More cluster-blooming with Frederic Mistral, this gets sulfate of potash, so zero diseases. Picture taken June 17, with 56% humidity, and 81 degree temp.

More cluster-blooming with Pat Austin, but the sulfate of potash really helps with strong stems, despite many buds per branch. Pat Austin is always clean in my alkaline clay, despite getting only 4 hours of sun:

Duchess de Rohan is just as disease-resistant as Pat Austin rose. The duchess gets only 4 hours of weak evening sun, in a poor-air-flow, shady blog. Not a trace of disease, but more cluster-blooming. She repeats well, 3 flushes in my zone 5a. Picture taken today, June 17:

I have 2 Comte de Chambord, the 1st one is clean in its 3rd year. The second one bought as a tiny 3 inch. yellowish band early May. Now it has 5 buds, only one leaf with black spot. The humidity has been over 50% for the past days. I gave it SOLUBLE sulfate of potash, 1/2 teaspoon per 2 gallons of water. I put Jobes tomato fertilizer NPK 2-7-4 with beneficial microbes in the potting soil. Picture taken June 17, hot and humid:

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 22:21

Nice additional pics of your roses Strawberryhill!
I also like orange roses that standout and glow in the garden.
Sadly in our high blackspot pressured yard I had to get rid of Livin Easy, Easy Does it and Sunrise at Heirloom because they lost most of their leaves... I really liked all those roses too... Some areas those roses do great but they just did not like our strain of BS I guess. Or our conditions...

Hi Jim: Too bad that orange roses don't like your garden. Have you checked the pH of your soil? There's the procedure "Cheapest way to test your soil pH" in this forum.

There's the myth that roses like it slightly acidic ... THAT DOESN'T APPLY TO ALL, because roses are all different. Dr. Huey, the rootstock most roses are grafted on, likes it alkaline. Dr. Huey is very good at acid-phosphatase.

My Radio Times rose (an Austin) likes it alkaline. When I moved it from my patio, its root was digging DEEP into the limestone below for nutrients. I moved it to a new location, where I made the soil neutral, and it NEVER perform as well as its previous location of pH near 8.

The disease-resistant roses such as Kordes Deep Purple, Annie L. McDowell, and Basyes Blueberry ... give me a hard-time. Their roots don't secret enough acid to break through my rock hard, pH 7.7 alkaline clay.

I have to put an ungodly amount of sulfur granules, plus gypsum (17% sulfur) in Annie's hole, to make its leaves green. Same with Basyes Blueberry, Baby Faurax (polyantha), and Kordes Deep Purple. Those disease-resistant roses will do well in acidic soil.

Some roses have higher requirement for calcium and potassium than others ... these do well in alkaline soil. As the pH drops, so will the level of calcium and potassium. If your soil pH is lower than neutral, lime is recommended, plus extra potassium. That's why Roses Unlimited instruction for planting stated: 1 cup of lime, and 1 cup of gypsum in the planting hole. My soil has plenty of yellowish limestone, so I skip the lime, but I put 1 cup of gypsum in my planting hole to supply calcium.

I visited Meijers last week, only 20 minutes from me is "acidic soil territory", that store sells bag of pelletized lime for $16, quite expensive. It also sells $3 bag of paver's limestone, crushed grayish stuff. I suspect it's dolomitic lime, high in sticky magnesium, besides calcium.

My limestone is yellowish, and doesn't mush-up like the stuff in the $3 bag. If you look at the link below for "yellow limestone" ... my soil is speckled with that. The limestone below my patio is "white limestone", plants love that stuff.

We get very humid weather, with mushroom on the lawn. All mulches have mushroom growing, but the red-dyed hard-wood has less mushroom. However, there's NO mushroom growing where the soil is mixed with yellow limestone. In the thread "where do I start" I posted the chemical elements in lime stones vs. wood ash, some are fungicides. Below link detailed the difference between pelletized lime, granular lime, and pulverized lime:

http://voices.yahoo.com/granular-lime-vs-pulverized-lime-5994324.html?cat=32

See below link for pics. of different types of limestone. My experience: plants love the yellow and white lime stones, but I don't know about the grayish crushed lime in the $3 bag. Below is a picture of my neighbor's rose grafted on Dr. Huey. It's Rock-n-Roll hybrid tea planted in our soil with yellow lime stones, only a few leaves with black spots at the bottom:

Here is a link that might be useful: Types of lime stones

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 10:36

Hi Friends!

