Olivia never stopped blooming, so I guess she was first lol.

Darcey strikes again!

She won’t be beaten to the finish line. Munstead is on her heels. Chicago Peace will open any day, but that rose is always maddeningly slow to complete the journey from bud to bloom.

best time of the year by far!

Well, surprisingly, neither Spirit of Freedom or Blanc Double de Coubert is the winner. Burgundy iceberg standard opened first and Savannah the second! Just cut the fresh Savannah bloom and it smells heavenly!

My roses look great, but they are coming in late due to some unexpectedly cold March weather. My mother planned her trip to visit me around my first flush of blooms, but alas it hasn’t happened. Fortunately, some cheerful peonies were available to pinch hit for the roses:

My first bloom will be Barbra Streisand, followed closely by La Park and Granada. The three are planted very closely to each other, so location probably has much to do with bloom time.

oh gosh Ben those are gorgeous... what's the peachy one at the bottom I want to see if I can get it.. thanks..

Hi Malorena

The peachy one is Coral Charm, she’s a big hit with everyone who sees her, it seems.

Those are gorgeous peonies. Do you know their names? If I were your mom, I think I'd be re-scheduling my return! You could charge admission for your garden. Has she ever seen it in full bloom?

Thanks so much, Vaporvac. Mom’s never seen them in full bloom, at least not in person...oh well, maybe next year we’ll time it right. The peonies are Coral Charm (peach), White Cap (deep pink and cream), and Bowl of Beauty (light pink and white).

I've got teeny tiny buds on Black Magic, Granada, and French Lace.

The cheapies that I bought bare root in early March.

I have 21 bands arriving this week from RU and HCR. I don't think those arrive with buds or blooms do they?

Sometimes they do have buds or blooms from RU and HCR.

Now I’m excited

Jc, I just picked up my Northland order and there are a lot of buds. Depending on the rose, there are sometimes blooms. A lot of people remove the buds to encourage root growth, but I never do.

I’m very careful about planning for the best case scenario long term in my regular life.

Plants are not part of that lol

I will never remove the buds!

JC I received an order from HCR today and one rose had several buds and another had a bloom and several buds.

Pippa, we call those "cheater" blooms! : )) I'm hoping for some of those myself!. I also get them when I haul out the potted plants.

Earliest bloomer for me is Old Blush followed in two days by Comtesse du Cayla. They are side by side in the China/pink bed in a protected spot by the house. The rest don't even have buds showing color yet.

'Bengal Crimson' wins again, but this is the earliest I've had it...

Kes, I wonder if those roses are benefiting from the heat of your house. Marlorena, what a special colour and lovely stamens. Mine are just have leaves except for Applejack that I just received from HCR. What a scent. It makes me realize how much they bring to life's experience yet again.

Here is a pic of Applejack (my "cheater" bloom). Well, it looks like The Tooth Fairy will be the first to flower as it already has an incipient bud. Yay!!! I guess that's what happens when a rose experiences ZERO die-back. I love this sweet single.

My first today is a paler than normal General Schablikine Tea rose

Vaporvac, probably so. Not only does it receive some warmth from the house, geography has helped. Our backyard is on a southeastern slope surrounded on 3 sides by trees. Our front yard is less protected; the same flower can open a week (usually) or two (this year) later than the back yard.

We finally had a few warm days after a cool spring, so I have a winner!

First to bloom: Desdemona (baby own root in a nursery pot, so might not be representative of an established adult plant)

When it first opened:

A couple of hours later on a warm day:

The next day:

Two days later in different lighting (in the background you can see a Twilight Zone & a baby Queen of Sweden that opened in the meantime - this spot gets morning sun & afternoon shade, so I use it as my nursery pot zone):

In my post from March above I guessed either Desdemona or Molineux - Molineux has some buds but isn't yet blooming - you win some, you lose some...

Buff Beauty is first to bloom for me this year. It makes sense since she gets the most sun in the morning.

Looks like I posted 15 days ago that I had buds.

This morning I can barely see the petal colors, but only on the largest buds.

Is it normal to take this long to open?

In the back of my mind, I'm nervous that my roses are in too much shade.

I can't even make a good guess as to how much direct sun they get because its very variable in the same bed, and I haven't been home a full day to even check.

JC - yes, especially if you've been having cool weather - mine didn't bloom until we finally had a few warm days.

Totoro - would love to see pics of your Buff Beauty! (I've been eyeing hybrid musks - a lot of my yard is part shade.)

cyndita, I might have to bug you about roses in part shade later.

Almost my entire yard gets less than the recommended 6 hours of sun.

JC, FWIW, I've found I can't compare shade in the lower midwest (KY/Ohio border) with shade in CA or even Fl. The sun seems more intense there and many roses seem to benefit from shade, whereas here they just develop BS or bloom significantly less. I'm growing many HMs with varying success. Most have grown backwards in the most difficult areas and rebounded when given more sun or even just reflected light. Only Ghislaine de Feligonde has grown robustly in AM sun. I hope she blooms this year! : )) Once I cut a volunteer tree that grown too large she'll get more bright light in the pm.

Jc, dappled shade shouldn't bother your roses like constant shade. I had dappled shade that changed throughout the day as the sun moved across the sky. The roses were fine. They were happier when those trees were gone during the cool spring, but then there was the opposite problem of no respite from the sun all summer when it was blazing hot. I personally like dappled sun and shade. It was just the mountains of pine needles that I did not like.

