My roses in hot & humid Houston, Texas

last year

last modified: last year

One of the greatest joys of growing roses is to be able to cut them, make my own arragements, and bring them inside to enjoy. This is my 2nd year with about 50 roses in my small backyard. Quite amazed to see how giving roses can be even though it's challenging to grow them in this hot and humid weather. If you grow roses in a similar condition, I have a blog over at www.RosesInHouston.com where I share about my trials and errors, and do rose review of the roses that I grow in my garden. I don't spray them with anything.

A little bit of everything

Evelyn

Safari: that color gives me life!

Raspberry Cream Twirl: it's such an amazing climber. This is only a little over 1 year.

Life of the Party

Le Petit Prince

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Comments (33)

Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
last year
Beautiful, TW H.
TW H thanked Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
rosecanadian
last year
Oh, well done!!! I love, love your bouquet!! And you've done such a good job of espaliering RCT!! I think that your LotP is my favorite of your pictures. :) :)
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msrpisi: I have 1 Mary Rose and 1 Heritage growing 3 feet apart. Over 10 years old each. 4-5 hours of sun a day, tops. MR gets a bit more. Your description of how MR does matches mine, re: BS/defoliation. That's with 1 March copper spray, and (past years) 1-2 "other" fungicide sprays per year. Good initial flush, then sparse smattering of bloom after big heat subsides. Heritage in past years has given 3 flushes a year - 1st best, of course. With same Rx as above, trivial BS and no to minimal defoliation. Last year I just did the single March spray on it - no difference. Some of the healthiest foliage of all my roses. I do see Heritage was near the top of this http://www.nybg.org/gardens/rose-garden/performers-2010.php list's rankings. Although, as it has good delicate fragrance, some of the high score reflected that (rather than just disease resistance and flower power). I'm presuming the 10 point scale system Peter K. used there was akin to the 100 point scale he used here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3840656/spray-free-roses-spreadsheet-kukielski Interesting Heritage doesn't even appear on the spreadsheet (or I missed it). FWIW, I'm about 20 miles from Manhattan. Hope that helps.
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BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14)
last year
Thanks for sharing , TW. Your roses are beautiful and your blog is very thoughtfully written. I used to garden in Plano TX for many years and faced many of the same challenges.
MasLovesRoses_z8a GA
last year
Gorgeous!!
strawchicago z5
last year
I love your pics, and thank you for labeling each pic. with the name of the rose.
noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)
last year
Incredible. You make it look like rose growing is very easy where you are!
seasiderooftop
last year
Those are so gorgeous!

Life of the Party is so pretty, I wish they would sell it in Europe.

Le Petit Prince and Safari are both amazing!

I hope you update us in the summer with their performance in the heat!
dianela7analabama
last year
Gorgeous roses! It gives me such happiness to see you growing Raspberry cream twirl, she is a wonderful roses here also.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley ORThank you Sheila
TW H
Original Author
last year
@rosecanadian Thank you very much. It took me almost a year to finally decide how to train it. It's so vigorious that one lattice isn't enough for it..ha. I can't believe it started out as a tiny ownroot and now a ginormous rose. Can't imagine it in year 3.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14) Thank you very much BenT. I was reading many of your posts when I first started and there were very helpful. I didn't know of any rose groups in FB until much later so this forum was a great palce for me and you're like a Texas rose celebrity on this forum. Read that you moved to CA. What an ideal place to grow roses, I bet you don't miss the amount of pests and diseases in Texas. Look forward to seeing your rose journey there.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@MasLovesRoses_z8a GA Thank you so much.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@strawchicago z5 Thank you so much.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque) Thank you, that was so kind of you. I wish it was easy as it seemed through these beautiful roses. You have to see the wilderness behind my fence. My rose journey started and I quitted in no time in my 1st round due to high pest and disease pressure where I lived I got so frustrated. I shared about my rose journey on my blog and the next one I'll share about harsh realities that I face. Surprisingly, the worst garden pests that drive me crazy are armadillos. I can live with blackspots/mildew/thrips and all but armadillos are so bad.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@seasiderooftop Thank you. Life of the Party sure is a very unique rose. I love love its strong fruity fragrance. I sure will update this summer. In fact, our summer starts early here. Spring was so short. Where in Europe are you if you don't mind me asking?
TW H
Original Author
last year
@dianela7analabama Thank you so much. I am so glad I bought RCT, my very 1st climber indeed. Such a very vigorious beauty.
seasiderooftop
last year
@TW H