Wow! You gals have some seriously pretty blooms! So many from my wish list!

I was in Columbus, OH this past weekend to visit the Columbus Park of Roses, ahem, I mean my husband's family. Anyway, my mother in law is pretty cool and she wanted to visit the park of roses too. We go every year. I'm sad to say that this year showed the beating that the roses took this last winter. They lost many roses and many had not bloomed yet. I hope the roses recover and we don't have another Polar winter in many, many years.

I've also been busy shopping for roses for a new small bed where I used to grow a tree. I was able to find a replacement for my Frederic Mistral. After seeing so many buds in yours I decided that I wanted to grow her again. I'm finally getting a Sonia Rykiel. RU has been sold out of this rose for ever but they found one for me. Yay! From their rose sale, I got Honey Chile which is a rose that I have no information on but hope it will be a nice surprise.

What else is new? Hmm...tomorrow I get to apply what hopefully will be my last application of systematic insecticide as a soil drench. My question is, when should I start building up the beneficials again? i bought a few things that supposedly contain beneficial bacteria/fungi but I don't know how long the pesticide stays in the soil. It is supposed to rain Thursday and Friday. Do you think it is safe to start doing the solution with beneficials over the weekend?

Here is a bouquet with Pope John Paul II and Elina.

Mas

Here is Elina fully open this afternoon. She measures almost 5 inches across.

Our soil has softer clay in it and I can dig holes fairly easy.
PH is 6.6 - 6.7 Strawberryhill...

Professional soil test showed no deficiencies.

One thing I'm in the process of changing. I was using shredded wood mulch under roses and with our rains it might of been trapping in to much moisture...Leaf problems were developing.

So I went back to my old ways of using cold black rich compost over top all the roses root systems and things are improving back to normal I'm happy to report...
I just added compost to our new rose Thomas Affleck and brushed away that shredded wood mulch.

(If I use wood mulch in the future in some areas it will be a much coarser mulch.)

Thomas Affleck:

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 20:36

My favorite color is blue. For roses it will be pink and purple, though there are some lovely yellow roses that I like.

If I were to move to a deserted island and could only take one rose, it will be Sharifa Asma because she is the complete package. This is part of the plant in bloom.

Jim, that rose is pretty! How many roses do you grow?

I need to do a soil test for my yard. I'm sure I have some deficiencies to address. My friend let me use her pH meter and it came about 6.7 (from what I could read) but I don't know how accurate it really is.

Nice looking rose Mas_Loves_Roses! :)

I only have about 11 roses right now. I've been seeking out very BS disease resistant roses for my area the past couple of years and got rid of some also.

We get a lot of rain here and heavy dew lays on rose leaves every night so it always looks like their wet...lol
Humidity too...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 21:30

You say Blue their Mas loves roses... I wish they had a rose in this color...

A petunia plant I'm growing in a bucket...

Wow, that is a lovely and unusual color for a petunia. Very pretty!

Ok, so you REALLY need uber- disease resistant roses with such high humidity. Must be a nightmare trying to grow roses there. I'm afraid to recommend any since my humidity is lower in Indianapolis. Which are the 11 roses that made your list?

Here is Martha's Vineyard growing with catmint. She is very healthy in my yard.

GOLD GLOW rose, like a precious gem to show off !!

This post was edited by seaweed0212 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 10:48

Bronze Star, bright orange blend, really nice fruity scent.

Pink roses: L to R, Memorial Day, Tiffany and Bewitched

Big red, Liebeszauber, smaller bloody red, Hot Cocoa, and
bicolor Color Magic.

