Beautiful and some of my favorites too!

Thanks nanadoll for the encouraging words. Dainty Bess came through the winter. I did lose a little Sally Holmes to the winter and an Oranges N Lemons to hail. My big Sally Holmes lost one side of her but the other did just fine. This one was suggested by Matt at High Country Roses and I just bought it on his suggestion with no research and I don't recall being all that enamored in the green house. But the big sprays of blooms really impress me because I didn't know roses grew like this.

I just love the stamens on Dainty Bess and Golden Wings.

Chuckles and Playboy don't quite have the same impact because there isn't as much contrast.

I'm pretty new to rose growing so still discovering what I like and don't like.

My first chosen rose, Robusta, that I researched and researched before buying isn't turning out to be a favorite. It is the biggest of my 3 yr old bushes.

And the individual flowers are pretty but they are smaller than I thought and the overall presence on the bush is ho-hum.

Your Pretty Lady really caught my eye and Golden Wings is so pretty. Your arrangement of roses in vases is lovely.

Those all look great and you've moved me a tad more toward getting Dainty Bess and Golden Wings just for those stamens! I hope my Sally takes off like yours. I planted one in the ground last year and it died this spring. Who knows why? Thankfully, I had a backup cutting and put that in a different spot, so I'm hoping it makes it. How is Lady in Red doing? Didn't you get that to replace a huge once-bloomer? Sorry to hear about OnLs. You guys have way more hail than I would have imagined. As usual, your garden looks neat as a pin. : )) P,S. Love the arrangements and the vases!

Lady in Red had lots of buds but no blooms. Should be spectacular in a week or so. Just after I cut all those blooms yesterday we had another hail storm. Didn't seem to do too much damage. I think the early growth is the weakest.

I ended up putting Fourth of July in place of the large beautiful once bloomer. It is also doing well but no blooms right now. I think the new ones are on a different bloom cycle than the older ones. I also added Parade Day and nothing on that either.

I think I put my Love Song into too much shade as nothing on that. We may have to relocate it to a sunnier spot. I'm thinking of swapping Dick Koster and Love Song as Dick Koster is really washed out in full sun.

I've read the Kosters can take some shade so that may be a good idea. Now I remember you decided to put 4th of July near your house. I finally got my LiR in the ground last week and she seems happier already. I'm a terrible pot mom.

Love the stamens on Dainty Bess!

Vaporvac,

While I love the individual flowers on Golden Wings in the greenhouse, I have now seen the bush at the Denver Botanical Gardens and 3 bushes in my neighborhood. Flowers aren't nearly as big as I though they would be. However I think it won best of show at the Denver Rose show this year. I remember seeing a box of six on the stand along with an individual bloom. The blooms were huge and gorgeous! But that seems to be the exception. They are mostly mid sized (yet still gorgeous) on the bushes I've seen. Just not very prolific. Time will tell. Maybe if I keep the bush small the flowers will come out bigger. My real swoon is Dainty Bess. I love her coloring. But I wanted to buy the one Matt recommended also (Golden Wings) because he was so spot on with Sally Holmes.

Were trying to get the Sally Holmes I rooted to take in the front yard. It is the only one to survive the winter in our basement but not showing new growth so maybe it is just a petrified dead rose pretending to be alive.

LOL! I have few cutting like that. : (( I think you will end up loving GW. Having many different sized blooms helps make the garden alive and interesting. It's fun to mix up roses with similar shaped blooms, but different sizes. It is so hot here and humid! ...upper 70s dew point. I planted 1 tree and two roses. today It doesn't seem like much, but did a lot of other stuff as well.

My three Pretty Lady Roses are getting their first flush. I wish I could find more that perform like this in Colorado.

Mmmm, those two Pretty Ladies are beautiful ladies. Diane

Thanks Diane!

They had a tremendous amount of surviving cane from last year but I over pruned them because practically everything else I had died to the ground so these got cut back also. But they have come back beautifully. If I ever manage to prune them right they may get to be good sized. I have been very impressed with Pretty Lady Rose in Colorado. The blooms are a bit washed out right now but that seemed to happen last year on the first flush and then they darkened back up later.

Sally Holmes, of course, is as gorgeous as ever.

