one plant, not two separate plants. I will need to research this...

Beautiful!!! I had written a comment here, last night and now I don’t see it. Oh well, maybe I forgot to hit “submit”. I love your roses. I really wish I could grow Mme. Hardy. That green button eye, gets me every time. I sadly removed my ‘Mary Rose’, because she was horribly virused. I’ve started again with a tiny ownroot plant. She was indeed a blooming machine, in spite of her troubles. I can’t wait for my baby to grow. It was hard to remove my 7? 8? year old Mary:(

I too love your campanula, and had enlarged and studied your photo last night. I have a few, and I’m excited about ‘la Belle’, this year. I have ‘Telham Beauty’, as well. Lisa

I love all your roses--and such lovely pics to boot.

Kate

Your Reine des Violettes is a beautiful shade of purple

Absolutely gorgeous roses, and I'm beyond amazed that they bounced back from that awful beginning to these beauties in the same year. That would never happen in my garden with its poor soil and lack of rain. Melissa, to have roses survive for a year without irrigation seems like a miracle to me. I'm beginning to think that I have the worst growing conditions of anyone here, probably coupled with my inability to baby them. I'm scrolling back up to look at the roses again and still cannot believe that you got these gorgeous flowers after the rabbit massacre, but I'm so happy for you. With your short growing season it would have been so sad if they hadn't rallied.

Oh, thank you all so much. I am glad and touched that these little rose survivors lifted all of our spirits. Thank you all for your thoughts and kind words!

Ingrid, I am amazed at your garden photos despite all the challenges and they are some tough ones (I bought 'Aloha' after looking and always coming back to look :-) at your gorgeous one.) Lisa, sorry for your Mary Rose but let's root for the new young one.

Here is to the hope that all of your roses also overcome any obstacles they may face!

Ingrid, do you water with well water or city or softened water?

Vesfl, it gave me great joy to see your post both because your OGRs have proven their resilience and because you have been able to power through the Houzz changes and attach all these gorgeous photos! I so enjoy reading about your garden, your adventures, the various ideas that catch your attention, etc. I am very happy you are still posting on this site!

Your OGRs are beautiful this spring, and they look right at home next to your charming garden ornaments and structures. Like Chris NY, you have an eye for integrating the architectural with the botanical. Your armillary and tuteur might have been collected from the beds at Monticello. You and I grow some similar cultivars. Your color scheme is heavenly! I am going to wave your photos in front of my pink and white damasks and my Munstead to encourage them. Carol

Carol, thank you so much for your generous words. I must say that I've learned (and keep learning) a lot from all of you on GW. I love antiques for plants, decorum, anything.. Nice to preserve the heritage. Mentioning Monticello made my heart flutter. It's one of the most gorgeous places that is on my must-visit list.

I am following difficulties that many of you have with posting on Houzz lately and hope this gets resolved soon. I don't like reading that some folks think of leaving the forum. It would be a huge loss. In the spirit of this thread, I hope our roses teach us not to give up :-) If it helps, the only problem I had with posting was with loading the last 2-3 photos. Once I resized them to a smaller resolution, they loaded quickly and everything went fine. I use Chrome on Mac.

Vesfl, the sad truth is that many have already left the antique forum and aren't coming back. I do find it really depressing for some unknown reason. I have zero loyalty 2 hoozz, but a lot of gratitude for those who helped me along and continue to do so without any expectation that I could return the favor someday. I know the other site is run by great people whose Gardens I've seen often on HMF. Still, I'm reluctant to change. I like visiting to read it and the Reddit site, but have yet to sign up or post anything.

Wow, that is the most gorgeous Reines des Violettes bush and blooms that I have ever seen! Mine has never bloomed that large, full and that deep color. Love Love it! Madame Hardy is so exquisite! That pure white against light green foliage is simply breathtaking! From these pics, I could not tell what your roses had suffered in the months leading to these gorgeous blooms. They are truly resilient.

Sheila, I don't think it's city water since I'm in the county, but that's not to say it's not full of additives also. We have a large reservoir over the next hill which should be rainwater (they have a thick cover over it to prevent evaporation right now) but I have no idea if some of our water comes from there.

vesfl, I hope you're happy with your 'Aloha'. Like most climbers it doesn't bloom fully the first year. I bought my Aloha on 3/25/15, and this year is the first where it's bloomed more than sporadically. Mine is planted in complete afternoon shape which it seems to like and keeps the flowers from frying. That may not be necessary in less harsh areas than mine.

I don't think it's possible for Madame Hardy to take a bad picture.

If you are on a water system (not a well) Ingrid, if you have a water softener in your home some people have a irrigation arm so they don't soften water used on plants. If one had to use softened water, possibly KCL would be healthier for plants than NaCL in the water softener although it is more expensive.

This would also apply to well H2O, that unsoftened irrigation water might be best, and using KCL might be better than NaCL if it had to be softened. I wish Nik would see this. He knows all about this.