Otterbon - cute! Do you like river otters or sea otters better? I like sea otters better. :) Those are lovely roses!! My faves are De Colores (oh my!) and Marc Chagall. :)

Kitty - That's not too long of a move. Good. :) I think you chose well in not downsizing. You have too much energy for that. :) Yodil will like your new home, too. Holy Toledo, Kitty!! Your Cappuccino blooms are STUNNING!!! SWOOOOON!!! The first and the last pics blew me away!!

Jim - your roses look great, especially Oso Easy!! Does that one ever stop blooming? lol Gracie looks adorable. :) I guess she still needs the harness for extra help now and then? I love how your Oso Easy grows into that landscaped shape so easily.

Diane - No rain since early May? How do the wild animals get water? Is there a nearby river? Oh, wait, I think there is one in another close neighborhood. Right? I guess you'll have to water the heck out of your roses right before the 15th. I hope you get some precipitation too. Oh, no!!! Rotten, horrid deer!!!! I'm really upset for you. Maybe under the shade of the locust trees you could plant hydrangeas and such, and where there's sun continue to grow roses? Why do the deer always pick on Rougie?? Good taste. Oh, that was bad. Anyway, I hate for you to feel such hopelessness over what's happening to your roses. That's so not fair. Your Prince blooms continue to wow us with their purples!! Truly gorgeous!! Beautiful Dude pics. :) :) I love the first pic the best, but the 2nd one has so many different looks to the blooms. I really love the furthest right bloom in that picture...the color is so smooth. I can't really describe it well. lol

Kitty - yes, you've had enough rain. Don's been busy pumping our stored water from one huge tote to another, and then through a sprinkler to the grass and trees. We've got to get rid of it all so it doesn't freeze any taps, etc. So much water to get rid of. I wish I could ship it to Diane. The next 3 nights will probably cause frost again. Yes, chocolate chip cookies baking is a great idea. But this isn't a new buyer, right...? It's the one who already decided to buy it? Hopefully you don't have to go through the whole "buy my house, please" routine again?? Are more of your apples ripening?

Lady Capri finally decided to open. It's on a lone bendy cane, so Don's gloved hand is holding it for me. :)

two Emily Bronte opening buds.

I think they're darling. :)

Purple Aura

Teddy, with Violet's Pride to the left.

Teddy with peas behind him and this year's new roses.

Cheerful Sugar

Light Years Away

Pink Peace small bloom.

Anuschka finally decided to open a bud.

Living the Dream

Beverly Ann Clay truss.

Windowsill, I'm so happy to see your post. I meant to reply to your wonderful post of a few days ago, and then good intentions went awry. Love the pineapple plant, but watch out for those mother plants that want to produce continuous pups while mother lives forever. I was given such a plant. The more pups I gave away, the faster that blasted mother churned them out. She who would not die was duly returned to my friend who gifted this ghoul to me. It was kind of a joke. My friend continued to put up with the pups and mother for a long time. I need to ask her if she still has them. She also grows poinsettia plants into trees and they actually bloom for her. Anyway, I was sad to read you're giving up on citrus plants. I love so many of those dwarf citrus Logees sells. The lemons shaped like pears! Oh well, I'd never be bold enough to grow citrus in the house, so I understand. And that little pineapple is awfully cute. Please keep us posted how piney does. Treasure Trail is pretty cute, too. And a moss rose! I'd love to grow one. Isn't TT a Paul Barden rose? Your beautiful Trader Joe's rose bouquets are not cheating at all. You didn't say you grew them, and I love to see beautiful roses. Pink Xpression reminds me a bit of Boscobel. I've thought for quite a while that your Trader Joe's is really something. I doubt our Boise store has such beautiful roses for sale.....What did the awful gardenia do? Oh, they smell so good.....what a shame. And Martha Stewart begonia turned to mush. That's sad, too. I hope your rose Martha is doing well. Your plant's blooms were stunning and it was hard to believe Martha grows on a windowsill, albeit a magical windowsill, in your apartment. Diane

The rose I'm totally in love with now in my garden is Ashley. She has only two flushes, but they each last forever. In fact her latest flush has been going for nearly two months, and probably will end only when we have several hard frosts. Ashley is an Evers Tantau. She has blooms of steel and the heat doesn't faze her.

