Rosy--your Roberto is certainly a handsome fella!

So that this thread wouldn't get too long and heavy for some of our viewers' computers, I tried to keep my favorites down to just a couple photos, but that was really hard to do. Let's face it--whatever is blooming right now is usually my favorite rose!

But here's a couple anyway--most of the photos are last spring/early summer because I haven't taken many since then.

Mystic Beauty--this Bourbon rose is my newest favorite. This is its first season in my garden, and then I moved it in the middle of the hot,hot summer. What a tough as well as beautiful rose.
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Austin's Jubilee Celebration--I do love this one (but the red shrub Braveheart in background could be another choice for favorite)
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Peter Mayle--the deep rosy one at the front of the row. Bright and beautiful HT. (but further down the row, HT Elina or hybrid perpetual Mrs. John Laing would also be good "favorite" candidates--if they were open and blooming right now!)
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I'll stop now so there is some space left before the computers get overloaded. : )

Kate

dublinbay,

What are those small blue flowers in front of your roses?
Thanks...

Jim: It looks like blue pansy for me, but only Kate can confirm that. Kate: what's that gorgeous lavender rose in the background? Mystic Beauty is perfect - I love how you mix the colors together in your garden - your roses are loaded and so healthy. Very nice garden.

Jim, those small blue flowers are pansies (18 of them!) I plant them in the fall, enjoy them for a couple months, then ignore them for most of the winter (though I have been known to water them once or twice if we go long periods of time with no snow), and then very, very early spring they start popping into bloom again and, in fact, bloom like crazy until about mid-June. At that point I switch over to blue lobelia for the rest of the hot,hot, hot summer, then plant new pansies again when Sept-October arrives, and another cycle starts again.

I occasionally lose a few of the pansies, but most of them survive our Zone 6 winters, and if the winter is milder than usual, they may even bloom occasionally right in the middle of winter. You'd be surprised how that actually upsets some people--flowers blooming in mid-winter. You'd think I broke the law or something.

By the way, the pansies in the pic look a bit more "true blue" than they are in real life. They are bluish, but they have just a touch of lavender in them, but in some temps the blue is a bit bluer than the lavender.

I really like them with the pink and white colors--kind of my "English garden" colors--set in Kansas!

Kate

Strawberry, glad you like Mystic Beauty also. She is indeed a beauty.

The "lavender" rose in the background you were looking at is actually much more light to medium pink than it appears--but a pink with a couple drops of blue in it. Something about the lighting the day I took the photos makes those roses look a bit more lavender and the pansies a bit more bluish. Oh, the rose is Mrs. John Laing, a hybrid perpetual.

I'm glad viewers like my color combinations. Mixing colors is part of the fun of planning a garden.

Kate

I have so many favorites....it's so hard to pick!!! I'll just pick a couple also :) Out of 200+ roses, these are the ones I was able to narrow it down to based on health, rebloom,and how long the blooms last. I included a few pictures, but here are some others I love!

Blue Mist-mini
Distant Drums
Easy Does It
Koko Loco
Limoncello
Mesmerized
Mutabilis
Paw Maw
Souv de la Malmaison
Blumenschmidt

Armide: Love this rose! VERY healthy, likes the shade, just wish it rebloomed!
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Balinda's Dream: Seems to always be in bloom and no diesease problems! ...and look at the size of those blooms!
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Caramel Antike: Not the healthiest foliage, but I think it's blooms are at the top of my favorites list...and the LAST!!!!
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Glamis Castle: I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me on this (some say it smells bad), but mine is healthy & a great bloomer!
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Freckles: Very healthy, unique, fast repeat, and very healthy!
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Red Headed Stranger: Slow to grow ownroot, but the blooms last & don't fade or blow! This picture is a 1 week old bloom :)
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...sorry, it was just sooo hard to pick!

Love to see people's favorites! I will be short.

Honey Dijon in spring and current bud. I love this rose alot!

Marilyn Monroe

grocery store miniflora, Concertino Tequila

Thanks for the info dublinbay... The blue pansies look nice by your roses...

TNY: I love all your pics, and the vital info. you gave. Marilyn Monroe lives up to its name. That Red-head-stranger color is perfect. I enjoy your pics., many thanks.

My favorite this year has hands down been Molineux, he has had more continuous blooms than any other rose and because of the unusually cool weather I've gotten some beautiful colors.

These two photos were taken at the same time, I don't know why the one bloom is so much peachier than the other but it's not a trick of the light.

I have to admit that Molineux is one of my oldest roses, most of my roses are in their second year but Molineux is in his third so that probably has a lot to do with the better performance, next year my favorite may change ;o)

I can never pick favorites so I went through my photos and counted up which ones I took the most pictures of. I figure that must be a pretty good indication that the rose did well and was lovely or I wouldn't have taken so many pictures of it through the season.

#1 was Golden Celebration which clocked in at 130 photos!

I took this picture yesterday and there are still more buds on it that could open.

#2 with 118 was Veterans' Honor
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This was from Sept. but there is a big bud on it right now with sepals down that should still open for me.

3# was Golden Wings at 104

Another one that bloomed in Sept. here but also has 2 opening this week.

After those 3 the numbers drop significantly into the 60s
Folklore
Iobelle
Elle
Dick Clark
Rose de Rescht
Graham Thomas
and lastly Double Delight at 58
So I'd have to say those were my top 10 preforming and favorite ones this year.

Oh, and BTW, I had two that came in at zero. Black Cherry and Summer Fashion gave me no blooms at all this year. They're both moved into the new bed now so we'll see what they do next year. But if I don't get any decent growth and/or blooms by the end of June I think they're both outta here!

Seil, superb photography. You show off well the beauty of those roses!

Good luck on your reluctant bloomers.

Kate

Thank you, rosynut. Roberto Capucci is indeed wonderful. Probably not that hardy though?

Mantis, as I being hardy I simply don't know. Here in my area we sometimes do get severe frost in winter as well as the occasional light snow. My Roberto plants never had any trouble surviving all kinds of weather, Grows about 2 meters tall with huge blooms. Look for it on Help Me Find Roses.

Thanks, Kate!