First, let me say that I'm in central Italy, not the USA. Normally, at the end of July we would expect that our temperatures should be at least 30 - 35 degrees C or more (85 - 95 F) from mid-June until the end of August with no rain since, at least, the beginning of June until the end of August. However, this year is like no other. Last winter wasn't cold, it rained constantly until mid-May and it's now raining three or four times a week at the end of July - absolutely unheard of - it's raining as I write this, and today our top temperature was 21 degrees! So, how has this affected my roses? Well, blackspot is the major problem. My rose garden is only two years old. The first two Austins I planted were a St. Swithun climbing rose against the south-facing stone wall of the house and a Golden Celebration planted in full sun. These were both 2 year old grafted plants. For me, 'full sun' means that in Summer sunrise is between 5:30 and 6:00 am and sunset is about 8:30 - 9:00 pm. There is no shade for any of my roses (apart from the one against the South-facing stone wall) - they're in 'full sun' all day. St. Swithun has almost reached the top of the 4 metre (13 feet) South facing stone wall of the house. It was planted in mid-May 2012. Despite its location the pale pink blooms are prolific from April until November. It really doesn't seem to stop blooming until very late November. The perfume of the blooms is wonderful (I like the myrrh fragrance) and it is a healthy plant, apart from some BS problems with our ridiculously humid weather this year. The flowers do not fade, even though they are a pale pink. However, it has the most hideous prickles of any of my roses. They really are vicious and I have to wear leather gauntlets when dealing with it. The other negative comment I have about St. Swithun is that the blooms don't fall off the plant when they've finished flowering - they stay there, dead, brown and ugly! I have to use a broom to knock them off. Because of the height of the rose I've had to spend a fortune on a ladder that's tall enough for me to take my life into my hands and prune it! Golden Celebration is, perhaps, my favourite DA rose. My grafted version is about 1.5 metres high with a diameter that is at least the same as its height. It is covered in blooms all Summer long and is normally disease free but, this year it has some BS. The fragrance of Golden Celebration is the most pleasing to me. Other DA roses I have - A hedge of Queen of Sweden roses (100 plants) - the most healthy of all my DA roses. Planted bare root in January 2013, they now form a hedge about 1.2 - 1.5 metres in height that flower constantly from the end of April until November. A delightful myrrh fragrance. I can't think of anything negative about the Queen of Sweden. An own-root Teasing Georgia bought in May 2013 in a 2.5 litre pot which is now over 1 metre tall and perhaps 1.5 metres in diameter. It has flowered constantly since mid April. At the moment it has some black spot, but it is smothered in blooms. I find its fragrance very elusive. An own-root Golden Celebration, also bought in May 2013 in a 2.5 litre pot which is not as vigorous as Teasing Georgia but is healthy and floriferous. A 2 year old grafted Lichfield Angel, planted in June 2013, mid-Summer (never a good idea - but it was a gift). It is already a 1.5 metre tall x 1.5 metre diameter plant covered in enormous blooms. For me the only negative about this plant is the lack of any fragrance - at least, I can't detect any. A grafted Wildeve - I love the bloom form - but I should have paid more attention to the catalogue where it said that it shared many characteristics of a ground-cover rose. Mine is much wider than it is tall but it, too, is covered in the most beautiful pale pink roses with a lovely perfume. A Shropshire Lad - a mistake. I didn't realise that I had bought the climbing version. This too, is a 2 year old grafted plant that I've spent all spring/summer trying to convince to become a shrub rose. I believe I'm fighting a losing battle. It's also a complete BS magnet. I've also noticed that my Shropshire Lad flowers don't seem to bear any resemblance to others I've seen. Don't quite know what went wrong here. I can't detect any fragrance. Sharifa Asma x 2 - bought as own-root plants in 2.5 litre pots in May 2014. Replanted into larger pots a month ago they've both doubled in size and are now covered in buds. I just wonder whether I can keep them small enough to grow in 50 cm pots? Very healthy foliage and delightful perfume. Evelyn - another gift - about a six weeks ago. I've replanted it into a larger pot until I can decide where it should be planted. At present, the foliage doesn't look great and it seems to have some fungal infection so I've sprayed with an anti-fungal spray to see if I can control it. Sorry for such a long post … I forgot to say that I have extremely alkaline, very heavy clay - pH 8 soil - which, in its natural state varies between yellow and blue/grey in colour. Truly hideous. I have amended it heavily with anything and everything I can find - kilos of coffee grounds from my local bar, dozens of plastic bags of oak leaves (which I collect in early Spring an let rot down for 12 months), truck loads of rotted horse manure. Something must be working because the roses are all growing like crazy. Cheers Tricia

God bless you and your mother, the most fragrant roses I've smelled include: Baronne Prevost' a pink rose. Papa Meilland a red rose, that has a chalice shaped bloom. Mr. Lincoln, another red rose Oklahoma a red-black rose by the way, be sure and plant deep red roses in partial shade so they don't burn and crisp. "Pope John the second" rose is very fragrant, of mixed floral. "Lemon Spice' and Lemon Zest' are very fragrant yellow roses. nearly everybody who sees my rose garden, enjoy the sight of Double Delight' and are even more impressed when they smell it. creamy white centers edged with pink or red depending on the climate. Ebb Tide' for a fragrant purple rose. For historical interest 'The Apothecary Rose' which was used for centuries in Europe to treat both blood and womens' complaints, with its' petals being used for potpourri. I think hortico.com still sells it, under Gallica. Pax and Moonlight for white roses that have a Musk Rose scent, both are very floriferous. hortico.com ships bareroot roses in winter and they sell Moonlight' . helpmefind.com/ under "Plant" and "Search" shows all the above roses. kind thoughts, love, and best wishes for healing, Luxrosa P.S, a scented rose garden with lavender and rosemary, and lemon verbena around it, can uplift the spirits.

Carol, In terms of flavor and productivity, Tess's Land Race is well worth growing. Whether you want to spend the necessary time required to pick hundreds of tiny tomatoes from it weekly is another issue altogether. I love TLRC. It is a huge monster and it produces tons and tons of currant-sized tomatoes. I like it because it gives me oodles and oodles to dehydrate for winter. In fact, of the approx. 400 tomatoes dehydrating in the oven right now, about 250 of them are TLRC. I also like to eat them by the handful in the garden and tossed on salads. If you aren't going to dehydrate them though, you might find it hard to eat that many every week unless you have salads at every lunch and dinner. If you want to grow it next year, you don't have to order seed. I am sure the packet in my seed crate has oodles and oodles of seed in it. I'll be happy to semd you some this winter when we're all exchanging seeds. One thing I like about Tess's is that it packs a very hearty tomato flavor into those tiny little maters. It has the taste of a full-sized tomato, not the sweetness of a typical cherry type of tomato. If I had a garden shed....or an outhouse (hee hee) that I wanted to shade, or something unsightly I wanted to screen, I'd just plant two or three TLRC plants around it and let them do their thing. Dawn

I'm new to joining the ARS this year (belated I know), so I was very pleased to see the 100th anniversary issue focused on OGRs and rose history. I agree that it's an issue to curl up with on a bitterly cold weekend like the upcoming one and dream of spring. I was puzzled to see on the first few pages where ARS lists products that they have used and support that they list the Bayer All in One product rather than the selective fungicide or separate products Bayer sells. I realize there are a lot of exhibitors in the ARS but you'd think they'd also be concerned about not overdoing the unnecessary aspects of the All in One products, particularly the insecticide. Since I presume the endorsements are intended for new rose growers in particular, it seems that this one needs a bit of a caveat in the endorsement. Cynthia