This post was edited by seaweed0212 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 10:58

Thank you so much spending time and helping me upload those beauties for me. Let us share and exchange info, more the merrier! Love the variety of beautiful colors & shapes. You all have a green Thumb and rosy tricks in your sleeves. Smile and keep up the marvelous work!!!

Here are more red-colors for Jim: Below is trong spicy hybrid tea fragrant, good 3.5" salmon color, it was wrongly label, "Tantarra" rose from Rogue, 3rd yr., I am expecting replacement soon, should be next month?

It's in below photo, bottom center, between 2 Modern Art. From top, left to right, Mr Lincoln (cut too late already sun ruins, by 8am), next to Fragrant Plum, middle 3, Gold Glow, Rose de Rescht and Rock & Roll, bottom right Hot Cocoa.

This post was edited by seaweed0212 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 11:06

Dark-red Tradescant rose is next to bi-color Double Delight.

Also red Christian Dior, strong scent (similar to Chrysler Imperial). Two yellow Gold Glow are so pretty! St Patrick is already one week old. Center rose is bloody red Hot Cocoa.

This post was edited by seaweed0212 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 14:18

I like to take pictures b4 sun rise and colors deeper, b4 fully opening of the roses. Below are my roses cut today, June 19:

White Margret Merrill, beige Lavender Pinocchio, pale pink Heritage, and Janet with pink flush on right side. Last is dark red Black Magic.

This post was edited by seaweed0212 on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 13:41

Hi Seaweed: No-problems whatsoever, loading pics is easy, but identifying the names of roses is harder. Thank you for identifying the 160+ roses in your garden. You take very good care of them despite the drought in CA, and less than your average 11" of annual rainfall.

Also thank you, Jim, for posting that pic. of blue petunias. Like Mas, I like blue flowers in my garden. Mas, thanks for the report on Columbus Rose park in Ohio ... so glad that I postpone my visit to Cantigny park. Their roses grafted on Dr. Huey are always behind my own-root roses. I like your Pope John Paul II rose ... so many petals. Elina has a nice light yellow color ... how are their scents, compared to your healthy Sharifa Asma?

How long do insecticides last? If you use Sevin, that only lasts up to 7 days ... it depends on what you use. I would wait at least 1 week before applying beneficial bacteria. They, along with earthworms like alkaline soil. When I put sulfur or too much gypsum in the hole, all the earthworms disappear.

Here's why decrease in soil pH means more fungi, less nitrogen-fixing-bacteria, thus less nitrogen in acidic soil:

Contrasting Soil pH Effects on Fungal and Bacterial Growth ABSTRACT
"The influence of pH on the two principal decomposer groups in soil, fungi and bacteria, was investigated along a continuous soil pH gradient at Hoosfield acid strip at Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom. This experimental location provides a uniform pH gradient, ranging from pH 8.3 to 4.0, within 180 m in a silty loam soil.

The growth-based measurements revealed a fivefold decrease in bacterial growth and a fivefold increase in fungal growth with lower pH. .. Below pH 4.5 there was universal inhibition of all microbial variables. "

From Straw: The last time I scooped my soil to be tested by EarthCo., I got the surface soil (with horse manure mixed-in) .... that came out to be pH 7.7. Looking back, I should had dug deeper to get soil sample, like below 6", where roses' roots are.

The surface soil does not reflect the actual soil pH, due to rain water (pH 5.6) combined with slightly alkaline mulch. Predfern, Ph.D. in chemistry, sent me a research done by University of Illinois that showed decomposed leaves and organic matter registered slightly alkaline.

So I tested my decomposed grass with red-cabbage juice. He's right, it became light blue, around pH 7.3. The Chicago Botanical Garden, with 5,000 roses stated that their soil pH, with composted leaves, registered 7.4.

I think the most accurate soil-test would be BELOW the mulch layer, at 8" to 12" deep, where the root-zone are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Contrasting soil pH effects on fungal and bacterial growth

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 15:26

You may be right Strawberry the next soil test I have done I will scoop soil from about 8"-12" deep... Good thinking!

