They are planted under the exact same conditions...so I ruled out amount
of sun/water/soil etc...

Heidi



Heidi Stump wrote:

Happy Friday everyone!

I am curious as to your thoughts on my experiences so far on growing
roses. I have 3 rose plants. 1 Buttercream HT by JP that I purchased
2 months ago from my favorite local nursery, and 2 JFK HT's that I
purchased 1 month ago from a nursery that has a good reputation, but
that I have never purchased from before. My experiences thus far:

Buttercream HT: No problems whatsoever. No disease, giving me lots of
blooms, reblooming quickly after I deadhead, or take the blooms inside
to enjoy. The plant has grown considerably in the past 2 months. The
japanese beetles have discovered this bush, but only after they
discovered my new roses.

JFK HT's: non stop challenges. First botrytis (sp?), than rust
spots, and what is left of the plant has been massacred by the
beetles. Not much growth (due in large to how much of the plant I
have had to prune from disease), not many blooms (for same reason).
When I first transplanted them I noticed 3 tiny little slugs (at least
I assume they were slugs, same color as slugs, definitely not white
grubs) near the root. Only when I planted the JFK's did Japanese
Beetles discover my garden.

So my question is...why has the Buttercream performed so much better
than the JFK?

1) Could it be the quality of the plant....should I not purchase again
from the nursery where I got the JFK's?
2) Is Buttercream known to be more disease resistant than JFK? (I
thought JFK had a good reputation as far as disease resistance)?
or
3) Is it shear luck....welcome to growing roses no one ever said it
would be easy...?


Thanks for your thoughts!
Heidi