Lots of rain too, here in Pittsburgh recently, Jim. May need to water Tues./Wed. I don't want to lose momentum. The intense heat dome along with drought-like conditions we had at the end of June, and well into July caused so much stress that many roses just pooped out, slowed down to nearly a standstill or made weak, blind growth. Things are picking up now but my fear is that any restorative dead heading I do now will result in growth that will not bloom in time before cool weather greatly prolongs the normal 45 days until rebloom after a dead head cut.

Your Orange Dude is making great strides forward.

Moses.

Your water bill must be astronomical, Diane. Are you on municipal water or well water? At least, Diane, you are not fighting fungus , especially the dreaded black spot, with your low humidity and inadequate rainfall. Black spot here has been the worst that I can ever remember going back to the early 1990's. Have you had such weak growth on some varieties due to the incredible stress they're under that they just do not even make buds on new growth?

Moses.

It's always dry here, Moses. This year isn't all that different, though our normally hot summers have been extra hot for an extended period this year--it's still highs in the 90s, and it's almost September. We're used to big water bills because we live in a semi arid desert. The grass is sprinkled regularly, too. This is a computerized automatic system, and it's been working well for years. I've never had a speck of black spot on any rose ever. I agree that black spot must be very stressful to a rose, and have posted here several times, noting that a rose uses a tremendous amount of energy replacing leaves lost to black spot. That energy could have been used to grow the rose and produce blooms. So, yes, my roses are very big, though I guess I could hack them back more. I did have to do that to my two Julia Child roses in late July--too much of a good thing. They were blocking our sidewalk leading to the porch. And by golly, they did that over and over all summer until I really whacked them. Diane

Good advice. Do what Nollie advises.

Moses.

I noticed at our local hospital the KO's and other plants planted near tree roots are growing poorly... Good Luck Kelly hope you figure things out!

Just put mine in this June. No black spot but we haven't had a terribly humid summer either. I think only a couple of 90 degree days and mostly in the 70's and 80's. This thing glows when it's blooming. I'm totally in love and hoping it stays healthy.

My blooms rival yours, bitbit. I hope my black spotting bush turns the corner. First, it needs to survive winter (upcoming). Second, it needs to fight black spot satisfactorily next growing season, overcoming its bad first season here. Reminiscent Coral makes beautiful, very large (4.25"!), well shaped blooms, liberally. The color is a vibrant coral....not usually seen.

Moses.

Windowsill,

What a nice treat....I visited the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden last week, and today, on my birthday, I am gifted with a visit to the Crawford Rose Garden....all made possible through your kind generosity.

Do you know if the roses at the CRG are dead headed or not? It looks like they might not be.

Sheila,

Is that what that enormous perennial is, a plume poppy? I thought it was possibly an acanthus or a hollyhock relative having unique foliage structure that forgot to stop growing!

Moses.

Thank you, Windowsill, Vapor and Judi. I did have a happy birthday....not too much activity.....just on the phone more than usual, though.

It almost got to 90°F., and factoring in the ~6 degree increase due to my heat trap, it was oppressively hot, but the roses trudged through. With 7 inches of rain over the last two weeks, I haven't had to drag the hose around.

Window,

Julie Andrews came through in pretty good shape for this time of year, but with no blooms nor buds. It was pruned moderately hard by the grower, possibly in anticipation of autumn? Or, it had gotten so lanky and rough looking over the summer months that in order to, 'hide the evidence,' the grower resorted to extreme measures.

Whatever the case, my Julie Andrews is not in bad shape at all, just not in the fresh, lush condition one expects from April/May mail-ordered, container grown roses. She and her three fellow replacements (True Sincerity, True Serenity, and Brindabella Dawn), for my four (4), Apricot Candys, are scheduled to make the move in the next couple days.

I will dearly miss the abundance of bloom the Apricot Candy bushes produced with reckless abandon, but not their black spotted foliage/defoliation. In my campaign to no longer have to spray for black spot with the AC's removal/replacement, I believe I will have reached my goal. However, if I want to effectively control the ravages of saw fly, especially at growing tips (although developing flower buds at the tips are usually not caterpillar eaten, just the adjacent developing foliage), I must spray an insecticide regularly, so my sprayer cannot really be reetired, try as I have to mothball it.

Moses.

@strawchicago z5, Thanks. It's in zone 7b. I have to say the Kashmir shrubs were really shapely and densely covered with leaves all the way down to the bottom. They had a very nice looking Sweet Spirit, as well. Jude had a great fruity scent!

