Hi Josie,

I'm not sure if it's "bombproof" but Pam Tillis is pretty big for a mini. If you want something bushier you may want to try a floribunda like Sexy Rexy, or Polyantha roses. Margo Koster is a good one, I dont grow these so you may want to look them up. Minis, especially in our cold zone, dont get very big. I dont know what color orange you mean, but Mandarin Sunblaze is beautiful, as is Jean Kenneally-she's apricot though. She is a little bloom machine and is fragrant also. Have fun deciding!

Jen

Our largest pink mini is Ultimate Pleasure {{gwi:1211336}} (thumbnail, click to see full photo) UP gets around 3 ft tall and wide for us. She did take a couple years to get established here. Friends in warmer zones say {{gwi:1213999}} becomes a monster quick. UP is a Dee Bennett rose and we got ours from Tiny Petals. TP nursery was bought by Greenheart and Dee's roses are being sold by NorEast. I haven't checked the website in a couple weeks. They are getting Bennett roses available pretty quick :)

Nor'East does have UP available now :) I had to go check. I'll link the page below. Just a note... UP is Dee Bennett's daughter's (Sue OBrien [Curry]) alltime favorite rose. Sue has grown a LOT of mini roses :)

Here is a link that might be useful: UP at Nor'East

blame it on Jen. She mentioned Jean Kenneally... {{gwi:1214001}} We got Jean to plant next to UP. {{gwi:1214003}} got 3 feet tall in its first year and is a bloom machine here too. We got another Irresistible {{gwi:1214005}} to plant with them. {{gwi:1214007}} has been one of the best roses I have grown in 40+ years. Irresistible gets a little over 3 feet tall by the end of the season for us. JK, UP and Irresistible make a fantastic group. JK and Irresistible are pretty fragrant too :)

Baby Boomer is another good choice. It will need treatment for blackspot, but it gets to be a good size. If you could take a blend, then hands down, Bee's Knees, that's one terrific mini.

Thanks you guys!

Jen, bombproof just meant it can hopefully shrug off my well-meaning ignorance and deal with our DISGUSTING humidity and it's blackspot and the fact I don't spray. Some minis (even ones I get at the supermarket) seem pretty forgiving.

Diggerdave those are *gorgeous* pictures! I love, I love... I can't decide! ;)

Diane I think Baby Boomer is so cute... I might wait until next year after I have a little more experience before getting into one that gets lots of blackspot though. I'm just not good enough yet to give it what it deserves.

Child's play is a standout. It is white with pink edges. It is a bit on the large size as far as mini roses go. It is an absolutly elegent plant, both in bloom and foliage.

How about Giggles ?
It's a large tall plant with lot's of blooms and it's vigorous too.
It's taller than any of my own hybridized minis.

George Mander

Diggerdave, I'm amazed that Ultimate Pleasure does so well in your zone. I just looked it up on Noreast's website, and it states zone 6 as the coldest zone for UP.

Does it bloom all summer for you?

Deanna

If you want "biggish pink" minis go to the Mini Floras.

UP took 4 years to get established. She was nice but the last few years she has been what Dee Bennett's daughter said she would be.
{{gwi:1201039}}
Looks fantastic this year. Almost 200 buds just starting to open. Yeah, Deb counted them when I said that I doubted there were over 150....

digger

Forgot to mention... we usually get 3 flushes from UP. Later flushes are better as the weather warms up. Turnaround time is good. She isn't bloomless very long once she gets started.

Holy moly Digger! Gorgeous! 200 huh?? Didn't we discuss that "a" word once, LOL* I thought I was the only one who would go and do something like that:) I love the buds on this rose they're so beautiful, I need a newer camera to get it but I want just a perfect pink bud pic....

I can't get any pics to upload at HMF for some reason. Here's one of my UP's to share back at you from hot CA:)

Please put some pics on the gallery, I miss seeing them.

LOL, yeah, that word was discussed. Don't have time to visit the gallery this time of year. Working 10+ hours a day (diggin' it) and spending the rest of the daylight hours in
{{gwi:218901}}
doesn't leave much time. That darned yard is a handful :) Funny thing... I had to run a dozer last week and felt like I had been dragged through a knothole at the end of the day... until the yard came in sight. It always seems to give me a boost and the fatigue melts away when I see it. There always is enough energy left to putter around the garden until dark. Haven't even resized many photos so far.
{{gwi:1214012}}
I did manage to crop and resize a few :)
{{gwi:332412}}
Sweet Chariot is over 3 feet tall x 5 feet wide x 4 feet deep *sigh* I needed to give it more room. I'll have more time this winter to organise and upload pics.
{{gwi:1214014}}
digger

Digger, Dave, Your garden and flower beds are awesome this year again. My complements to you and Deb:) You can really tell the care and TLC you put into them! All of your roses are simply gorgeous.

Thanks for the dimensions on Sweet Chariot. I have it in an urn now and am going to plant it in the ground in the fall and needed to know where in the garden to put it. I thought maybe 3x3 but not 5x4 for width! It was running 103o that week I took the pic.

Yantai is doing nice if the thrips will leave it alone. They are my main pest problem on the roses. I have like over a 100 toads out there to eat all the others...

