Deborah,

LOL Pee-On, a great name for a dog!

Noseo,

Welcome back, I have purchased from Kate’s Rose Garden and PlantRoses on Etsy, and they were true to variety.

Magpie - so most of your roses didn't bloom after your hailstorm. I remember that...but I was hoping they'd bloom later. Darn. I'm glad that Ispahan did well. Yeah, even though I loved Strawberry Hill's fragrance...I couldn't stand how floppy it was and I tossed it. A lot of people seem to have done the same.

Deborah - Lemon Spice is a rose that I would love to find! Mmmm. Oh wow!!! That view!!! The mountains look like they've been water-color painted!! And that bouquet!!! Oh my!!!! Please send me a bouquet like that. lol I hope you start feeling better soon, and in the meantime enjoy some time off?

Diane - beautiful plonk. BTW, did you make up the word "plonk?" I've never heard it before you said it on Houzz many years ago. :) Oh, now that's the perfect way to spend your birthday!! Rose porn, chocolates and (gag) candy corn. :) :) Wow!! Is your Calibrachoa new this year or is that an old picture...it's glorious!!! My goodness!! And then there's your (there are no words rich enough) divine Augusta Luise and Boscobel....I bow to the queen of roses!

Ben - lol about Marc Chagall...I have nothing good or bad to say about it....so off with its head!

Forever - lovely against the house...I didn't realize that it has a really strong fragrance.

Kristine - so true!!! If it doesn't do well for Ben...then forget about it for us lesser gardeners. lol

Berrypie - lol...yup, they'd know it was from you. :) :)

Thanks Ben. Hopefully my health is on the upswing. Thanks for your input regarding Etsy stores. I’ll have to check them out.

Carol, your post above from six days ago, just showed up on my notifications. Geez. Thanks about the plonk, a word which was in use on Garden Web when I arrived, but no one but I use it anymore. I believe the Brits used to refer to cheap champagne as plonk. Will check. Thank you about roses and the calibrachoa. These are old pics because nothing is currently blooming here for sure. I hope this doesn't take six days to post. Diane

Carol, just checked plonk in wine, and I was close. Brits call cheap wine plonk and got the expression from the Aussies, who are the kings of great slang. They call their plonk something else now, can't remember what, and have moved on. Diane, wasting her time.

I see. :) :) There's nothing cheap about your plonks, though. :)

Chateau Cardboard is the only other term for cheap wine I know. Not used these days as far as I know.

Trish, I just checked Wikipedia, and according to them, in Australia, cheap wine is called goon. That's what they said. You're too upscale with your Chateau Cardboard, though that's good one. I see that Houzz has allowed you to post. Check out the uplifting Palatine's Silent but Deadly Launch. Fig kindly did a bit of changing on the title for me to make it more appropriate. Diane

I've never heard anyone use the term goon. Perhaps it's not a Sydney term.

They use Goon in the outback. We use it here, too, in Idaho, the US outback. Diane

Trish - I've never heard that one. :) :)

Somebody shut me up. Diane

LOL LOL Never, Diane...you make me laugh. :) :)

We love you, Diane. You are really 15 years old.

So...a "goon" in America (a gangster's hit squad, the guys who beat you up) maybe came from the people who drank a lot of cheap liquor...so maybe the movie The Goonies was really about...? I learn so much on this forum. What would I do without you? I would be a poorly educated person, indeed!!

Oh you guys!!! lol

I'm thinking of shoveling/donating/maybe potting my Munstead Wood roses. I have six. I don't spray. They are half naked most of the year and don't have the energy to bloom much. The blooms of course are gorgeous, but the plants just look unhappy compared to my other roses.

I know this is the special, hurry and get it before they discontinue it rose, but it just isn't doing great for me.

I’m sorry I don’t live closer to you, Sunny! I would gladly come over and dig it out for you if I could take it home with me. I have one MW and am very fond of it.

Sunny Mississippi 8a Years ago I saw a bed of Munstead Woods (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) looking AWFUL half-naked with blackspots at nearby rose park after spring flood and heavy rains. Dr. Huey-rootstock is a long & woody sticky and rots easily in our poor drainage clay and freezing rain in my zone 5.

Own-root starts out as shallow cluster and can take our poor drainage clay and heavy rains better. Our soil is dense & heavy clay on top of zero-drainage limestone, as in some TN areas.

So I got mine as OWN-ROOT back in 2015 and own-root Munstead Wood has been wonderful & zero blackspots and constant blooming for the past 9 years. I don't spray.

A nearby rose friend has 3 Munstead Wood (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) and he's killing them since they are wimpy bare sticks. Some roses are best as own-roots in our zone 5 poor drainage clay.

