Flowers, fortunately pretty Jessica is also pretty small!

Hi oursteelers,

Radio Times WAS included in the cuttings that I sent to Palatine Roses in Fall 2018, so there should be some of these in the new crop that will be available in January 2021. I agree with noseometer that it is indeed VERY fragrant. and VERY thorny. My original specimen that was from Pickering Roses (now defunct company in Ontario, Canada), was grafted onto Rosa multiflora and is very vigorous. It once threw a cane that was over 12 feet tall; I now have a specimen trained on a fence as a climber.

Hi BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast,

Jeri Jennings, who I believe lives near the coast in Camarillo, CA in Ventura County, has reported that roses grafted onto Rosa multiflora, do not do well in her area-it may be an issue with soil pH. If you live in a different area of the southern California coast, you may want to contact members of the American Rose Society that grow roses in your area, to see if anyone has had any experiences with roses grown on this rootstock. I think that I remember reading of others along the SoCal coast that have successfully grown roses on this rootstock.

I can tell you that Radio Times is a very vigorous rose that grows well as an own-root plant.

I do know that Radio Times is very easy to root. I have sent cuttings of this rose (and many other Austins) to Mindy at Hummingbird Roses, so she should have have plants for sale shortly.

I wonder if anyone here grows Pretty Jessica. I don't understand why she gets only a 'good' rating on HMF. It says she is 'quite hardy', 'vigorous', 'relatively disease-free' and, again, 'quite hardy'. What more can we ask for?

Mas, Wildeve is very healthy. It's dry here, but I've never seen any kind of fungal problem, ever, and I've had it a long time. He grows tallish and wide for me. I've had to support some of his canes with stakes. A good bloomer, but does rest between flushes. Some blooms are more uniform pink from the center to outer petals, and some have a darker center like my pic. His only negative is not even a hint of fragrance.

Vapor, I thought PrettyJ would be a good one to tuck into a spot too small for a regular size bush and also suitable for a pot. Do you have her?

@noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque) - Beautiful photos of your two. I love how rich in color and fluffy Radio Times looks, and the red on WS2000 is really bold. Beautiful.

@flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA - Love your photos! I have a couple of Eglantyne coming, so it will be interesting to see how she grows here. I love your Winchester Cathedral, how does she grow for you? Really leggy or more shrub shape?

I like the purple tones on your WS2000 and St. Cecilia looks beautiful too. I heard she smells nice from Rick, I think, in another thread. Mary Magdalene is pretty, like a giant fluffy peony. Nice colorations. I have a couple of Ambridge roses coming next spring. How do you like that one?

We have 5 specimens of 'Prettty Jessica' at our home: one grafted (Rosa multiflora) and 4 own-root (roots easily). We have a very long growing, warm season (February to early December) which allows the most vigorous roses to grow twice the size stated in their catalogue or even more. Our 'Pretty Jessicas' grow to 3.5 ft tall and 2.5 ft. wide. I imagine that they would struggle to grow to this size in colder areas with a shorter season. The rating in HMF for vigor is just 'Fair+'; for cold tolerance just 'Fair+'; rain tolerance 'Fair'; bloom frequency and bloom quantity 'Good-'; as a cut flower 'Good-'. In our area, it is a bit of shy bloomer and has a below average number of roses per flush.

The ratings on HMF are from people across all growing areas. In our area, we actually like that this rose is less vigorous and easier to maintain as a tidy plant.. A low score in rain tolerance, is of little importance to us, as it rarely rains during most of the blooming season. A low score in cold tolerance is not important to us, as our we seldom see winter nights below 25 deg. F. But we still like this rose even though it is not the best for cut flower (short stems), as we grow many others which are excellent for cutting. So for us in USDA zone 9, we like the way this rose performs for us. You should consider how this rose will perform in your USDA zone 5 area with regards to vigor, rain tolerance, cold tolerance, and bloom frequency.

John, if I were to get Radio Times from Palatine would you consider it to be a climber and if it came from Hummingbird it would be a shrub? I’m in the Pacific NW. Thank you!

Thank you, John for such detailed info about Pretty Jessica. It's clear she would not like it here. I'm going to leave her for the rest of you warm zoners to enjoy. She's one of the most beautiful.