Here's one of mine that I want to post at HMF but I haven't been able to upload. This was sold to me I thought as a mini, but it's a Hybrid Bracteata, Julie Link.
{{gwi:496034}}
I have alyssum planted around my dragon statue and it's spreading itself, that and Johnny Jumpups they look like violas, don't have to plant any other annuals:) They're traveling by air and starting all over the large garden.

The garden is where you are supposed to relax, the cares of the day drop away and enjoy yourself, not so funny at all.
Les

Those look great Les. I was wondering... did you get
{{gwi:348957}}
That fragrant rascal
{{gwi:331944}}
is planted next to
{{gwi:1207189}}
and Yantai is right next to them. Sweet Arlene is such a stinker :) I'm surprised I like the open blooms on her so much.

digger

No, Digger I didn't get X-Rated. I'm wondering what 100+, we went to 117 last July, would do to the color. The max we reached this month so far was 107, but the summer is young. I just posted Burgundy Iceberg in the gallery, it's supposed to be purple but in 100+ the color is washing out to pink and in the 90's it's reddish.

How hot does Montana get and how true does X-Rated stay for you? I asked Sue for oranges, that's what I want to add a couple more in, minis or mini floras and maybe one more HT or floribunda. What do you suggest?

I have all 6 DB roses planted together, Sweet Arlene is next to Irresistible and Yantai.

Your pics are awesome, your roses this year are outstanding! If I didn't already have Sweet Arlene I'd want to get it for sure:) Wow on both roses!

We have had 90s and 100s for a couple weeks. That is very unusual for this part of Montana. Normally we will have a couple days of hot weather and cool off again. Average high temps here are in the high 80s this time of year. Throw in single digit humidity and you have our recipe for short bloom life. XR's blooms look good over a week and then turn hideous, same as Gemini. I imagine by now you have seen how the blush on Gemini's blooms turn brown?? XR does the same thing. It doesn't bother Deb but I can't stand to look at them when they get that way :) With this hot weather... I'm deadheading XR blooms after about 4 or 5 days. SA's blooms still look good for over a week.
SA, Irresistible and Yantai together sounds great. Our old Irresistible is 4 x 4 right now, as big as the Double Delight behind her. She had well over 100 blooms the first flush. The last of that flush is finishing up and new buds are already forming for the next round.

That is a record, Digger, you had quite a winter and now look at your summer. Now you've made me curious. I'm going to have to time Gemini's blooms. Seems to me they last longer than 4 or 5 days, but I cheat and water 3 times a week when it's hot and when it's in bloom make sure it never goes dry. I took a pic of a bud yesterday....Hideous is a good word though, I'm with Deb, I don't pay attention, I deadhead once they finish so the next bloom will come faster. I'm on my 3rd or 4th flush now, I've lost count, sorry:)

SA sent up 3 almost 4' tall canes with multiple buds at the end. I'm going to hate to cut them down when they're through blooming but I need the rest of the bush to catch up. It's the only one who's really racing away like that, it did that when I wasn't looking one night. All the others are pretty much nice and full. UP is really looking good now.

Well, if you're not liking XR in the heat and that's what I have most of the summer what other apricot, peach rose or blend in the mini, floribunda range is a good rose to suggest? You may be right I did a look through the garden, I have an awful lot of white blend roses. I'll have to take another look in your roses.

Heat or not your roses and flowers are all looking wonderful, you and Deb really have the touch. Back up above in one of the pics by the windmill, is that Lucy? That's a nice orange and I don't remember what you said you had planted near there.

I was going to say something about talking so much on this thread and then saw just how old this thread was, *LOL*

Digger Dave, what are the dainty white flowers that are weaving around your roses? They make a nice effect.

Deanna

Deanna, that's alyssum growing around Digger's roses. He's probably working and not been on here this week.

Sorry about the delay. Sweet alyssum is our favorite rose companion here. It smells great too.

Leslie, thanks for answering. You are right about me not having time to get here on weekdays. I'm at work before sunup and all daylight hours after I get home are spent out in the yard. Don't feel sorry for me though.... {{gwi:314441}} I dig my work almost as much as I dig the roses :) There is probably a law against having as much fun as I do all day long, LOL.
I'm not advising against XR even in the heat. I would consider getting another just for the fragrance. Throw in all the blooms the rascal produces and it is a keeper for us.

digger

Does the alyssum reseed itself every year, or do you have to plant it every year? I just might have to try that. I like the effect.

Deanna

Yes, we haven't bought any alyssum in over 10 years Deanna. If we want some to grow in a new spot, we just shake some we have pulled out over the area to seed it. We do pull a lot out around the minis. Alyssum will overgrow the minis if we let it.

Giggles is a great pink. Perrine is another favorite. Tiffany Lynn or Kristin for a PB.

In 2004 we had four hurricanes in six weeks. Our miniatures looked as if death would have been better. With TLC they came back. We won Queen with a Jilly Jewel. It is a large pink that blooms its head off. After weathering [no pun intended] 4 hurricanes, salt intrusion and complete defoliation it came back to win Queen, it truly is a keeper.