MUNSTEAD WOOD prefers alkaline pH and hates waterlogged rain, and it's worse if grafted-on-Dr.Huey. I had to move my own-root Munstead Wood from open air to a roof-overhang that blocks 80% of acidic rain to prevent mildew. I also spent 2 hours digging the hole for fast drainage.

pH of rain in my midwest is acidic at 4.5, versus more alkaline in the west coast at 5.6 (Wikipedia info). My 3 sisters don't have any blackspots on their roses in CA. Click on below map to see pH of rain across USA:

Oh, my. Look at the awful grafted sticks. June.

More awful grafted sticks. October. Diane

Is Monster Wood a better rose than Young Lycidas ?

Oh, boy. That's a hard one. Munstead does bloom more, and the above roses bloom from around June through October every single month. I give the edge to Munstead, but Young Lycidas has more unusual blooms in structure. It isn't as dark as Munstead, so it depends on the color you're after, too. YL has the most heavenly scent, though. Really unusual and beautiful, though you might not notice it in the hot, dry outdoors like we have. I had to bring YL inside for the gorgeous scent to become evident. Munstead has a lovely scent, too. Diane

Since Carol is elsewhere I'll insert a " swoon " at your descriptions - in fact, two " swoons "- one for each.

I already have too many roses but if all goes well, no major vet bills and the Maytag washer goes another 50 years, maybe I should get one of the DA parfum heavyweights.

Thanks Diane.

Berrypie - lol...I'm here now. :)

Diane - SWOON!!!! SWOON!!! :) :)

Straw - Diane's is probably the exception to your findings. :)

rosecanadian Munstead Wood HATES acidic & heavy rain in my midwest, and it's worse if grafted-on-Dr.Huey (a long woody stick that rots easily in our poor drainnage clay & flash flood and freezing rain in zone 5). I had to spend 2 hours digging the hole for it for fast drainage. pH of rain in my Chicagoland is 4.5, versus more alkaline on the west coast at 5.6 to 6.

I constantly had to lime Munstead Wood, then I got tired and moved it to a roof-overhang that blocks 80% of rain. Munstead Wood is a constant bloomer for a friend in CA in dry & alkaline clay. It's a constant bloomer for me in fast drainage and "rain-protected". Below is my 9th-year-own-root Munstead Wood, leaves are healthy but bush has nasty prickles:

It gives bigger blooms in late fall when the bush is fully recuperated from my zone 5 winter that kills it down to 1 foot yearly:

My experience has been that all roses want the same thing regardless of rootstock: Loamy aerable soil, proper pH, sufficient balanced nutrition, plenty of water, ok drainage. If you live in a place with a significant bug or fungus issue that may need to be specifically addressed. Weather is a huge factor we can’t really control (unless you move, lol). I have grown own-root, Dr Huey, Mulitflora, Fortuniana and they all do really well. It really is that simple.

Your roses look so happy, Ben. Hi to Elon.

Sorry Straw but PNWtends toward acid and I have two Munsteads on Huey tat are two of my best bloomers with healthy foliage

Kristine LeGault 8a pnw Thank you for the info. A friend Ingrid W. in Oregon informed me that she has alkaline clay and her Rouge Royal is 100% clean, versus my Rouge Royal is prone to blackspots after each heavy rain and spring flood.

The difference between PNW rain and my midwest rain: My Chicagoland is more polluted, thus more acidic rain. PNW has more days of rain, but LESS heavy rain. We have rain once a week, but it's a heavy down-pour with flash flood.

With such heavy and acidic rain, it can't drain fast enough when there's a limestone layer below heavy clay, so a long & woody stick like Dr.Huey-rootstock rots. Then we have freezing zone 5 temp. that freeze the waterlogged clay and cracks Dr.Huey-woody-stick.

Patty in zone 5 Illinois mentioned a decade ago that she grows ALL own-root roses since Dr.Huey-rootstock rots easily in our poor drainage clay and heavy rain (2 to 3 inch. per day).

An excerpt from below link on the lighter rain in PNW: " Well, the rain in Seattle is sort of like the mist in the grocery produce aisle. It rarely rains hard; instead, it has a (seemingly) never-ending drizzle that keeps the city wet almost all-year round. (The dry season is the summer, which lasts from roughly July to early October.) "

How Rainy Is Seattle? It's Not Even in the Top 30 of Major U.S. Cities | American Council on Science and Health (acsh.org)

As a PNWer I can tell you we get very little of ANY kind of rain in the summer. People that aren’t from around here are always shocked by how little precipitation we get in the summer

oursteelers 8B PNW You are right since only 2 of PNW cities (Seattle and Portland) are in the top 50 wettest cities in below link. Hartford, CT is ranked #15 in wettest cities, and the rain corrodes my sister's soil there. Back in early 1990's I lived there and her soil was perfect, it clumped together and held moisture nicely. After decades of rain, she sent me some plants and her soil is like dry sand. East coast acidic rain leaches out alkaline minerals that hold her soil together for moisture.