And great reds/orange Seaweed! :)
All your roses are nice!

Great pics of your Martha's Vineyard growing with catmint Mas Loves roses! :)

This post was edited by jim1961 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 16:01

Hi friends!

So many lovely roses photos to admire and enjoy!

Jim, your Gold Glow is very pretty. I bet she looks really nice with your blue petunia. Is she fragrant?

Seaweed, your roses look fantastic! I soooo want to get a Color Magic.

Straw, thank you for the information about the pH and nitrogen levels in the soil. That is good stuff to know. I put down Merit granules and previously did a soil drench with Bayer Complete Insect Killer. If the midges aren't dead with all that poison, I might as well hang in the towel.

Thank you for the info on the soluble fertilizer. I want to fertilize my plants this weekend but I'll do soluble, gentle fertilizers. I bought silica extract which is supposed to help the plants form stronger canes. I'll add it to my feed solution. Supposed to get more rain tomorrow, hopefully!

Here is a picture of Colette. She is still very young but she covers herself in blooms.

Gold Glow is Seaweeds rose Mas loves roses...
Colette is a nice looking rose...

Thanks, Jim! It is supposed to be a climber but I want to grow it as a free standing shrub.

Straw, I forgot to answer your question. John Paul II is quite fragrant. I think that the fragrance is similar to many of the Austin roses with a myrrh undertone. I don't notice any fragrance on Elina but the blooms are huge and they have long vase duration for not having many petals.

Thanks, Jim! It is supposed to be a climber but I want to grow it as a free standing shrub.

Straw, I forgot to answer your question. John Paul II is quite fragrant. I think that the fragrance is similar to many of the Austin roses with a myrrh undertone. I don't notice any fragrance on Elina but the blooms are huge and they have long vase duration for not having many petals.

Hi Friends: I enjoy your pics., and I'm grateful to you all for sharing the beauty of your gardens. Seaweed: how's the scent on your Gold Glow rose compared to Bronze Star? thanks in advance.

Mas: I love how you mingle blue perennials with roses, like Martha's Vineyard and blue catmint. Your Collete rose is a cutie. I check on the insecticides you mentioned against midge, they have a long-lasting effect, some up to 100 days. The root of the problem is the mulch that foster the ideal moisture-level for midge-germination.

Jim: You are right about the wet mulch that you used previously which encouraged black spots. In my last garden of acidic clay, I used large-chunks pine bark, didn't help with B.S. either. In my present house of limestone clay, I planted a bok choy right next to my patio (white limestones underneath). It was tough & fibrous, with a thick outer layer on the stalks. I could not eat that, let alone any insects !!! Calcium is know to strengthen plant's cell-wall against pests & fungi.

Last year my husband got the wrong horse manure (wet straw with mushrooms), rather than the black-composted stuff at the bottom of the pile. I had to SCRAPE OFF that mulch, before my 6 roses improve. The rose park nearby with 1,200 roses has no midge and no mulch, just bare dirt.

I don't have any mulch in my garden either. And if I do get horse manure, I'll make sure it's the BLACK well-composted stuff, with beneficial microbes & bacteria. Just a thin layer of that black stuff is enough to supply trace elements to deepen the blooms' colors.

I see THICK mulch as beneficial in a dry climate, where it doesn't rain, and people water with drip-irrigation, so the root gets wet, but the mulch stays dry. But for our rainy mid-west, where the surface is wet with rain ... putting mulch only encourages shallow root, plus provide the optimal moisture-level for pests: aphids, rose slugs, and midge.

Little Thomas Affleck I planted May 8th 2014 is going into bloom. Sun sort of making colors look washed out but not so colors are bright... I do notice he's getting alittle powdery mildew on him. First rose I ever seen here with PM... :-/

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 12:21

Hi Jim: I always enjoy your photography, esp. the pic. of bumble bee on rose. Wow! Your Thomas Affleck is a fast bloomer, with so many buds. I like deep pink roses ... I would love to get Austin rose Boscobel, but I'll wait until they sell that own-root.