B, you will love the roses you have coming. Eglantyne has the most romantic blooms, and your Winchester Cathedral will most likely surprise you with pink blooms now and then, or white blooms with splashes of pink. SO charming. Mine grows in a rounded shrub shape, blooms from top to bottom. WS2000 took awhile to straighten up, but a lot of Austins do, at least here. I would grow him no matter what. I just planted St. Cecilia this year and she has grown very well into a nicely shaped shrub. The perfume is incredible. Ambridge also took time to settle in, but she is an upright shrub and her blooms are a creamy shade of peach/apricot. She is a good bloomer. She's a favorite. Some Austins want to crawl along the ground the first year, here anyway, but they develop stronger canes with time.

What luscious photos of your hard to find Austins, Flowers. Each one is so lovely, it makes one wonder why Austin no longer sells them. My Eglantyne, after 16 years in a bad spot with poor sun, is really going downhill and should be moved. Yours is much better looking. Wildeve stands out to me for its unique look. How does it compare to the others? It's buds look a little lavender in your photo.

Nose, your photos are gorgeous as well. I can't remember ever seeing a photo of Radio Times, which is lovely. I'm beginning to think I should be growing WS 2000. That bloom is perfection.

My soil is alkaline desert stuff, and I've successfully grown a number of roses on multiflora rootstock, so I'm not so sure about multifora not liking alkaline soil. I do prefer Dr Huey rootstock if I have a choice. Diane

Diane, I doubt my Eglantyne is better looking than yours. It's very sparse through the bottom and middle and only bloomed on the ends of canes this year. I'm not sure if this is a rose that wants to be hard pruned, tip pruned, or what. Wildeve, compared to other Austins, is shaped like Eglantyne - taller and lankier than most with blooms at the ends of canes. i hard pruned him last spring, but he quickly shot up. Wildeve needs staking, Eglantyne doesn't.

@flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA - Thanks for the tips. I think Mary Rose is a sport of Winchester? I have her coming too, didn't get Winchester yet though. But I would like a white rose that stays a rounded shrub shape so maybe I will order one. I got Imogen this past year and it's thrown out 5 ft skinny canes. The flowers are a nice white, but they don't last long on the plant. Maybe a day, if that. I'm most excited about Eglantyne and Ambridge because of their colorations I've seen in photos. They look beautiful.

Some pics. of older Austin roses in my garden, they are 10-year-old own-roots: Christopher Marlowe: This rose is worth growing for the unique scent of carnation, lemon, and musk. I can close my eyes and identify its scent among my 134 fragrant varieties.

Radio times, sweetest damask scent that rivals old garden roses.

I name Mary Magdalene as constant bloomer & most blooms among my 30 Austin varieties as own-root. Amazing frankincense scent. VERY THORNY.

Bush-shot of W.S. 2000 as 10th-year own-root, 1' tall x 2' wide in my zone 5 & perfect for pot.

Blooms of W.S. 2000, best violet and old-rose scent ever. Scent is stronger and more-lasting than both Munstead Wood and Firefighter.

Diane: Is your soil fluffy or clumps together into rock-hard chunks (the size of grapefruit) like mine? I can't dig unless it rained & broke 3 shovels digging rocks from the holes. Thanks for any info, that will help to see if multiflora-rootstock can take my clay.

I like Eglantyne but as wimpy own-root it died TWICE in my zone 5 winter. Eglantyne has a fantastic old rose scent, light but delicious, but it lasts only 2 days in the vase, compared to Frederic Mistral (pink behind it, lasting 4+ days in the vase):

St. Cecilia is a better bloomer than Eglantyne. Pic. below is 1st-year own root taken in hot & dry, watered with my alkaline tap water at pH 9 (note sulfur def. from high pH). Amazing myrrh and floral scent. Its zillion petals & deep cup last long in the vase, up to 5 days:

Diane, you should grow William Shakespeare 2000. He will perform beautiful for you! You are welcome for the rose buying enablement! 😂

Straw, your Radio Times and Christopher Marlow are gorgeous!! They are clearly happy in your garden.

Personally, I can’t tell the difference in performance between roses growing on their own root, grafted on Dr Huey or grafted on multiflora in my alkaline clay soil. Though I have pretty cold winters, my roses tend to grow very vigorously (with a few exceptions). Most of my roses are own root. I am curious about the whole thing so I’ll be experimenting next year planting own root and grafted roses of the same variety next to each other to see how they perform under the same growing conditions.

Straw, I really love that bouquet you posted with Frederic Mistral! Beautiful soothing warm tones, and the two yellowish roses together highlight the difference in each (just like the pinks) in a really nice way. Your Christopher marlowe photo has convinced me to try and find that rose. Such nice form and color...not quite salmon or pink, or red. I like the deep hues on WS2000 too and your St. Cecilia looks beautiful. Glad you love her scent. Need to find one of her too.

