When she is good she is very good .

Texas Ben,

First off, your writing skills are considersble. Are you an author? historian? I always enjoy and glean a great deal from your wisdom.

My Earth Angel is in its 4th. year, but started as a rather small, own root gallon size (a non-gallon size rose in a gallon pot...gotten any like that?), and here, with shorter and colder growing conditions, all roses take more time to mature.

If it's the genes as you wrote, waiting for maturity may be a pointless wait.

I am committed to giving it a couple more years. It's disease resistance is perfect, no black spot issues what so ever, and no winter protection needed at all, too.

It's in a prominent spot, but so be it.

What do you think of Earth Angel grafted? Would the rootstock kick it into flower production?

I was going to get multiples of Earth Angel, but now I intend to get one grafted EA from Palatine, since multiflora rootstocks, as Palatine uses, are superior root stocks over Dr. Huey here.

EA on fortuniana may work here if the graft goes down 4" because of its winter tenderness. Since the scion EA is very winter hardy, and the fortuniana making the EA scion, or any scion for that matter, grow too long into the fall, it may be a non-issue because of EA's great winter hardiness.

What do you think, Ben?

Moses.

I have had similar experiences as you both, except my first flush is not as abundant. Mine is in a pot and probably did not prune it back far enough. I did move it to the pot my front yard because I got tired of looking at her so much in the prominent spot in the ground of my back yard.

Agree that Bolero is better. Time will tell if Desdemona is even better than Bolero.

Uh oh. Well, I'll cross my fingers. With such beautiful pictures this past year of Earth Angel and Savannah, I have both ordered from J&P. Since ordered, I've read numerous people shovel pruning Savannah, and now questions about Earth Angel.

It is nice having many older, proven roses. Guess it's a crap shoot with newer varieties. I guess if I even get a nice spring first flush I'll be happy!

I wonder if it needs a good pruning after bloom to encourage new ones and a heavy fertilizer ? Spring flush was amazing but after that similar to Ben. Now it putting canes up taller than me. It’s a shame that quitea few kordes roses grow so strange but the blooms are so beautiful

So far mine is just spitting out a bloom here and there. This is the first year so time will tell

I got mine at HomeDepot so no idea what the graft is or if it is grafted. I guess I should check

This is my second year with Earth Angel. Last year I had about 4 flowers, this year, I'm still waiting for the first one. The plant is still only about 10 inches tall at the tallest, even though it gets pampered way more than any other rose in my garden: water, fertilizer, a prime spot for sun. I keep hoping. Bolero on the other hand, has just gone to town with the monsoon rains.

I finally got my first flower this year on my Earth Angel. I can see why people would fall for the blooms. Too bad it's not much of a grower. There are 4 buds on the tiny 2-year old bush.

Compare to Bolero (4 years old), as BenT was mentioning.

Nose,

Thanks for sharing your photo of your exceptional Bolero. If my young Boleros mature to half as nice as yours I will be ecstatic. Their exceptionally quick recycling amazes me.

The only Achilles Tendon I find with my Boleros is black spot susceptibility, not exceptionally so, but they would defoliate about 50% for me if not sprayed.

Nose, do you grow your Bolero(s?), own root or grafted? Mine are all own root.

Thanks again for the inspirational photo. From it I have a goal to achieve with mine.

O.T. Is that rosemary i see growing behind your Boleros?

Moses

Earth Angel

Quietness

Olivia Austin

I think Quietness is igoing to be a favorite . Quietness and EA are the same age , actually EA started out as a potted 5 gallon and Quietness was a bare root but it is a must faster rebloomer and grower.

I put in Olivia because of the bee

Kristine,

I can almost guarantee that you will grow multiples of Quietness. It is THAT good of a rose.

Remember to grow/prune it as you would a hybrid tea. If you let it go "bush," like a Knock Out, it will be a jumbled, sprawling mess of a rose with small blooms. I know it is classed as a shrub, as all of Dr. Buck's roses are, but it is not a shrub rose. I have seen it growing in a public garden, shrub method, and it is pitiful grown that way.

Moses

Moses, you are funny. I'm always looking at other people's beautiful pictures and find myself disappointed that mine don't look as good. To be honest, this is the best my Boleros have looked this year. We finally got some rain, and that made all the difference. My Boleros are all own-root. Yes, that is rosemary growing behind them.

My Earth Angel has opened up a little. The fragrance before the sun came up was beautiful, rich and strong. Once the sun came up the fragrance became flat and somewhat rancid, like old oil or wet newspaper. Definitely not my favorite. I'll keep checking and see if additional flowers smell as bad. But it is pretty and the flowers are definitely more heat tolerant than similarly colored Sharifa Asma. And at least the flowers aren't all bull-nosed and thrips damaged like First Crush.

Earth Angel:

Sharifa Asma, much better fragrance.

First Crush:

Bolero: More creamy yellow than pink, and a delicious fragrance:

A couple more flowers opened on my Earth Angel and they smell bad also, like old newspaper or a wet dog. Does it get better? If not, I have no desire to keep it.

Nose,

My Earth Angel smells wonderfully...cannot classify the smell, though. I don't have that much sophistication. Its scent for me was very pleasantly rich from the very first. Give yours more time to mature, maybe, although mine is getting mature. Mine is finishing year 3.5 (put in mid-season its first year).

Moses

Thanks Moses. I'll give it more time, mostly because it really is a good looking flower, but I'd much rather have the fragrance of Bolero.

Noseometer.. this reminds me of Jude the obscure. People rave about it but the fragrance makes me gag . And it doesn’t matter when I smell it . So pretty though.

My earth angel had shot up canes abouce my head and blooms on the ends of that . :/ not a good look right now !

Hi Moses,

I just saw your response to my post, thanks for the kind words. I’m not a writer, just always (too) eager too share my opinions on roses.

My Earth Angel is own root from Roses Unlimited, and I must say vigor has not been an issue. It went from scrawny band to decent sized shapely bush in one year. The vigor and health on own roots has been very good, the spring flush is wonderful, it’s just the repeat bloom that’s almost non-existent.

I’d caution against trying to to bury a fortuniana grafted rose too deep. The fortuniana budded roses are usually budded very high on a long shank (both Nelson’s and K&M do this), so you’d have to dig rather deep. They also recommend you keep the graft well above the soil line because fortuniana has a tendency to produce suckers. (It suckers anyway, but those suckers would be even more prolific if buried).

I think your plan of getting from Palatine on multiflora is a good one for starting off a plant with decent size.

Noseometer,

Earth Angel has a spicy scent to me, similar to Blossomtime, definitely no wet newspaper or dog scent here, lol.

Jen,

I think Jude has one of the most amazing scents, mixed sugared tropical fruits with rose perfume. Funny how noses are so different. Even it’s first year when I didn’t really like the blooms, I was definitely keeping him just for the scent. Both the blooms and the scent are wonderful this year. It’s La Park that smells like Eau de Damp Basement to me.