We planted my attempted cutting out front so will have to see if it starts to show some new growth.

Beautiful! I really love the singles with contrasting stamens. They are so charming. Your rocks/hardscaoe is lovely. I really like how you used the bigger rocks to envircke the Pretty Ladies. It's all very tidy and fitting for your area.

My Lady in Red is blooming! I think this one is going to be a favorite. No fragrance though, so that is a bummer. She is still a little sprawly since we just put her in this year as a small band. Supposed to climb eventually. I cut the most mature bloom off for the vase.

Forth of July also has some blooms. This was also new this year. I think the new additions are on a different bloom schedule. Also a climber.

Lady in Red close up.

Lady in Red and Pretty Lady rose in a vase.

I've only got three more that haven't bloomed yet. Parade Day had a bud so is coming soon. Love Song has nothing so not sure if it will bloom this year. It is planted in the shade which is probably a mistake. Winnipeg Parks went in a week or so ago so were hoping it lives since it is being hit with high heat.

Very nice! I might have mentioned I just got my LIR in the ground very recently and it's putting out new little leaves. It'll probably be a while before it blooms as it was just sticks after being in a pot. I can't wait to see more of your new roses.

Are you growing your Sally Holmes up some sort of a structure or is it free standing like that? Mine is sprawling on the ground.

Amazingly it is free standing like that. This is the bush that half died from the side and I worried if I didn't cut the other half back it would be lopsided. You said to leave it and it would look fine. It looks fantastic! Thank you for the advice.

Below is what it looked like in April. We took off some of what we thought was obviously dead but it may not have been. We're very new with roses so not always sure.

Below is in May when I could see what lived and what died. You can see the left half of the bush died back to the ground but the right half lived. Don't know why unless the wind caught that side just so.

I'm kind of surprised it hasn't filled in more from the ground on the side that died.

Edit: On second thought, maybe the rabbits are eating any new shoots at the ground. Since it is a larger rose we don't have the fencing around it.

Here are some additional angles. The lean from a half bush die off is more noticeable at this angle.

But even with the lean the bush still looks fantastic from any angle. If the roses (all or most of them) start to thrive in this bed I want to take out the low growing evergreen you see behind Sally Holmes to allow for an additional bed.

Unfortunately not all my Sally Holmes have done so well. This is Sally Holmes #2 that was put in 3 years ago also. Puny in comparison. Maybe Sally likes the high heat of the rocks.

Sally Homes #3 died. As did Sally Holmes #4 which replaced #3 when it died. Lady in Red is now in almost the same location and looks to be doing well.

I tried to root a Sally Holmes last year. This year is what went in the ground from that effort. Not too promising looking. We're hoping she surprises us and takes hold. This is in the front of the house so a different micro climate than we've tried with the other roses.

If I had only put in 2 Sally Holmes and one kept dying while the other was puny I wouldn't think much of this rose at all. Luckily the big one is thriving as it gives me hope for my other roses.

My other great hope for roses is Pretty Lady Rose. All three that I bought have done fantastic. This is the one in the same bed as Sally. It is closer to the house so gets less light.

I think Sally does love heat. I saw fantastic plants in California. Your big one looks great, mmmm.

Just gorgeous. I agree with Sheila as I recall Cori Ann had beautiful SHs. She kept hers slightly shaded, but it's very where she lives. My original plant was on a lower level and I think the cold air falling down did her in over the winter. Her clone is now loving it in the full sun front yard, sending out tons of buds and just starting to bloom, but has a LONG way to go to look like yours! : )) I really hope she makes it through the winter in this spot. She'll actually climb in some gardens around here, but one never knows with these micro-climates. : ((

My Chuckles is finally doing something.... a few blooms as a first flush, but now is covered in buds and has put on good growth. That area would look wonderful all in roses, but I do like the contrast of roses and evergreens. Perhaps you could plant the roses a little closer for the time being. I've realized I can do that with roses that experience some die-back.

Vaporvac, Do you have a pictures of your Chuckles?

My Parade Day is finally blooming. We put it in earlier this year, around April.

This is the one on the upper right.

