On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:21:58 +0100, Dave Poole
wrote:

John Edgar wrote:

Thanks for this. Maybe I will stick with it for a couple more years,
but if it doesn't shape up I will complain to DA Roses again. It is in
a sunny spot, growing over our shed and our soil is very good. It may
get some frost, but not much. We live not too far from the south
coast.

In which case it should perform with you. I was referring to my plant
which had to put up with some pretty stiff winters in the Midlands -
although David's nursery isn't that far away from where I lived at the
time. I looked upon it as a rose that needed just that little extra
bit of care and accepted it as such. It really should do fairly well
in milder regions. I wonder if he's got a duff batch - unlikely
because David Austin has always been 'on the ball' with such matters.
I can't think that the huge expansion over the past decade has dulled
such an important ethos.

The only thing I can think of (but that only applies to this year) is
that depending upon how far east you are along the coast, winter
arrived in early spring and caused some quite serious set-backs in
some areas.

Well, yes, we did have a strange winter and that might have had an
effect I suppose. But it has never done what I think it should, even
with "normal" seasons. One other thing, I don't dead-head it, as I
simply cannot reach. Would that make a difference?

It certainly happened here with the first frost in late
January, when all of my plants were well into spring growth. A couple
of weeks of truly wintry weather brought everything to a complete
standstill and some of my plants are still showing signs of it even
now. Admittedly, everything I grow here is subtropical, but even
roses can get a nasty shock from frosts and prolonged cold weather
when they are gearing up for the spring push.

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November

John
In limine sapientiae