Is nobody going to mention the cute bunny beneath Flower Carpet Amber? :-)

Coriacious from Massachusetts in commenting on Easter Basket at HMFR, reported in 2012, that Easter Basket was (in 2010), given the highest performance rating of any repeat blooming rose at the PRRG.

Easter Basket is a much under advertised rose. The old saying, 'The horse that earns its oats doesn't get them,' really applies to Easter Basket. This Meilland rose was never awarded an ADR. Perhaps it was never submitted for trial by Meilland, or it was submitted and for some reason or another, failed the trial?

Moses.

Please note. I you are interested in growing True Bloom True Inspiration, do not be misled by the growth habit it shows growing in the commonly seen 2 gallon logo pots. With its blooms arranged in a broad presentation in said pots, one would be inclined to assume it is a spreading bush. My experience, and looking at the photo Windowsill Gardener provided, you can see T.B. True Inspiration is vertical in its growth habit, not rigidly so, but not spreading.

Moses.

@windowsill_gardener I appreciate your pics. very much, it helps to decide what roses are best for my zone 5. What planting zone is New York Botanical Garden's Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garde? Thank you.

@strawchicago z5, Thanks, it's in zone 7b.

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley, The only place I could put Rosanna would be next to Laguna!

Thank you all for the input. Seems like the best move is to leave Laguna where it is. Now I just have to figure out what to plant in place of my underperforming Kiss Me Kate. lol! But… I don’t have room for a monster there.

Markay,

Both Tangerine Skies and Rosanna are beautiful roses. My preference is Tangerine Skies.

It's flower form, leaning to hybrid tea appeals to me more than Rosanna's English rose bloom form. The color of TG is appealing to me. Its uniqueness places it into its own class. Reports on its disease resistance, although TG and Rosanna are not ADR winners, are favorable.

Moses.

ElfRosa,

If you get those beds mulched with a good layer of a knitting type mulch such as cypress mulch, so that it will not slide down the sloping grade in the rose garden, but stay in place, it will go a long way to addressing your watering dilemma.

Moses.

Does that rose really have matte foliage, or is it a trick of the camera?

ElfRosa - yay for the blooms - those roses must be feeling better!

Another thought - I just got a vocabulary lesson from my DH about the concrete thingies I showed you a pic of around Grandmother's Hat (above). He is a retired contractor, so knows the proper thing to call things. He said the light grey things around GH are "retaining wall blocks". There is another thing that he has put around many of our roses to make small raised beds (pic below) - these are called "tree surrounds". He gets both of them at Home Depot. The brick colored tree surrounds make a circle using 3 of them - the pieces are curved. They can be stacked easily to make the bed tall or shorter, and don't come apart as easily. You can put them upside down to stack better. He has even used them on slopes, digging the bottom one into the slope more, so that its surface ends up being more or less level.

Since you said you were going to try to reshape the berm a bit make it retain more water, I thought I would make sure to mention both kinds. I asked him if he knew what the current prices for this stuff were, and he said he was at Home Depot the other day, and they were selling one complete level of tree surround (3 curved pieces that make a circle) for about $25. I thought maybe you could try that on one one rose as you prepared for Winter, as a test, and see how it worked compared to roses which just had shaped dirt around them. Just a thought -

I just reviewed the first Slap Chop infomercial on youtube.

I did a disservice to David; he’s light years calmer.

True Gratitude bloomed with the richest colored bloom, just one, undersized bloom, but much appreciated. Foliage looks pristine and would show black spot damage even though recently planted because this has been a brutal year for black spot. One of my four Apricot Candys is totally defoliated now. The decision to replace all four has been a hard pill to swallow, but in order to have a fungicide spray-free rose bed, I have no choice.

Their replacements planned so far are:

1. Brindabella Dawn

2. Julie Andrews

3. True Bloom True Serenity

4. " " Sincerity

The dominant color of Apricot will really be broken up by this diverse color group, in the stretch of bed the Apricot Candys inhabited being pretty much adjacent to one another.

Moses.

Beautiful in all stages of bloom.....not many roses can make this claim.

Moses.

Show quality blooms again and again

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Again and again, cute. :) :)

Very beautiful!!! I can see why you love that rose!!!

Moses, I tried to take a pic, but not sure how well you’ll be able to see the structure of it through all the healthy foliage.

Thank you, Markay. I see that Peach Melba is a big boy, indeed! It needs room, and plenty of it.

I hope your Peach Melba exceeds your expectations!

Moses.

I definitely give matt Perhaps give him a call the next time. I found he's really easy to talk to and happy to answer questions over the phone. As are The others folks that work there. Sometimes that's easier and quicker for both parties.

Same here, Carol. Sorry for the powdery mildew. I rarely get PM, but when it does hit, it hits hard. I think powdery mildew is harder to control than black spot. It starts at the top, new growth, then proceeds down the bush, whereas black spot starts at the bottom and works its way up. When it is very dry, no rain, and days are hot and nights are abnormally cool, powdery mildew rears its ugly head here.

However Carol, your Raspberry Cupcake keeps producing great looking blooms. That's a tribute to its ruggedness and your patient endurance.

Moses.

Carol, my mentor taught me that wet weather is PM's worst enemy, which I have proven to be true here. When rains return powdery mildew clears up. In fact, one cure is to turn a portable, overhead lawn sprinkler, light spray, on the rose bed twice a day or so! PM usually is a problem mostly in early spring or fall....the cool nights then coupled with unnaturally little rain and warm days is the reason. We never get rust here, at least nobody local that I know of gets it.

Climates matter, of course, and here with hot/humid summers with cold winters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania zone 6b it's a different world than yours in Canada.

Moses.

Elestrial,

It's all a waiting period now, to see if the frying corrects itself with maturity. One year, two years....will see. Fortunately, Raspberry Cupcake's foliage is completely black spot free. If it wasn't, the decision to replace it would be easy to make.

Moses.

That's why I've held onto her as well. She is very healthy, with a nice rounded bush shape

Moses - whenever it rains here, it's cool. For example, it's getting down to 13C/55F and 9C/48F at night when it rains this week. And way worse in the spring. But what you say is quite interesting. I have been overwatering the roses at the base, and not on the leaves, since Roseseek told me to water more. Should I have been overwatering the leaves too? I wish I had known this years earlier. lol Always something more to learn. Thanks!

Elestrial - so true about the beautifully rounded shape. :)

From a reputable, mom and pop type mail order nursery, getting potted roses at any time during the growing season should be uneventful.

Not so from Amazon, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc. It has happened to me more times than I want to admit. I'm talking about nearly dead bushes you would pass on purchasing that were stting on Lowe's reduced rack, being sent to me. What a hassle it becomes to get reimbursement. Yet, most roses I received during no later than the end of May were beauties.

Roses I purchased during the heat of summer have come basically DOA.

Moses.

Not yet. I've considered buying Mme Caroline Testout many times. It will happen one day, I'm sure. I like the look of it and it's history. I've read about the ones planted all over Portland, and that some can still be found here and there.

I do have Mrs. Charles Bell, one the Radiance clan that remind me a lot of Mme Caroline T.

That is a perfect picture of the madame. Mine was killed way back to the ground But has come back strong. And seemingly healthier. Mine is the climbing version. It's canes are as big as my wrist and it thorns match the size.

Ian,

You might like Souvenir de Philemon Cochet and Wild Edric.

Souvenir did Philemon Crochet is a seedling offspring from the classic H. Rugosa, Blanc Double de Coubert. It's huge 4.5" flower is very double (almost carnation like), and pure white. It grew very nicely for me.

I never grew Wild Edric because it was introduced in 2005, by of all rose breeders, David Austin. I was easing out my Hybrid Rugosas by then. It's a beauty with mostly nicely formed, heavy petaled, big blooms. Wild Edric appears to be a heavy bloomer, too, much like Henry Hudson, but on a much larger bush than HH's relatively small bush, by comparison. I bet it holds its petals a couple days longer than most HRs, which drop their petals very quickly.

Moses.

@foggyroses - I called Greenmantle yesterday. The lady and I had a great talk about roses. She doesn't have FGH in stock but she may next spring.

@Moses - Thank you, both are beautiful plants. I honestly had no idea that David Austin ever messed with the Rugosas. I'm sure I'll end up getting these someday!

The reason Hybrid Rigorous have fallen into disuse are many. Their strong points made them a useful commercial landscaping bush, but with the advent of the "safer," Knock Out roses starting in about 1990, their use declined drastically.

The thorns are deadly serious liabilities.

Too quick petal drop is another negative, as are the gossamer thin petals which are not wet weather resistant at all.

Care in application of any chemicals: liquid fertilizers, insecticides or fungicides to their neighbors or them, at all must be strictly maintained. Their foliage reacts violently to any chemical applied except water. Of course, Hybrid Rugosas are pretty much immune to disease, especially the dreaded black spot. Rose Midge Fly, which devastates just about all other rose classes, never bothered my HRs to speak of. At just one event, late in the season when rose Midge Fly is at its peak, did I see damage on a HR.

Moses.