I don't know about Florida, but the Kristin I obtained from Nor'East does not need spraying for mildew in my California garden like all the rest of my minis. It is labeled as a mini, not a mini flora, but it's character is like that of a mini flora. Deep green leaves, a white pedal with deep pink edges, and the bloom stays in a perfect bud stage for a very long time before opening. Also my Rockin' Robin Shrublet rose (a little bigger plant but not by much) has not needed any spraying for mildew. It is a white with light and dark pink stripes. It has abundant blooms. These two roses look very well together along with Child's Play, a white with lighter pink edges. Child's Play does need to be sprayed for mildew though. A bouquet with these three are very striking. Elegant, with Rockin' Robin being a little bit of an impudent standout.

Lovely pictures, Sara Ann. That Francis Meilland is mesmerizing! And what a sweet Valentine from Ascot :) There isn't time to list all of mine that have major blackspot issues here, so will just say that is an overall imperfection of my roses. Some other things that irk me: Shouldn't a rose named Paris de Yves St. Laurent be fragrant? It is one of my most beautiful and probably my longest lasting blooms, but the blooms themselves aren't fragrant (the buds are spicy smelling before they open, but then nothing) and closer view of the same shot cause it's just so pretty While on the subject of names, shouldn't a rose named White Licorice be white? I adore this rose and have no problem with its color, but I originally planted it in my white garden thinking it would be white. Moved it the next year since it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the actual whites. Falling in Love and George Burns are tied for the thorniest roses I've ever grown. You can see the stems right below their buds have tons of little prickles. Those prickles grow into the biggest, scariest thorns you've ever seen on mature canes. Apricot Drift & Coral Drift both bloom abundantly & pretty much nonstop, but they don't self clean...tons of dried up blooms must continuously be deadheaded.

WEDDING BELLSSSSSSS! (Imaging that sung out like a happy and fat opera singer). I love love love this rose and I know you will to. I think it may be the perfect rose. I told Chris from New Flora that it should be added to the Sunbelt collection along with Beverly since both performed so well for me here in South Florida, but I'm sure there is more to it than just Florida heat. My Savannah is still small and has only bloomed twice. Its not in the most perfect location. Right now it doesn't get much sun and will only start getting ideal sun once it grows a little taller. It had pretty good disease resistance however and the bloom is very pretty. Its only been in the ground a couple of months though. I love Plum Perfect. Cream Veranda is also a wonderful rose you may want to try. It stays very compact and the blooms are quite large considering the plant stays so small. Solero Vigorosa is in the same boat as Cream Veranda. Its not quite as disease resistant, but its not bad and it too has large blooms in comparison to its size. I really like Roxy vigorosa. Its pretty much a miniature though. But the little blooms look like miniature versions of Fallstaff or Rouge Royal blooms and its just too cute. It blooms a bunch. I also really like Lavendar Veranda. Its a little taller than Cream Veranda growing to about 2.5 feet and a very prolific bloomer. Not quite as deep in color as Plum Perfect. One that has not done well for me is Summer Romance. No blooms. None! Its been there for 2 years without a single bloom. Just lots and lots and lots of healthy foliage. Another one that's still up in the air is Raspberry Vigorosa. Its extremely resistant to disease and has bloomed some. But so far its much more plant than flower. I havent given up on it yet though because its only been in the garden about 6 months. One that puzzles me is Earth Angel. Its first few months it gave me about 6 gorgeous blooms that were to die for. Then it stopped blooming and had just shot out new shoot after shoot after shoot. I've never seen such a vigorous rose. Its the bushiest thing ever, but no buds. Its not tall per say, just really really bushy. Its about 2x2. I cut it back about 2 months ago, hoping to git it to bloom but I think I just angered it because it shot out 7 (count em, 7!) new basal canes after i pruned it, and still no buds. Again, I'm not giving up on it, because it was just a little one gallon thing when I planted it last fall but if it sends out any more shoots, I don't know where its gonna put them. Its so friggin' bushy! I'm so impressed with many of my new Kordes that I just put in an order for a bunch more. I'm getting: Florentina, Jasmina, Honeymoon, (all climbers) from Edmunds. Then, Lemon Fizz Kolorscape, Rose of hope, Dark Desire, Soul Sister and Poseidon.