I picked Parade Day because it had a wonderful scent in the green house. The flowers were pretty but not show stoppers. But I think it may turn out to be a favorite because the flower is a show stopper in my garden. I tend to really like the bright colors and this is coming in bright.

Lady in Red continues to perform. Here she is with some aged blooms. I started to try and train her against her trellis. I'm hoping she is cane hardy so develops into a good sized plant.

She is really hard to get good pictures of. I need a different camera that processes her brilliant red color better. I love how full and large the blooms are.

Finally there is a tiny bud on Love Song so maybe next week I will have a bloom.

She is really blooming and I think finally coming a bit into her own, but that bed is really too much of a huge weed embarrassment since I had to fence it off for the deer. It's on a steep hill to start with and the fence makes it very awkward to get into and work so it's been neglected since. I hate the deer. I am moving some of my roses from that bed as it gets too cold for them and replacing them with Pink Pets, so it may inspire me to weed and put down my weed suppressant aka. horsehair underlay! : )) When I do that I'll get some pics, but it's making a very cheery scene at the moment. Unfortunately, the color clashes a bit with Pink Pet so I may do some rearranging next spring if I can clear out my long hill.

Don't worry about the weeds. We've all had them. Would love to see what a more mature one looks like. Mine have been flowering nicely but not really growing.

The problem is they obscure the rose they are so tall. Mine is grafted planted last year.

Playboy is doing well. It seems to like the heat. Oddly it isn't being decimated by the Japanese beetles.

Golden wings has great blooms in the morning but they are all chewed up by the evening.

Dick Koster seems to be doing well vs the Japanese Beetles also.

And Parade Day. Although the beetles occasionally get one.

Almost all of my singles were in bloom so I decided to make a bowl of them. Was going to do the traditional float but the sprays were so pretty I decided to try something new and I really like the effect.

Clockwise starting from 12 o'clock. Playboy (orange and yellow), Golden Wings, Robusta, Dainty Bess, Sally Holmes and Chuckles.

Lady in Red is so loaded with blooms I cut one off for the house.

I love that new arrangement! How are you feeling about Golden Wings? There's something I really like about that rose and Dainty Bess.

Lovely arrangement. I wish I had space for Sally Holmes. Lady in Red is luscious--I must look her up. Have you thought about growing Morden Sunrise? I've grown one for years, and it's a beautiful single yellow with blushed pink petal edges. The blooms are about the size of Dainty Bess blooms. It's a very cold hardy Canadian rose. Diane

Thanks Vaporvac. I'm not that fond of Golden Wings. The bush grew super fast and the flowers come often but they are eaten so fast by the Japanese Beetles that they rarely last a full day. Also when I got Golden Wings it was because I admired the single bloom in the green house and Matt said it did well here. Shortly after getting it I saw some full bushes and knew it wasn't one I was going to like alot. The flowers aren't very dense and they are small for the full grown bush size. It just doesn't show well. I'm also noticing tonight that they are closing up in the house arrangement at night so don't make a good cut flower. Dainty Bess is doing the same thing.

Dainty Bess is sort of on a watch list. It might have good flushes as it gets more established. Here it is today. Hasn't grown nearly as much as Golden Wings. But a couple of times it had more dense flowers.

Out of my singles Sally Holmes and Playboy are the favorites.

Playboy has stunning vibrant blooms and beautiful, glossy foliage.

Sally Holmes is stunning when she is in full bloom and she has fantastic growth. She is getting so big it is hard to get a good photo that shows her blooms. She would have a ton more but is a huge Japanese Beetle magnet. They chomp her just as soon as she blooms.

The delicate coloring of her blooms really appeals to me. Also the lacy effect when the whole spray blooms. Which it would be on this bush except for the JB damage.

nanadoll,
Thanks for the suggestion of Mordon Sunrise. I did look at it but it has a more delicate coloring than the ones I tend to like which have very vibrant coloring. Colorado has strange lighting and to my eyes alot of colors get washed out. I think that is what happens to Mordon Sunrise when I see it. However it is often recommended and I know some people who have it and are in love with it. They feel it is the best rose bush ever.

