Certainly Radler certainly did not invent disease free roses. It certainly did help push things in that direction. As hybridizers watched him making huge amounts of cash with a fairly unsophisticated rose. I know the Parkland and Explorer roses were a disappointment too many of the breeders. They were not tested rigorously enough and many were susceptible black spot. The work that they are doing now is to be highly commended. I'm buying them when I can find them. The two that I have Emily and Campfire are wonderful roses here. Of the Svejda that I grew J P Connell, John Davis, Champlain, Henry Hudson, Louis Joliet, John Franklin and William Baffin. Only Henry Hudson and John Franklin could be grown no spray. Had many of many Parkland and Explorer roses that were shovel prune for black spot. Had I a crystal ball I'd have known that I would go no spray. Thats the way it goes. In the beginning Paul most of my rose purchased were based upon your advice on Old Roses and beyond. Then I'd look up their hardiness if good to my zone I purchased them. By the way I loved your articles and stories. The roses however are all gone they could not be grown here as no spray rose. I believe to spray or not is a personal choice. I could not do it any more and made a commitment to be more environmentally friendly. I did have all of your beautiful roses that were hardy here. I'm sorry to say that I could not grow them here without spray. I'm sure that others can in drier or hotter environments. So sad I'm sorry this was OT.

Thanks Patty. I really enjoyed that. Then I left it on and listened to other meetings from NCNH. . . Rose Nutrition and Rose Preservation and an interesting one with Burling Leong on Propagation from ARS. I didn't realize YouTube had all these lectures on roses.

I can understand your sentiments, but I honestly have done the same thing. I had to. There are too many "zones" and micro climates that vary greatly in very short distances. When someone would drive into the place and ask for a rose that would endure the "heat", I had to ask if they were down along the lowlands where "heat" meant 70 - 75 after a morning full of dense fog, or up in the "Highlands" where at the precise time the lowlands may hit the mid seventies, the elevations were literally triple digits. You very often have to dig someone's definition of "shade" out of them. "Full sun" can mean anything from dawn to dusk exposure to all afternoon sun (and sometimes, even less). "Lots of space" has meant everything from a three foot wide by five foot long area to half an acre or more. The person's dedication to investing time and energy also play huge parts. I was called for help designing the "entertainment" area of a client's yard. There are large, sweeping beds which had Icebergs planted by the dozen. They look very good (or did, I don't live in the area now) but she wanted more "color". She had also been collecting Teas and Chinas from the local rose society meetings and I needed to know whether she wanted a garden she SHOULD spend a couple of hours a day playing in, or whether she wanted a colorful area she could choose to play in, or ignore and let the lawn guy dead head it for her. She wanted both, so the entertainment area got to keep its Icebergs but other low maintenance roses were woven through them to provide color and texture, while another area of the yard was pressed into holding her more "intimate roses". Even when both people have similar understandings of the terms, there can still be a LOT of variation to their meanings. I doubt it was snobbery and more a genuine desire to as artfully, correctly match the plant with the desires and tastes of the grower. You want the customer to be happy, and you definitely want him/her to compliment you to their friends instead of complaining you sold them the wrong plant for the wrong place or one that required a lot more care than they wanted to provide. It can sometimes be a damned if you do, damned if you don't proposition.

Goodness, Moses! You really spurred on my curiosity! I went through and counted all my roses and their breeders to find the winner and it's exactly as I thought. I could have saved myself some trouble! ; ) The top spot was close with Kordes followed by Austin and then Weeks if I count the distributor and Pemberton if I'm looking at the breeder. Weeks' breeders were evenly split between Bedard and Carruth. The rest are all onsies twosies withe Meilland at three, Boerner, Lambert, Turbot, LeVavasseur, Shoup, Basye, Bentall and Buck all coming in at two a piece. I do look at Breeders and hope to grow my collection of Jerabek and Bagnasco roses and try some of the Lens Hybrid Musks. I would think being bred in Belgium where I barely recall the sun shining, that they would be healthier. Although, I hardly associate England with year-round sun. I do really like my Kordes roses that I've had for three seasons. They have really changed in terms of blooming with the exception of Fire Opal which was a winner from the get go. With the exception of Munstead Wood and Molineux, my Austins were cheap impulse buys from Lowe's. I'm happy with them, but do feel they would prefer a slightly more acidic soil, much like the Pembertons. The Weeks roses mainly came from a Springhill Rainbow of Roses sale and they are none too healthy in terms of Black spot. We'll see if they improve next year. They do bloom alot, however. I've been meaning to do this, so thanks for the push! ; )