What is that pretty pink rose in front of her, if I may ask?

I love the colors but have read both are stingy bloomers so havent tried them. Would love to hear any comments about that........

@Tammy (Southern Ont) Zone 4/5 USDA Tammy, thanks so much for your beautiful pics and info on PS. I love her colorations and that picture of your roses from afar looks great. I like the contrast of that rich, deep red in the back with the yellow/oranges and then pink up front. Cute poodle in your picture too! They're great dogs.

Monarda....the pink rose is Pomponella. She is fabulous in my garden! Always that last one in bloom too before the snow comes and extremely floriferous.

B- Thank you! Poodles sure are great dogs!

Beautiful autumnal color.

@Tammy (Southern Ont) Zone 4/5 USDA That is a beautiful looking flower cluster. I'll have to look up Pomponella, I love the bold color. Poodles are the best :)

I have/had both Tea Clipper and Port Sunlight. Tea Clipper had some large flowers, but they went from a tolerable apricot to a rather ugly dirty dishwater color. In several years it never would repeat bloom. I finally got rid of it. My Port Sunlight has had some rather small flowers in a beautiful, glowing apricot color that had some nice fragrance to them, but it has not bloomed in the past 2 years I think. It does not take our late freezes at all. It is too bad because this one is pretty, but I had hoped it would at least have larger flowers than what it has had. I may have to get rid of it also, which is a pity. I am sure it has some climate somewhere it likes, just not here.

I wish I could comment with information for you, B, but I don't grow either of these roses. However, I have to join in the praise of the stunning Pomponella, Tammy. Every time I see this photo, I run to HMF for another look up. The color...the cup shape...sigh. Lisa also grows P, I believe, and hers has made me do the look up thing, too. Tammy, how large are the blooms on Pomponlla? Diane

Diane,

I have a photo of Pomponella in comparison to my hand/arm.

Probably the best way to illustrate the size of the blooms.

Thanks, Tammy. Your rose's blooms look bigger than the HMF size estimate states, 2 inches or so, I think it was. Your rose is gorgeous. Diane

I just checked, and the HMF size of the bloom is even smaller then I thought. They say 1.5 inches--no way. Aren't the blooms on your rose about 3 inches wide? Sorry for all the questions--I like bigger blooms. Diane

My snowy garden at the moment is giving me brain freeze! hahaha

But, yes...I'd say Pomponella blooms are definitely about three inches wide.

I mean, they're not ginormous, but they're way bigger than something like drift or carpet roses.

They don't stand out as "small" to me at all. They fit into homemade bouquets perfectly.

For example, here they are with some other garden roses, snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias etc.

Wow! Tammy, What a beautiful bouquet!

Thanks, Tammy. What a stunning bouquet--you certainly know the art of flower arranging. Diane

@the_bustopher z6 MO - Thanks for the info! I keep reading about the rebloom issues which is a bummer since the flowers look so nice on both of the plants. I think I'll hold off on them for now. Have you tried Bathsheba? It seems to have similar orange/yellow apricot colors and does well for me so far here.

@Tammy (Southern Ont) Zone 4/5 USDA Tammy I love that bouquet you made. So beautiful with the yellow rose at the bottom and other flowers mixed in. What are those pretty white flowers you put with the roses. Kind of smaller flowers that look almost like frilly poppies?

Your snow covered garden is beautiful. I love when we get a good snowfall and everything is covered like that, it's so beautiful and calming.

Too funny. That bouquet was just me running around the garden picking anything still blooming before the frost and snow came. It's just a jumble of blooms that were hanging in there until the very end.

The white ones are cosmos. They're a variety called double click snow-puff. Super charming.

Tammy, I love the snow scene, too, and I am supremely jealous of your Double Click Cosmos. I've tried to grow this type several, only to have the many quail around eat the seed up. What a waste of money, and cosmos used to grow so easily in my garden before the quail multiplied like rabbits. Diane

Those naughty quail!

Have you tried starting them indoors? I start most of my annuals indoors so I can have blooms earlier. Our season is already too short. You could transplant them as small plants and hopefully the quail will leave them alone.

I've sworn off starting anything indoors for lack of a decent space, though I did start many things indoors years ago. I no longer have my light set up. You are tempting me with the suggestion, though. I'd have to transplant fairly large plants because the quail like seedlings, too. Diane

I adore thoseCosmos!

Speaking of starting seeds..that reminds me,
its time to start tomatoes and peppers in my neck of the woods. Some people wait till January but many do it in Dec. Tomatoes grow fast. Peppers are much slower.

I went on a tomato & pepper seed tangent last summer and got all kinds of crazy tomato seeds including some from Wild Boar Farms. I can't wait to grow those!

I have a couple cheap black metal shelves that have the adjustible shelves. I use regular shoplights on little chains so I can adjust them. I use heat mats to get some things started. The shelves go outside on the back patio in the spring, to put other potted plants on.

I wish I had enough greenhouse space to start seedlings in there but its packed as it is.

I love Diane's naughty quail. They are so cute. I'm sure I'd be mad if the were digging my seedlings though.

Interesting about quail. I have to look up those cosmos Tammy. They're prettier than the ones I grew from seed here. It's funny, after I planted way too many wildflower seeds last year, there are cosmos and random repeats everywhere and my bird population skyrocketed. I didn't even think there would be so many birds for coming for seeds. The cosmos spread the most and now I have lots of quail and mourning doves scurrying around which I had never seen here before.

Sultry, interesting about the heat mats. I used them in an experiment to grow my succulents hydroponically, and the plants were so happy and healthy. Has anyone ever used heating mats to root rose cuttings?

I don't know yet, but both of them are on their way here to me this spring from DAR.

I selected them for their "nautical" names- along with Fighting Temeraire too.

My grandparents have always had a thing for big water and the things that accompany it, so I thought it would be a nice little tribute and memorial to them (still have Grandpa god bless him)!

Steven