"Mark. Gooley" writes:

I got Lafter from the Gainesville chapter of the ARS, at the spring garden
show
at Kanapaha Gardens (which is developing a nice little collection of old
roses
itself; mostly it goes for bamboos and amorphophallus and insectivorous
plants.
I hope that the director is doing well: he lost a forearm to an alligator
last year,
poor man, while helping tend the area near the ponds). It is almost
trouble-free,
blooms profusely, and I planted it near enough the doublewide that deer
haven't
been eating it. It's not really an old variety (1948) and it's technically
a hybrid
tea, but it looks a bit oldish and has a good smell, has General Jack and
Dr.
W. van Fleet in its ancestry, and is named for (I think) of a long-ago
botanical
illustrator who specialized in roses.


Thanks for the info on Lafter. I really liked that one. What is the plants
shape, typical HT? Or more rounded? I like lots of blooms, but the natural
shape of the plant is very important to me.


I got St. David's (Bermuda? helpmefind says no), Etoile de Lyon (tea I
think),
Duchese de Brabant, Excellenz von Schubert, Jean Bach Sisley, and I think
Mrs.
B. R. Cant...anyway, six in all. Pretty good size (2 and 3 gallon pots) for
own-root roses. Afraid to plant them out what with the deer, mind you.


I saw St. David's at a local nursery, but didn't buy it. I liked the color,
red with a touch of white and these roses do well here. It was a toss up
between St David's and Martha Gonzales. I couldn't decide which one to buy and
they are so similar, I didn't get either of them. One of the few times I've
shown restraint when buying roses.
Duchese de Brabant and Mrs. BR Cant are wonderful roses! I grow and love them
both. DdB is still pretty small, but the flowers are so dainty and what a
fragrance. Mrs Cant is huge here. I'd like to see the deer tackle mine.
Maybe they could keep her from growing over my roof and across the lawn and
into the neighbors ugly hedge.

Julie