"Allegra" wrote
Hello Julie,

You are going to love Darlow's Enigma, he is really a sweetheart
of a rose. It has such an elegant stand, I find it hard to explain.
Demure but sexy if you please. I guess you could say I truly,
truly like (!) this rose.

For some reason, I think you like this rose. g Do you grow yours as
a climber or a freestanding shrub?


Yesterday I went out in the soft rain and planted Rouge Royale
and Taboo, the one rose that was eaten by cane borers probably
for a year before we bought the house. It put out a single solitary
bloom of the darkest red I have ever seen and it was breathtaking.
So, this year we found one of the new own root JP and we got it
at Birds' the nursery JD -who by the way has dropped off the face
of the earth as far as I can tell (are you listening JD?)- turned us on
last year. We also got E.Veyrat Hermanos in a big, and I do mean
big pot by the fountain hoping the two clematis that go over the
arch will eventually shake hands with it and Champney's Pink
across the arch.


I "need" some red roses. This year almost all the new ones are white
and fragrant. I think I should add some reds to brighten up the
gardens. Perhaps next year I will buy all red roses. Ashdown won't
have Francis Dubreuil ready in time to add to my order. And I didn't
see any others that really caught my attention on their site.
Your fountain, clematis and rose combination sounds lovely. I had to
look up E. Veyrat Hermanos, AKA Pillar of Gold, described as pink
blend blooms. With that AKA I would have assumed it would be yellow!


Here still wet, gray and cold. But a some cuttings have rooted
gloriously, and in spite of an unhealthy dose of powdery mildew
all over Zephirine - the milk treatment didn't do a thing I am afraid
no matter what ratio, 5 to 1, 4 to 1, 3 to 1 , back to the old spray -
the rest is breaking dormancy with a whole heck of a lot basals,
and if Spring doesn't come here soon...

No PM here, but I have noticed some blackspotted leaves already.
We've had a very wet winter and spring, which has caused the roses to
leaf out beautifully, but I expect we'll pay for it later with lots of
BS. I have started spraying, promising myself I would be more
dilligent this year than last. The poor roses paid the price for my
indifference last year.


I never thought I would say this, but at times like this California
even sounds like a nice place to move in order to grow roses...
just kidding! ;)


g

How are your roses doing?

Other than the aforementioned BS they are looking great! It's hard to
believe how quickly they all leafed out and began blooming. The
climbing Souvenir de la Malmaison has 20 or more open blooms and twice
that many buds. White Maman Cochet, covering one half the arbor, is
about to explode with blooms. This is year three for both of these
roses and the saying, "The thrid year they leap," is proving to be
correct.
Other roses of interest: Mrs. Dudley Cross, moved late last year to a
roomier location, has several blooms again. After being cut back so
severely, I'm very happy with her comeback. Rose de Rescht and
Jacques Cartier have escaped the shovel again this spring. But I
swear, the minute they loose all their leaves in sprite of regular
spraying, they are out of here!
My mystery rose is putting on new growth. The past two years I've
gotten new canes, this year I'm seeing laterals. Maybe another
climber, I only hope to see at least one bloom this year. I have
little patience, especially for unknown roses.
I'm very happy I can spend some time with my roses. Spring is such a
wonderful time, so full of promise. In this time of stress, there's
nothing like a few hours spent in the garden.

Julie