My Chicago is ranked #34 of the top 50 wettest cities (Seattle is #32). We have heavy rain once a week rather than a slow drizzle. Plus rain is more intensive in a short zone 5 summer, plus snow in winter. Flash flood is common since I live near a river.

How Rainy Is Seattle? It's Not Even in the Top 30 of Major U.S. Cities | American Council on Science and Health (acsh.org)

Andrea (Floweraremusic) in zone 5, WA with alkaline clay has only 12 inch. of rain per year, versus 38 inch. of rain in my NW Chicagoland. In my garden, what started out as alkaline clay at pH 7.7 back in 2000 become more acidic with heavy rain. I start liming my roses when I witnessed our heavy rain beat and corrode a pile of cement clay & rocks into fluff.

Okay so maybe I will pot three, and relocate the other three to the side of the house to protect from rain. I was taking a second look today and this is what I saw: Munstead with neighbor Earth Angel, Munstead with neighbor Plum Perfect, and Munstead with neighbor Bliss. The Kordes foliage is just impeccable.

Straw - beautiful MW blooms!! I'll keep that in mind if I order MW.

Ben - GASP!!! I'm in awe!!!

Kristine - wonderful darkness to the blooms. :)

Cosmic Clouds is very purple and fragrant today, and demands a permanent home. Shovel better get busy.

Cosmic Clouds reminds me of a grape popsicle. Delicious color

Ben - wonderfully beautiful!!!! It's supposed to get tall, right? Is yours very tall yet?

So pretty!

Very purple and fragrant… two strong recommendations right there, Ben! Now I’m wondering if the big rose nursery in Tucson might carry Cosmic Clouds next spring. I hope so… I mean, I hope not!

Thanks everyone, I was surprised by how nice the color looked this week, cold nights and mild sunny days do magic on purplish roses.

Carol

Mine is 4ft tall its first year. I do think it will grow to a short shrubby climber as described.

Judi

Last year I think Cosmic Clouds was exclusive to Weeks’ online sister compainies (SpringHill, Brecks etc), don’t know if they plan to expand availability.

Judi - lol

Ben - A place in B.C. offers it, but they're going to let people know in Feb. what their offered roses are for shipping. But, if you think it's going to be a climber...then maybe I shouldn't hope it will be there. lol Although, being shrubby it could hold itself up. :) :)

Ben, your Cosmic Clouds looks like a better version of Lavender Crush. Are the blooms bigger and fragrant? Certainly the petals look more substantial than LC who always has that paper-ish touch.

I hope my local nursery will carry it next spring. It is quite Weeks-friendly and this year it carried a lot of purple roses, although all were sold out in a day or two

Carol,

I think Cosmic Clouds would do fine trimmed as a free standing shrub at around 4-5 ft, Ithe stems are quite thick and sturdy. I’ve seen Lavender Crush trained successfully that way. and they’re quite similar . Besides, with your growing season you can be assured it won’t be morphing into New Dawn!

Forever,

I thought Lavender Crush had rather sturdy petals and lasted decent, esp. for a true purple rose. Cosmic Clouds might have more petals and more an OGR look. Both are rather small blooms and super fragrant.

Ooooh!!! Thanks, Ben!! If I find one, I'm going to get it!! :) :)

Ben: Thanks! My lavender is very fragrant (citrus), and the blooms stay a long time. The color is very beautiful. Only complaint I have is that the petals look and feel dry mostly. Maybe that is the reason why the bloom lasts long😊

Forever

i understand what you mean now…the are thick, but they seem dry. I guess I don’t mind that, so if the rose lasts long and is super fragrant , I’m very happy. But yes, Cosmic Clouds petals don’t appear as dry as Lavender Crush’s.

Carol

Whee! I think you will really like the color and fragrance of Cosmic Clouds.

Forever - those are beautiful blooms!!

Bent - awesome!! :) :)

Ben and @rosecanadian,

Thanks，LC is a great rose in many senses🌹I will try to appreciate this dried type of petal texture.

Darn, now I have another one for the *wishlist* Cosmic Clouds ♡

The descriptions say CC is a pink...?

OMG, I wish that both Cosmic Clouds and Lavender Crush were available here in Europe!!!!!!!!!!!