"Julie" wrote in message
om...
Thanks to Allegra, I have a rose order coming this way soon. G I
decided I couldn't live without Darlow's Enigma another year so I
ordered from Ashdown.

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.

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.

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...

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! ;)

How are your roses doing?

Allegra