Mas: What's your annual rain fall? Thanks. pH of rain is 4.5 in midwest & east coast but rain is more alkaline at pH 5.6 on the west coast. The friend in Texas with alkaline & sandy soil has only 12" of annual rain and multiflora is stingy on her. It's also stingy in my hot & dry months. We have mid-summer of hot & dry and also tons of rain in spring and fall.

Current garden of pH 7.7 dense clay: I have alkaline tap water at pH 9 but some folks have neutral tap-water. In my last house of acidic clay (only 1/2 hr. away), my tap-water was neutral pH. Most likely someone with alkaline clay, but with NEUTRAL pH TAP water can still grow multiflora. See below for pH of rain across USA:

Hi Straw, I assume my rain fall is similar to yours since I’m in Indiana. We have pretty dry summers. I do water a lot all my plants. I don’t know the exact pH of our water but it is very alkaline, hard and full of calcium. I have calcium deposits in everything even with a water softener.

Flowers, for all its delicacy pretty Jessica is a pretty sturdy Rose here. Went through -7 Fahrenheit winter and being dug out and Roots eaten buy a chipmunk and not notice for over a day. It recuperated! I'd give it a try if you can find it.

I'm going to transplant it away from those hydrangeas next year to where the red roses. Musical roses! For being so crowded it's done surprisingly well regarding black spot but I don't think that is an issue for you.

Vapor, those pictures of your garden are beautiful!!

I like the mixed look

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley - I love the look of that garden too. Beautiful mix of green/whites, and textures, and then the red and bold raspberry of jessica pop so nicely. Looks like a beautiful rose

Vapor, that's wonderful to hear that Pretty J can survive, even thrive in a cold climate. Her brighter pink would be a good addition to my pale pinks. I'm a little leary after John's report so may try one that's similar but hardier. Love it next to your red roses.

That's sweet to hear you guys say because I wasn't too sure on it's placement, but it was the only place I had. The red rose is Milano Kilorscape with Darcey Bussell peaking out from behind. Flowers, it is a perfect mid-range pink. Were it a larger plant I'd consider it to replace the monster Summer Romances that obscures the view of the balustrade. I hope to move them down below someday, but it's hard to find a rose that hits all the marks in that colour that's smaller as well. I think someone grows her in Z4 if I'm not mistaken. I could ask. I can't remember if Patty in MN grew it.

Eglantyne is hands down one of my faves when she's "good", which is generally during the Spring flush. Here she's a notorious black-spotter that really could be grown as a small climber on a low fence or wall. She rarely has any die-back. Her scent is gorgeous and always present. The flowers are variable, but always lovely and a perfect colour for her position.

Click to see full frame.

Vapor, beautiful border and rose. Is she fragrant?

Thank you MLR. I consider Eglantyne's fragrance one of the best and always present. She is also a profuse bloomer for me, if only she wouldn't BS. This spring I'm trying a sulphur program because while I've often considered moving her to a less noticeable place, I've yet to find a healthy substitute.

Great info and photos, everyone.

MasLovesRoses - I hope you will post the results from your own-root/grafted roses experiment some day. Something I've wondered about for a while. I don't have room for one of each rose I would like to grow, much less two!

BirdsLoveRoses, yes! The problem is that I have two many roses on order already than room for them. However, I’m hoping that Santa brings me a 5 acres farm...

Daydreaming aside, I suspect that some roses will do better own root and some others grafted.

I will try to take a closer look at those of which I grow both. Off hand I can say that Sally Holmes and Cinco de Mayo are equally bloomy, black spotty and vigorous. Pink Pet grafted is at least twice the size of the other four OR bushes, but in all fairness they were grown from cuttings and can't be considered to be nearly as old. They are in a slight less benign spot. Belinda's Dream was great grafted this year, but I always find them more vigorous first year. I'll see if my OR BD catches up next year. That will be the test.

I think grafted roses might grow slightly taller at mature size? At least it is what I have noticed in the gardens I have visited that grow minis and mini floras.

Mas - LOL - If anyone can bring you a 5 acre farm, Santa can!

I think I'll ask for one too - can't hurt to ask!

BirdaLoveRoses—go big or go home! 😂

Just be sure to ask for a nearby water source!