I'm in Malta, zone 11, so I'm always interested in finding out about roses people grow in other hot climates. Here, "spring" was just a lot of wind, and now we're already creeping into summer temps. It's going to be a long, hot summer this year.

I hope LOTP will do great in your garden! I got a very similar rose, Rosomane Janon, earlier this year, but mine was very damaged by the winds and it's only starting to recover and form some buds now. Looking forward to your pics!
TW H
Original Author
last year
@seasiderooftop Oh wow that sounds very similar to our spring this year. We had a lot of wind, not enough rain, and it's already beginning to feel like summer here as well. I dread a long and hot summer ahead. How do you water your roses? I don't have an irrigation system and have been hand watering early morning (and sweating in the heat for the love of these roses...sigh).
Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley
last year
Great job! I really enjoyed reading your blog also. I don't do facebook so I'm happy to follow along.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog.
seasiderooftop
last year
last modified: last year
@TW H

We are on the same boat! I have 28 roses and a bunch of other plants, all in pots, in my rooftop garden and I hand water everything. It's a pain for sure, especially in the summer months when the roof becomes a real frying pan!

For now I can still get away with a weekly watering, but I know that I'm going to have to bump it up to twice a week before the end of this month, and then when July hits it has to be every other day, which is exhausting! I never water every day, but I do mulch a lot in summer to help reduce evaporation.

I forgot to mention, your bouquet in the first picture is delightful! I'm not making bouquets these days, because I'm using all the petals from the spring flush's spent flowers to start building the mulch layer in my pots.

Oh, I just noticed you have a website! Heading over to check it out now!
kathyc_z10
last year
beautiful photos @TW H! Can't wait to check out your blog this weekend!
Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA
last year
last modified: last year
Keep up the good work! Your roses are outstanding, and the varieties you have shared with us are real stunners.

Moses
titian1 10b Sydney
last year
Such healthy looking and beautiful roses. I'm amazed at Raspberry Cream Twirl's performance - a rose I'll always associate with dianela. Life of the Party is so pretty, and I love what you said about Safari.
librarian_gardner_8b_pnw
last year
So beautiful!
TW H
Original Author
last year
@seasiderooftop I have never thought about using petals for mulching, that sounds like a great idea. I have many in pots too and I completely can relate about the pain of caring for potted roses during hot months. I am not looking forward to watering in the heat at all.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@kathyc_z10 Thank you so very much for your kind words and for visting my little blog.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA Thank you very much Moses.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@titian1 10b Sydney Thank you so much. Do you grow RCT in Sydney as well? It's such an amazing rose. I can't wait for it to be covered in more buds as it matures.
Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b)
last year
As soon as I saw your first bouquet pic I knew the lavender must be Le Petit Prince. It has such a lovely fragrance, don't you think?
TW H
Original Author
last year
@librarian_gardner_8b_pnw Thank you so much.
TW H
Original Author
last year
@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) Oh yes, I completely agree. Its fragrance is so divine. Very fresh and crisp. I was glad I bought it on a whim. I didn't plan on buying this one at all, it was at a grocery store for $14.99. Nothing to lose for that price right? Turns out to be a prolific bloomer.
titian1 10b Sydney
last year
TW, I don't grow Raspberry Cream Twirl. My house is a peach colour, otherwise (if it was available here), I'd have tried it!

My roses in hot & humid Houston, Texas

Comments (33)

Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR

rosecanadian

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My roses in hot & humid Houston, Texas

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