More later. There's lots more posts to comment on.

WOW fantastic photos everyone! :-)

Kitty, its very foggy, cloudy, misting rain here today... Temps 54 degrees F right now... Suppose to reach 63 degrees later but not holding my breath...lol

This is the kinda day that really makes orange roses stand out & look like there glowing...

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6, I do tend to research roses obsessively, but have found that no amount of research is as informative as the experience of growing a rose in my own garden, so sometimes I just roll the dice.

@susan9santabarbara I am happy to hear that Lakeview is so responsive. I would love to get one of their limited batch Garden Delights, but we’ll see how the supply holds up to the demand.

The Prince today. Still young and a bit wobbly, so he needed a helping hand. One advantage of our cooler climate — the deep reds really do seem to revel in it.

Bare toot! Great typo. Yes, I'm sure prices will rise from A&A.

Ben, are you on Ashley Madison? Maybe we can meet discreetly there. Are you into bare toots? (I'm going to get kicked off this forum). The DOL

FWIW this year I bought roses from April & Ashley both potted and bare roots (no toots except by me perhaps). I didn't notice much of a difference except for the time it took the bare roots to come out of dormancy. I did order mine for Feb/March delivery at the latest possible date, and with protection in my yard they came out of dormancy at the same time as other roses in my yard. The potted plants grew as big as the bare roots and I don't see differences in vigor now between the two types. I obviously didn't check the roots but the pots were a relatively reasonable size compared to the narrow pots you get in big box stores.

The pros of not having the bare root system from last year is that I don't have to order my roses for a particularly early delivery and risk them getting serious cold and snow damage. I think their plans for early delivery to everyone if you ordered bare roots was to avoid the length of time they sit in storage like Susan talks about, but I'm speculating rather than knowing that's the case. The cons of discontinuing the bare roots as bare vs. potted delivery is mostly the extra cost for delivery. The base price of the rose isn't that much different ($5) but the shipping is more. I already pay for quality shipping of heavy roses from places like Antique Rose Emporium and am happy to do so for the mature plants. The same goes for April & Ashley if they can keep up the quality.

For me, I don't see the change as all that different, but I understand the reduction in options limits the opportunities for people in other locations. Frankly, with all the grafted rose companies like Palatine or Regan no longer delivering, I'm happy to see April & Ashley do whatever is sustainable for them, within reason. There simply aren't that many options anymore for grafted plants delivered and in my zone that makes a different for winter survival. I found that the A&A potted plants were robust and healthy and I plan to order more if they have varieties I want for spring.

Anyone know when they will release their offerings for spring 2027?

Cynthia

We have a local Costco that actually has a big greenhouse nursery. One year they were loaded with flats of Ping Lim roses. True Serenity , the hot pink, was probably my favorite for great fragrance, form, petal count.

Enjoying the True Serenity rose Markay and all the background plants... :-) Yellow Submarine looks good too!

True Serenity gossiping with Peter Mayle, I adore her ruffles!

I prefer Bolero (white in the center of this pic) over all the white Austins.

I planted 6 boleros in the front yard last year. They were young small sizes but I cant wait for them to mature.