Are you thinking of another Morden rose, because MS is quite bright? I live in the desert with bright sun, and grow a lot of colorful roses and perennials. Much as I love pastels, they look washed out around here, and I often regret growing some of my pastel roses. My big theme is purple and yellow, plus wine red. Diane

Sounds like a beautiful color set. I don't know if I'm thinking of a different one. I think it is more yellow than Playboy and maybe that is why I thought it looked washed out. Matt at High Country Roses said it was more popular than Playboy when I bought it and sort of tried to direct me that way. Said it was a fantastic rose.

Your color scheme sounds beautiful. I don't officially have one as I am just learning about what I like and don't like with the roses. When I buy a new one I walk it around the High Country Roses green house and hold the flowers up to existing roses I have to see if the colors clash. If it doesn't then I buy it. Surprisingly, there have been a few that have and even though I like them I don't get them as I think they will be ones I don't like long term if they aren't harmonious with my other roses.

I just added Calico Gal and Denver's Dream. I picked Denver's Dream because I was so happy with how Playboy looked in the overall scheme of things. Although it is a mini and I'm not sure how that will play with the others in my rock bed.

I also added Calico Gal. No blooms in my yard yet. This is the photo at the green house.

More blooms opened today! I can't decide what arrangement of colors I like best so I keep moving them around. They are all so pretty!

I LOVE this last arrangement! P.S. I posted more red climbers on your LiR thread. ))

Those single blooms are so pretty!

Last night's haul. I'm really enjoying cutting alot of these late season blooms because they last longer in the house away from the Japanese Beetles.

Top vase is 2 pink Amiga Mia's and 1 Lady in Red.

Middle vase is Pretty Lady Rose on the left. Amiga Mia in the center and Parade Day on the right.

Lower dish is Golden Wings as the top then clockwise around:

Robusta

Iceberg

Sally Holmes

Chuckles

Dainty Bess

Winnipeg Parks (partially open hot pink bloom)

And Playboy in the center.

Really pretty. I keep thinking you need Playgirl, too.... just for the name. : )) I haven't heard you talk much about Winnipeg Parks. I like the colour.

Well, you learn something every day. I did not know about Playgirl. Love the color! I wonder if she does as well in Colorado as Playboy? Unfortunately not carried by High Country Roses so I'd have to mail order. I've considered doing it but I do like seeing the blooms in person and getting Matt's input on how the roses do in Colorado so haven't taken the leap yet.

Winnipeg parks is a new addition. I went to the Denver Rose show this year and there were tons of beautiful Winnipeg Parks entries. Mid July or so we added a band. It now looks like this. I think it is going to become a favorite. So far the Japanese Beetles are leaving it alone, it seems to have alot of blooms (I have recently cut two off) and is supposed to be good down to zone 4.

I couldn't help myself and went to cut more blooms today. My display area looks like this now.

Turns out Amiga Mia is my largest rose.

The Sally Holmes start that we put out front is getting established and growing. But I'm thinking we made a mistake. The big Sally Holmes bush is generally a Japanese Beetle magnet and Lady in Red isn't getting them at all. So Lady in Red may be a better bush to have in the front since it holds it's appearance better.

Mmmmm12, could you put milky spore on your lawn for the JBs? It seems such a shame to have so many blooms ruined. I drown all mine, but my main bane are the cucumber beetles.

We did nematodes the last couple of years and I think that helped alot. But they fly in from other areas also. Some roses they don't take much interest in and others, like Sally Holmes and Golden Wings they really concentrate on them. There are people trying milky spore in our area so I'm waiting for their reports before we give it a try.

In the mean time I will continue cutting and displaying them. :-) Problem is I can never pick a favorite picture.

I hope they help. MS is predator of the grub. Perhaps you could convince your neighbors to do the same. Then it's not to hard to drown a few in soapy water. It gives me great satisfaction to do so! : )) Love the latest picture. Your garden must be becoming a dream!

I just had to post this spray of Sally Holmes.

My Sally Holmes is a blooming machine and huge this year. It is hard to get a picture of the entire bush.

Playboy seems to be a constant bloomer also. In sun it sparkles:

After the sun sets it glows:

More of Playboy. Close up. This was yesterday at 9 a.m. Sun was up but these were in the shade. Glowing.

Full bush: