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Old 14-05-2003, 07:08 PM
Radika Kesavan
 
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Default Sunsprite hardy? was Repeat Blooming Scented Yellow Rose?

R & L Porter wrote:
"Radika Kesavan" wrote in message
...


Be warned though - it is a very spritely yellow, which I happen to
love, but some folks find the clear yellow colour grating.


At the moment I have only one yellow rose - Goldbusch - and even that
is not a pure yellow. I also have Morden Sunrise, but that too is
not a pure yellow as it is edged in red/orange. (This is not counting
my species roses). It is time for a nice, strong yellow.


King's Ransom is a wonderful yellow, as Mack also mentioned it, but he
says that it did not survive even his New Mexico (Zone 6? 7?) winters.
Too bad. You would really like it too, it has foliage that is made of
pure deep green steel. Gorgeous rose, but may be fit only for
California? It is also grown by every gardener who loves hybrid teas in
my native city in Southern India. Needs no spraying or any coddling in
that hot and steamy climate; pure green leaves, absolutely stunning in
contrast with that yellow. What is nice too is that as long as it is
half-open, the blossoms are high-centred and when the flowers open
fully, the petals curve every which way revealing a really old-fashioned
beauty.

It would be a real test for Sunsprite to survive our looooooong
winters. That is something that I have only begun to realize. I may
be in the same zone as many people farther (or is that further?)
south than me, but the shortness of our growing season does not
always make this an accurate comparison.


Aye. I can well imagine. Zone 5 South-Western Ontario is very different
from your Zone 5, isn't it.

Rain again today. At least my grass is finally green. A few of the
roses are tentatively putting out leafs, while most are still
breaking dormancy. Only 5 weeks to the first bloom.


Hurray! We have had no rain in Jan, Feb and may be even March, but then,
in April we have been breaking all kinds of records. Wreaks havoc with
many things including the bees pollinating our cherries, plums and
apples. Oh well, better than a drought.

What's blooming in your garden, Radika?


Almost everything, Laura, excpet the peonies and the hibiscus (the
tropical ones) are still sitting with tightly balled buds; the deciduous
hibiscus (Rose of Sharon) are all leafed out, gorgeous looking but no
bud setting yet; they are more a late summer / early fall bloomers
anyway. Oh, the Gallicas are not yet blooming, though the Albas finished
their shows. With this weird weather we are having, the specie roses and
the semi-species (is there such a classification?) such as Rosa foetida
bicolor and Rosa banksiae are all blooming at the same time as all the
HTs and Austins. Among the Austins, Othello is ahving the best show I
have ever seen. For two years in a row, I have chosen to not prune
Othello in winter at all, though I cut long-stemmed flowers for the vase
from him every now and then, and he seems to really like it. The
mock-orange and the citrusses finished their fragrant flowers a while
back, and the Chinese Jasmine went before that. The bearded Irises are
blooming over a very long period this year. The perennial sweet peas are
beginning their big show, some of the clematises are blooming (Niobe,
for example) but not others (Polish Spirit) though everyone looks very
happy. Some polyanthas are going gang-busters (Cl. Margo Koster and
Excellenz von Schubert, for example) but the spray Cecile Brunner is
demurely holding all her buds still shut though the nighbour's bush CB
is filled with blossoms. OTOH, when the spray CB opens up, it is going
to be a spectacular show!

Cass gave me an own-root Gruss an Teplitz when I met her at the Spring
at Guadelupe Park Festival this year, and I am cherishing it as the
treasure that it is purported to be. I have not yet decided where I
ought to plant it, so I am nurturing it in a pot. She told me that it
misbehaves in a pot, but Man, if *this* is misbehaving, I would love to
see what it would do when planted in the ground! She was also kind
enough to pick up an own-root Lavender Lassie for me from one of her
local nurseries during our earlier get-together, and I am still pondring
where to set it in the ground. There are other uncertainties in life
which makes me want to defer these decisions till those factors clear
up. OTOH, it is sort of like waiting for the waves to subside to bathe
in the ocean (that is a probverb from my mother tongue, btw).

And you? How is life treating you? It sounds like they et you out of
school for the summer may be? How did you fare in the class of the
professor whose test for law students is the proper use of the comma?

It is very nice to "see" you around these parts once again.

--
Radika
California
USDA 9 / Sunset 15