Hello regulars. I'm delighted to have found this rosy newsgroup. I've
read some of the more recent threads, and have enjoyed them, and learned
things in the bargain.

I garden in an environmentally friendly way in southern Ontario, in
Canada's banana belt. We had a long, cold, deep snowy winter followed by
a cool wet spring, and no real heat to speak of till a few weeks ago.
We've pretty much been riding a heatwave ever since, with temps in the
80's and 90's ... not the preferred temperature of my roses in their
full sun south facing beds.

I have 7 roses at the moment.

The most recent addition is Evelyn. I got her early this spring. So far,
she's blowing me away. She's a beauty, and her fragrance is fantastic.
Though I'm not sure it's more fabulous than that of the Fair Bianca
right beside her. Which brings me to the third of the English trio,
Graham Thomas ...

I know that Graham's got his fans, and mine is nice to look at for the
most part. It's very vigorous and blooms well, with a lovely saturated,
but natural, yellow ... but the flowers smell more like celery than a
rose. What's up with Graham? Anyone else have one like this? A friend
has one and says that her's smells good. Mine is very disappointing. But
I can't bring myself to kill it. I guess I've grown accustomed to his
face.

I have two roses that I brought me with me when we moved 7 years ago
when they were about 5 years old:

An HC Andersen Floribunda that's getting pretty tired, but still
produces a few beautiful blooms and a Penthouse, which I think may be a
Grandiflora. A nice pink, big bloom and decent tea perfume. Both of
these senior citizens are prone to black spot and powdery mildew.

I inherited an ancient climbing rose with the house, that's likely been
there since the 70's. No idea what it is. The flowers are deep
fuchsia/magenta. It has some fragrance and is lovely in bunches in a
vase.

I also have a rose I hate. I was desperate for an orange rose and got
one called ... hmmm ... Autumn Sunset IIRC. at the local garden centre.
I call it the Halloween rose. It looks artificial on the cane. The
orange is surrealistically garish, and the petals have a texture that
looks as if the pigment were applied in a spray powder. Gross. It's a
rose for cutting, with long thornless stems, is surprisingly resistant
to powdery mildew ... and those garish blooms look fabulous in a vase
against a deep green wall. I can't bring myself to kill even this
hideous specimen.

For the second summer in a row, I'm keeping an online garden journal
with my digital camera. I photograph whatever is peaking whenever I can
and then upload a sampling to a monthly page. There's a shot of Evelyn
and one of Graham in the most recent page.

http://home.ca.inter.net/~stevedor/EGarden2.html

Hope to talk roses with you all.

Best,
Ether