Woops. Here is photo

flowers, I'm hoping that the "dappled" shade or "bright" shade is enough for them. They are David Austin's and HTs in that area.

Jc, I don't know a thimbleful about HTs, but your Austins should be just fine. I've found that they appreciate a little shade from the hot afternoon sun when it's in the 90˚ to 100˚+ range. They'll do ok without it, but they were bred where the temps don't get so horribly hot.

I had some cheater blooms that I'm not counting, but then the old HTs that came with my house have buds on them but I don't know any of their names. Today something very exciting happened though, I was pulling some weeds near the new baby roses I planted last fall from bands, and Twilight Zone and Sidonie/Sydonie both had buds!! It will be the first blooms ever for me from those roses.

JC - my climate is very different than your's in TN, so I unfortunately don't know if my experience would be relevant to your yard? I'm also close to the coast, so my yard stays relatively cool & windy for much of the summer, as opposed to more inland locations that are hot & dry - one of the reasons I got interested in Austins is that I thought my cold windy yard might be England-like, so maybe they would do better than traditional sun loving west coast roses :o)

i haven't tried climbers yet, but for Austins I've found that the ones with musk hybrids in their background do the best in part shade, and ones with leander hybrids in their background do the worst. (If you look at "rose characteristics" on the page for the rose on the US DA website, it's listed under "sub-type".) For example, Lady of Shallot (a leander hybrid) rarely bloomed for me, and it does great for other people. In contrast, two of my best plants last year were The Lark Ascending & Molineux, both of which are listed as musk hybrid sub-types. (Desdemona, my first to bloom, is also shown as a musk hybrid sub-type.)

As for non-Austins, I don't have that many, but Kordes Lava Flow (lavaglut) blooms really well for me, but did get powdery mildew in the fall. (It's a relatively short shrub with small but long lasting dark red flowers - unfortunately no scent.) On the Kordes theme, Plum Perfect wants a sunnier spot than I have it in, but it's disease free for me & the flowers I do get are a lovely color.

Good luck!!!

Trying again with Buff Beauty

I have to agree that my Austins were great in dappled shade.

Also just wanted to jump in because I saw some discussion about roses maybe getting heat from the houses. I would say do not discount microclimates in your yard. I just checked on my MAC and it is well over 12' tall, which it really shouldn't be in zone 6a. I attribute this to the fact that it has grown on the east side against the house for almost 8 years. When it was younger it was exposed to northern winds, not protected, and never got very tall. However the canes may get a bit hardier the older they are as well. Most years it has no dieback at all.

Totoro - your Buff Beauty looks great, thanks for sharing the picture! In real life, does it look apricot to you, or just, well, buff?

Ray - totally agree re the yard microclimates!

Cyndita, it opens with apricot center but fades to buff or cream. When it first opens it is hard to distiguish from its inyermingling neighbor Alchymyst. The color is not as intense or pinkish as Alchymist.

I posted photos of AlChymist (with buff beauty) last year in rose gallery.

Thanks, Totoro!

My first blooms are from Therese Bugnet, Ispahan and Cardinal de Richelieu. It seems like I have been waiting forever, but all the roses are filled with buds and I am optimistic that this will be a good spring for roses. Good luck to all! I so enjoy seeing everyone’s photos.

Therese Bugnet

Cardinal de Richelieu

Ispahan

Those are Exquisite, Deborah! You're a bit ahead of us, but my bushes are filled with buds and new dawn has gone insane with laterals. too exciting.

Yes, it is an exciting time. I am usually out walking around in my robe while the coffee is brewing.

I’m so pleased with Boscobel.

The foliage is a soft, flat lime green and the blooms are really great.

This one is has more color than the first couple.

So mine have finally entered the fray... just about, as they are not fully opened. And I am a little surprised. It is a toss-up between:

Madame Isaac Pereire (suffering from rose proliferation :( but that will pass) :

Chartreuse de Parme (Who I think will win the race):

Olivia Rose Austin:

And

Empereur du Maroc:

Everyone else is in bud- Mrs John Laing, Gertrude Jekyll, Bourbon Queen, William Lobb and a few others.

You're still ahead of me I just have buds and a few cheater blooms but some buds are getting fat:)

All wonderful, Sean! I must get Chartreuse de Parme! My garden seems very late this year because of all the blooming going on everywhere else. Being in the northern USA, I'm usually on par with the Canadians, climate wise. My patience is running thin.

Altorama, I am in awe that your MAC can grow that big. My house sits at such an angle, that I don't have any true N,S,E or W sides. If I plant her on the most easterly side, she will be keeping company with the generator, chicken feed bins, etc. Maybe it's time to beautify that area.

Sheila, I REALLY like your Gen. Schablikine. A lot!

Definitely Chartreuse de Parme as the winner. Flowersaremusic, iI wholeheartedly recommend it. The fragrance is SUPERB!

Thanks for the bonus photo, Sean! She is perfection! My only other Delbard is Dames de Chenonceau, and she does surprisingly well here. I'll get some die back, but CdeParme should live through our winters.

Well, I was sure the tooth fairy would be the first to Bloom as it was the first to Bud, but it seems that distinction has gone to climbing klotild supair. This isn't really surprising as she grows on a Southern Exposure next to the brick front of my house so she gets that heat. She's not quite open but I'm excited!

I'm guessing Summer Romance or Bolero will be next to pop.