Pink Peace is another deep pink that I enjoy (got that as own-root). Walmart here sold Pink Peace for $4 bare-root, it was sold-out immediately.

I notice mildew on my Rose du Roi in perfect potting soil. Rose du Roi has dark green leaves, indicative of efficiency in acid-phosphatase. It broke out in mildew because the potting soil is slightly acidic, then I topped with pine shavings (pH 4.5), plus tons of rain (pH 5.6).

I'm going to top Rose du Roi with whole-grain corn meal (alkaline pH 7.5). In this week-long heavy rain, my Crown Princess Magareta produced blooms with grayish margin (botrytis), very ugly, plus some black spots. That DID NOT happen last year, when I topped that rose with gypsum ... the Menards' type with less sulfur and more lime. Calcium is known to preventing balling in zillion petals-rose, and to prevent browning of petals in rain.

The other Austin roses with gypsum in the planting DO NOT have any problem with petals-browning in rainy weather. See below picture of my orange Crown Princess Magareta, taken last year, topped with lime & potassium ... with healthy leaves:

I'm going to order limestone powder (calcium carbonate) from Kelp4Less to sprinkle on top of soil, for roses that tend to ball, or with browning of petals (botrytis). For 1 lb., it's $12, but for 5 lb, it's $14, free shipping.

Since my soil is rock-hard, very alkaline clay, I use gypsum with 17% sulfur, sold cheap at the feed-store to break up the bottom of planting hole. But at the surface of soil, I want it dry and alkaline to prevent fungal-germination of mildew & black spot, so I prefer lime powder, with high pH of 9. It's more effective than baking soda, because lime powder is low-salt (salt-index around 4.7), compared to gypsum (salt index 8.1) and baking soda (extremely salty).

Below is Evelyn rose, fantastic peachy floral scent, NO browning of petals, NO balling whatsoever, since I put gypsum in the planting hole.

Here is a link that might be useful: Limestone Powder, 5 lbs. for $14, free shipping

Thanks for the info Straw and nice pics of your roses!

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Great photography, Jim .. . I LOVE THOSE BUMBLE BEES .. Praise God for His wonderful creations!

Thanks Straw! You got that right! :)

Pic of our other cat Cagney....

Mister Lincoln:

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Bee

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Thank you, Jim, those pics. make my day ... we still have rain. That's over a week of gloomy & very humid weather. I love Mr. Lincoln ... it was the best-smelling at the rose park decade ago. But NOT hardy in my zone 5a, so they replaced with Chrysler Imperial .. doesn't smell nice like Mr. Lincoln.

I visited my neighbor today with 50+ roses, 7 of her Knock-outs died this past brutal winter in our zone 5a. All the roses are blooming, but really short, less than 2 feet tall.

We have a local Catholic Church which planted 40+ Knockout Roses a few years ago. They lost 14 KO's this past winter...

I took these pics last week. You can see some other Ko's at the Church had bad winterkill which nobody pruned out.
They look rough this year compared to other years...

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This type of KO faired better than the reds...

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Hi Jim: Thank you for posting those roses at Saint Matthew church ... that reminds me to take my kid to church. It's good to provide structure & morale prior to her becoming a teenager.

I love David Austin roses, much hardier than Knock-outs. Below picture is Mary Magdalene rose in the background, it's hardy to zone 5b. Also Marie Pavie polyantha rose, hardy to zone 4b. Both were blooming in early May, a month ahead of Knock-outs. I gave away Scepter'd Isle Austin rose since it's a lesser myrrh scent, icky in hot summer.

Austin rose Mary Magdalene has this fabulous myrrh scent, like the frankincense used in Catholic church. Marie Pavie (foreground) has a sweet musk scent that perfumes my garden:

Are they both Marie Pavie roses in that pic Straw?
Very nice!