I live in coastal Santa Barbara, CA, with extremely alkaline soil. I ordered many dozens of roses for two decades from Pickering until they closed, grafted onto multiflora, and they all did great here. Last year I ordered for the first time from Palatine (multiflora), and they're doing great. As for Austins, Radio Times is perhaps my favorite, maybe next to Jude. I don't get monster canes with Radio Times. I also have a fair number of Austins own root, and they've done great.

Vapor - goes without saying! If Santa is bringing a 5 acre farm, you know it has water! And impeccable soil and all the pergolas, tuteurs, etc. to grow the best rose garden ever!

Susan - good to know about multiflora in SB. I'm about 100 miles south of there in Palos Verdes Peninsula. Do you have good soil?

Birds, our soil is okay, tending on the clay side, but typical for here. I have no problem growing in it, particularly if well-amended. I do grow ~90% of my roses in 15 gallon pots, b/c we have oak root rot fungus (Armillaria). That's a whole other long story! But even if you grow in large pots, the pH of the water is pretty similar to that of the unamended soil. I'm a recently retired chemistry teacher, and our tap water ranges from 8.0-8.5. And my multiflora roses have done fine in the ground or in the pots, despite that.

Thanks for the info, Susan. I am trying to lower the pH of my soil so some things will be a little happier. In general most things are tolerating my alkaline soil and water but I am just wanting to try to make them even happier!

I just bought Perdita which is less easy to find, and am after Chaucer. Hoping Perdita will clone well so I can share the wealth!!

I really love Constance Spry. His first one (and my first DA!) I love the size and shape of the blooms and the strong myrrh scent. I had it at my first house on the embankment, and when in full bloom the scent would fill the whole garden. I haven't been able to find it again in our neck of the woods. It was spring flowering only, but I just loved it so much anyway. I also really loved Chianti, another one of his early ones. Big purplish red blooms, and an old world scent. Both quite rambly and better as small climbers.

Antipode, I am nuts about Chianti, and wish I had the space to grow him. How large was your Chianti? and what zone do you garden in? Constance Spry sounds wonderful, too. Diane

My Chianti was about 6 ft high and about 8 ft wide. And constance about the same. And i had them up on an embankment and they kind of hung down over. Which worked well as the roses tend to "nod" on the ends of the canes. So you could look up into them. They could have done with a bit of support as they tended to have very long canes. I've just bought the wedgewood rose, in my new house, and have that similarly up on an embankment but have given it some support this time. That one repeats but is yet to flower so I don't know if I will like it as much yet. I loved constance to bits. What zone am I? I don't know the equivalents, sorry. It rarely gets colder than about 14 degree F in winter and we hardly ever get snow. And in summer it's around 86 F, but we have a few days that can top 100.

Thanks for the information, and I'll bet you garden in Australia. Titian (Trish) is in Sydney, and has been part of the forum for a long time. And there are several others from the the Southern Hemisphere that post on the forum. I'd say you are in zone 8 maybe. I hope the Wedgwood Rose works out for you. It sounds like it will display beautifully on the embankment. Diane

Yes, I'm in Australia. Sorry, I thought I mentioned that. I'm in Hobart, Tasmania, the southern most state. (so the coldest state here). Cheers.

That was where Susan Irvine wrote her wonderful rose books.

Anitpode, I thought your temps sounded a little colder than Trish's in Sydney. Her daughter has lived and explored in Tasmania. She showed pics several years ago. It sounds wonderful. I hope you share photos with us as your new garden progresses. Diane

It is colder than Sydney here. We are more apples, cherries and stone fruit. They are more mangoes and avocados! (we have no hope of growing them here). And at the end of the summer we tend to have a lot of green tomatoes, so I'm working on a green tomato chutney recipe.

@LolaTasmania, Wagners (in south Australia) ship DA to Tassie and they have a bigger old fashioned range than Treloars. Also, Chandlers and Stonemans can get them in for you (if you are in the south of the state), but only the ones that are on their lists. For the rarer ones, I go for Wagners.

Antipode, we are apples, cherries, and stone fruit here, too. Lots of orchards in certain areas. But long ago, I got my avocados and lemons from my father in law in LA. How I miss those perfect avocados, sent here by the box. My California uncle sent Medjool dates. Oh, and I had lots of green tomatoes at our season's end. We just ate the last of them a couple of days ago. I ripen them in the house. But I have recipes for fried green tomatoes that I've never made. Green tomato chutney sounds interesting. I don't think a lot of chutney is eaten in Idaho. Diane