On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 23:12:19 -0500 (EST), "Shiva"
wrote:

Not fragrant

Oops, stop right there! Gotta have fragrance in all but the most visibly
delectable roses. REALLY gotta have it in the big blousy red hts. We all
have our quirks. G

The first Kentucky Derby bud is now opening. It does seem to have
some fragrance after all, though not as powerful as Chrysler Imperial
or Mr. L. I'll wait for it to open fully before I give its
fragrance the final judgement. I also bought a second one from a
different source. It will be interesting to see the differences
between the two once the second one starts to bloom.

I'm with you on the fragrance issue. I want the mailman to be able to
find my house blindfolded.

Kentucky Derby is now part of the ever-growing collection of reds in
my yard - C. Dior, Oklahoma, Mr. L. , Chrysler Imperial, Papa M,
Crimson Glory, Europeana, and now Kentucky Derby, Veterans Honor and
Taboo, I'll probably add Red Planet and a few others to the list
before the year is out. (I'm just a beginner, so I wouldn't know a
rugosa from a rug, but by fall I'll be quite knowledgeable on the
finer differences between various long stemmed deep red hybrid
teas...)


wait until I find it's match before buying any Diors.

I have two words for you: buy potted. In bloom. Makes life simple.


Except that I haven't found a potted one in bloom with real fragrance.
For that matter, Roses Unlimited has been the only nursery within
driving distance (loosely defined as anything 2 states away or closer)
that I've found so far that carries potted Christian Diors at all. So
I've taken an otherwise wasted 2 foot wide strip between my driveway
and my neighbor's chain link fence and turned it into a test bed.

Eventually I'll find a match. In the meantime, I'm hiding a fence.
Besides, this insane search is what got me hooked on growing roses, so
all in all I'd say it's a Good Thing.