Hi Jim: The rose in the front is Marie Pavie, and the white rose against the house is Mary Magdalene. I don't know how much Mr. Lincoln gives as cut-blooms, but I really miss Firefighter ... it gave me continuous long-stem cut-roses, super-fragrant. Plus it lasted at least 5 days in the vase. The strong wind here broke it early spring.

A friend gave me one bloom of Veteran's Honor, it smelled like cherry/raspberry, very fragrant, and lasted at least 5 days in the vase. Below is Firefighter bush, nice shape:

Ok Strawberryhill,
I might try firefighter some day... :-)

Another basket of roses picked yesterday June 8. They all are fragrant, but my most favorites are Mary Magdalene (beige), Stephen Big purple, and Le Nia Rias (rare old garden rose). Others in that basket: W.S. 2000, Wise Portia (Austin purple rose), Crown Princess Magareta, Golden Celebration, Sonia Rykiel, and Evelyn. In the vase, pink is Evelyn, red is Yves seedling, and yellow is Golden Celebration:

Wow Straw those are some fantastic looking blooms! I bet the scent waffles off those! :-)

Beautiful as always.

Besides obvious variety tendency, what encourages long stems versus short stems for blooms?

Msgirl: Very good question. Adequate potassium and high phosphorus will make it one bloom per stem. Cantigny rose park nearby used a high phosphorus fertilizer, and their Frederic Mistral had at least 10 blooms per bush, each on a single stem. So I went home I tested high-phosphorus on my Fred, at NPK 2-20-20 as SOLUBLE fertilizer. Fred gave a few more blooms, on single stem.

But when I used sulfate of potash (high potassium) at NPK 0-0-50, Fred went beserk, pumping out 40+ buds, but they are in clusters, each stem holds 3 to 6 buds. So if you want more blooms, each on a SINGLE STEM, then use SOLUBLE low nitrogen, but equal potassium to phosphorus.

Ahh, that's interesting to note, that you can maybe "force" a hybrid tea to behave more like a grandiflora?

I was reading up on exhibiting roses for their fertilizer regimen, reading that tracking bloom period week to week you can manipulate length of rose stem by applying nitrogen first, then later in the bloom cycle lowering then getting rid of nitrogen all together and pumping up phosphorus to make the biggest bud/bloom. I wanted to know if anyone's tried that approach without using man-made chemicals (I'm not very familiar with nutrient breakdowns on organic fertilizers).

To address the short stem issue, I've bought shorter vases. :)

I love that info., Thank you. Here's the sources for ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS. Bone meal is high in phosphorus, but it can only be utilized at pH below 7 (acidic soil only). In alkaline soil like mine, bone meal gunks up and burns roots since it cannot be dissolved. Not sure what animal tankage means ... I think it means manure.

http://www.plantstogrow.com/Botany/Workshop_notes/Notes/Organic%20sources%20of%20NPK.pdf

Bump up this thread to admire Mas_loves_roses with a vigorous Sharifa Asma. I don't know if hers is grafted or own-root. My Sharifa as own-root is so wimpy !!

Also appreciate Seaweed posting so many blooms in her alkaline clay garden in Southern California. Re-post Seaweed's tip for bare-root roses (grafted on Dr. Huey):

"When I received the bare root from Regan, first prep the hole with Gypsum. Then filled tap water & let it settled. Next filled with Gardner & Bloome brand organic plating mix, right below the root, added one tablespoonful of David Austin's Mycorrhizal fungi. Last: put in bare root, added pumice, earthworm castings, and diluted mix of superthrive, Eleanor's VF-11, plus more water."

Thanks Straw for bumping up this thread! This is the first time that I've seen all of these gorgeous blooms!

My new Sharifa's canes in the pot look brown compared to the other kinds that arrived at the same time and look green. Is that what she looks like or did she arrive half dead?

Seaweed's Sweetness really caught my attention as a lavender that I've never seen before! Or maybe I ignored it because the height range says 4' to 15' and I thought it would block my views. But maybe as a giant shrub for my wall that I'm removing climbers from?

I like DA roses too. So far, Jude the Obscure has the best scent for me at this point.