Trish, wow, Chippendale. A Tantau I love. It's larger and more petal packed than Tamora. Lots of buds, too. It has the look of a bloom that will last a long time, even in heat......Your area is older, right? So I suppose people want to buy, tear down, then rebuild. Why can't they just repair and restore like Kitty did with her home? I'm sure there are reasons.......On to penstemon. Certain penstemon do much better than others here, so it took me and Edwards, too, several years to figure out the best varieties for this hot, dry climate. I don't know what's available down your way, but the Mexicali series of penstemon is by far the best here. These plants are a cross between Mexican penstemon and Colorado penstemon. They like it dry, but can tolerate moisture in a flower bed that's watered regularly by irrigation. If the spent stalks are removed, they bloom for months. And don't cut them back when winter arrives. Just let them be. My two favorites, and I've tried many, are Red Rocks and Pike's Peak Purple. I wonder if you can find them for your garden? Of course, they may not like your climate, so then you try other types. I grew at least 13 types of coreopsis and never found a really good type for this climate. So, I was happy to move on to penstemon. I suspect that the wretched quail liked to eat some types of coreopsis, too. Sorry, off topic. Hope you're doing well. I'm fine, I guess, for an old codger. Diane

Ashley

Somebody's happy.

For weeks, Munstead Wood has been nearly black, far darker than The Prince. I just dumped these photos into my computer, and it's the first I've seen them. They are totally disorganized.

This shot is The Prince.

Back to Munstead

The photos all probably need some trimming. Diane

Ashley

Rouge Royale

Tamora

Golden Celebration

Angel Face

Good Evening,

Rosie Friends,

SURPRISE TIME!

I am buying a new home in Fingerlakes, NY.! I may move this weekend. Woohoo!

It is “all around” a better home for me. Better for a B&B. Better location-quieter & safer. Bigger land -little distance from neighbors-good! Same climate, but I decided Seattle is too rainy and summer doesn’t start until July in Seattle. Sunshine starts in my NY area by MAY & JUNE-longer rose growing season in NY.

I decided I needed a historic home , again, which is better for me. I love the real woodwork in the home, marble, features….… No down sizing because I would like space & B&B. Better investment for my children’s inheritance, too.

I need to fix it up a little, paint and build porches, carpets…. However, I love that better. Make it just the way I love!

I need cut down a couple trees, later….. for more sun for roses. Fenced backyard. i need stain fence.

Paul is an expert rosarian, Rose. One might have to speak up at times if misinformation is promulgated.

I have an 'Abraham Darby' and the flowers are fairly variable on the plant throughout the year. If Austin had a plant that could perform similarly to it, wouldn't they just introduce that plant under a new name to take advantage of the new patent? I got my Abe from High Country, and the company didn't make a dollar off of it. So why would they want to sell an impostor?

One of my best Austin winners has been blooming since early May, and that's Eglantyne. Diane

She isn't blooming like this now, but she's still blooming and under some trying conditions way in the back. I should move her, but at my age?? She's a big girl.

I find Ellen Tofflemeier Gorgeous.

Here is my Gallicandy. It's only in It's first year but extremely happy and healthy. No disease at ALL.

It's foliage has soo much Gallica influence

· Plus d'infos

· Plus d'infos

Ingrid and Lisa are very missed too.

I live in North Tustin, Orange County and we have the large green fig eater beetles that most people call Japanese beetles. I think us Californian’s confuse these and call them Japanese beetles. I’ve only learned a few years ago myself that this was incorrect.

With Chili thrips, I’ve had them terribly every summer but ignored it until two years ago when I started spraying with conserve and another spray that I can’t think of right now. After spraying, I got rid of the chili thrips but then got other pests worse than before. I never get spider mites but I had such a bad case of it last year that the rose garden looked worse than before the thrips and my baby rooted cuttings died so quickly. I decided to officially stop all spraying started ordering in beneficial insects and already I’ve seen a huge difference! I would suggest going this route if possible. In Silverado Canyon, we run the PLNThouse nursery, and my roses there are totally pest free in which I’m assuming is thanks to being out in nature with tons of beneficial insects everywhere. We do no spraying here.

They were probably cooked in shipment and went into shock and died. That's why I will not order any roses during the summer. Heirloom will sell anyone any rose during the summer. They know at least 75% of the costumors will not complane. That is easy$$$ in their pocket. The other 25%, they will tell them it was their fault. Another 75% of them will give up. More easy $$$ in their pockets. The few that are left, will either get new roses (that will probably die), or a refund. Heirloom has made their $$$.