Okay, so it is the next season after this thread. Not sure who might even still have an interest in this. I guess I feel I am trialing roses for disease resistance and growing organically and thought my experiences might be useful to anyone trying to do the same. What has happened since then. I cut back Julia Child just about to the ground in August last year. It came back from the ground and was about a foot tall before the first frost. Over the winter that new growth died back to the base of the canes. Some new canes came up from the ground and some new growth started on the bottom of the old canes. I did my usual compost/alfalfa meal in late April?, and fish emulsion/seaweed a few times. I had excellent healthy growth and I let it develop the way it wanted to. I tried to fix the problem I felt I created the season before, by cutting down any plants that were near the rose, so it gets a lot more air circulation. Last season I had a lot of cleome reseeding and allowed it to grow right up around the rose. A big mistake. It is only July now, but we have had two long heat waves already and it's been very humid this season, but Julia Child looks very good, just small. Here is a series of photos..... Julia Child April 27th, 21 - low to the ground but healthy growth. By May 25th, lots of healthy growth and flower buds showing. I didn't really prune any of the interior new growth. Still wondering if I should have because it has a lot of interior growth. Julia Child June 7th - first flush of bloom, looking nice iwth plenty of buds, healthy foliage. Julia Child on the 7th of July - Still has completely healthy foliage and is pushing out new buds for a 2nd flush, despite not doing my usual 2nd dose of compost and alfalfa meal. And that's the story with Julia Child. Have no idea why it struggled so much last year. I didn't use the Epsom salts because I chose instead to cut it down to the ground and not look at the ugly foliage any more. I was prepared to lose it and replace it with the same. Happy that I didn't have to. What is different this year than last, that it's had such a healthy year? No idea. I have two questions, was it better not to have applied a second round of compost/alfalfa meal? Should I have pruned some of the center growth when it first started producing so much new growth? It's been a good year for roses here. I have only had foliage problems on one out of eight roses and that was Pope John Paul. I shovel pruned it as soon as I realized it had blackspot. I could have done what I did to Julia Child last year and cut it back to the ground and let it regrow with healthy foliage, but I decided I was unhappy with the rose for other reasons and that was just the last straw. My biggest complaint is that the petals on the rose, deteriorate as it is opening, so it's hard to get a healthy clean looking bloom. I decided I wanted to try another white rose, maybe next year. I was initially over enthused about the rose, but that problem with the petals just really changed my mind. Savannah, has been healthy healthy looking. Pushed up new canes, is very bushy. Had a good flush of blooms 1st time around but is slow to put on new buds. My only concern is again whether it is too bushy and I should have pruned more of it off. I did prune it initially and it started with only 3 canes but it added more and is branching off those too. So, I'm just letting it do it's thing. I skipped the 2nd round of compost and alfalfa meal on all the roses this year. I think I did that, because they had a little bit of a rough time last year, and some had a rough winter, and I wanted them to just go at their own pace. Savannah June 4th 21 Savannah June 27th...first flush was done and the foliage still was clean but it's so bushy. It seems to me that is the way it grows and doesn't seem right to try to open it up in the center for air circulation. Especially since the foliage has been so clean. I have another thread floating around which I had a hard time finding, but I did think that Beverly was dead, and with encouragement from everyone here, I watied and it came back great in short order. It has also had a good season with healthy growth. It bloomed with about 5 blossoms first flush and right now it has one open bloom on it that is smaller and a few new buds just forming. Here is a current photo of Beverly, after thinking it was dead back in May...completely healthy foliage. I also have Prairie Sunrise, which I had an early season thread about - New Dawn, which had it's best year since I've had it - Aloha, which I enjoy and is very healthy but it's not in full sun and it is a very stingy producer. Penelope that keeps coming back even though I've cut it to the ground multiple times. [g] And that's about it. I would say based on my experiences with these roses, Julia Child I have had the longest and I feel is the most reliably healthy and productive. And I love New Dawn and hope to place it in a better location where it can really perform the way it was meant to. I love that old rose fragrance. I'm enjoying all the rest. I'm not sad to be looking for a new white. And I could lose Penelope and not be sad at all. But the current collection I have, minus Pope John Paul,seem to be a very healthy bunch for someone like me who grows organically with no spraying or insecticides at all.