It's a wreck. Half of the bare roots died and I am wanting
to rip Hansa out really, really bad. (Larry, it is the
heat here. It just really, really hates it. Mine is
NOT going to do what yours is doing! Mine is all crispy,
though it has received a deluge! Yours is GREAT! But mine
has got to GO!)Judy Garland is blah and scentless, Simply
Marvelous is Simply Dead, Arizona is what our old "friend"
Mack would call a "dog toy" [eg dead and uprooted, on
the ground],

The real winner of the bunch [or maybe just the only clear
survivor] is Royal Amethyst. Vigorous, purply, fragrant, nice
form. A rose of similar size and shape (blooms) is Joyfulness.
I had one but planted it too young and the cold got it. I
loved the bloom, peachy and fragrant. So how about this:
JUST Joyfulness and Royal Amethyst! Just these two varieties,
maybe six plants a piece. [I can imagine the collective gags
of you pinky-white-light-peachy-only rose lovers, but if
you must give voice, I can take it!]

Of greater interest, anyone else do this? Just plant two
varieties of roses together in a bed?

"Shiva" wrote:
It's a wreck. Half of the bare roots died and I am wanting
to rip Hansa out really, really bad. (Larry, it is the
heat here. It just really, really hates it. Mine is
NOT going to do what yours is doing! Mine is all crispy,
though it has received a deluge! Yours is GREAT! But mine
has got to GO!)

My Hansa is near death, but the rugosae still in pots are mostly
rudely healthy. Some have a few cripsy leaves, but the Blanc
Double de Coubert is impersonating a weed. Likewise, the Sir
Thomas Lipton I planted in the wet is also near death, whereas
other varieties with obvious rugosa blood (those leaves make
it obvious!) yet in pots are thriving.

In my limited experience, Rugosae do not mind the damp and zone
8b Floridian heat here. They hate wet feet, and they tolerate them
less than most other roses do.

I got my 20 cubic yards of compost and I've already replanted
some Austins in little artificial hills, hoping to save them from
sickliness and perhaps death. It is a testimonial to my Gertrude
Jekyll (I'd buried the label and forgotten what it was!) own-root
that it's still alive after nearly three years of neglect, and occasionally
even blooming.

Mark., will keep everyone posted on the results of replanting sodden
bushes in little artificial hills like blisters

In article , Mark. Gooley
wrote:


I got my 20 cubic yards of compost and I've already replanted
some Austins in little artificial hills, hoping to save them from
sickliness and perhaps death. It is a testimonial to my Gertrude
Jekyll (I'd buried the label and forgotten what it was!) own-root
that it's still alive after nearly three years of neglect, and occasionally
even blooming.

Mark., will keep everyone posted on the results of replanting sodden
bushes in little artificial hills like blisters



Mark, you might do a google search of mediterranean mound. There is a
nursery near Monterey that specializes in Mediterranean climate plants
that recommends it highly. The mounds are no more than 2 or 3 feet high
and fairly large around, say 12 feet. In our drought, the
recommendation is to water them once every 3 weeks.

You are mixing the compost with soil? I ask because my barn spread out
a lot of composted stable bedding all by itself and planted in it. It
has not been successful. Amended into the soil, however, and stuff
explodes.

"Cass" wrote:
In article , Mark. Gooley
wrote:


I got my 20 cubic yards of compost and I've already replanted
some Austins in little artificial hills, hoping to save them from
sickliness and perhaps death. It is a testimonial to my Gertrude
Jekyll (I'd buried the label and forgotten what it was!) own-root
that it's still alive after nearly three years of neglect, and
occasionally
even blooming.

Mark., will keep everyone posted on the results of replanting sodden
bushes in little artificial hills like blisters



Mark, you might do a google search of mediterranean mound. There is a
nursery near Monterey that specializes in Mediterranean climate plants
that recommends it highly. The mounds are no more than 2 or 3 feet high
and fairly large around, say 12 feet. In our drought, the
recommendation is to water them once every 3 weeks.

I should try that with my supposedly-cold-hardy agaves and nolinas and
such, all still in pots and growing poorly. The nearest botanical gardens,
it finally dawns on me, have theirs on a mound too...

You are mixing the compost with soil? I ask because my barn spread out
a lot of composted stable bedding all by itself and planted in it. It
has not been successful. Amended into the soil, however, and stuff
explodes.

This stuff has some soil in it already, but not as much as what I got
last time. It's hard to mix the soil with it, as the soil is at present
mud.
I'm afraid that you might be right, and that a mix of it with soil would
have been wiser. Then again, there's no animal feces in it, barring
perhaps a spot of dog picked up by a lawnmower. Some unrotted
bits of wood: better as a soil amendment, yeah. I suppose that the
damned stuff could resume composting itself, which might be a bad
thing as well.

The stuff I got last time was half composted yard waste and half native
soil, but they were out of that and this stuff looks to be maybe ten or
fifteen percent sand. One joint of one of my fingers is swollen up and
aching, but it doesn't look infected and a doctor I saw about it says that
it isn't. Also the left foot is acting up again: wearing a surgical boot
to keep the joint behind my big toe from flexing has given me a blister,
so for now I pretty much have to leave things as they are, as a diabetic
has to be very careful with his numb feet. Result: I don't think I'll add
to what I've done so far, replant six or seven sodden Austins in little
mounds. Meanwhile my surviving potted roses, over-watered and
over-fertilized, are mostly doing well: blooms and strong growth from
the New Dawn, some really fine flowers on the Romanticas (but the
bushes are so TINY), vigorous growth from the Meilland landscape
roses...it's amazing what I'll buy if it's 75% off.

I should try the growers in South Georgia for more old roses. Teas,
especially.

Mark., too damned delicate, I am

So how about this:
JUST Joyfulness and Royal Amethyst! Just these two varieties,
maybe six plants a piece. [I can imagine the collective gags
of you pinky-white-light-peachy-only rose lovers, but if
you must give voice, I can take it!]


Have a feeling this may have been aimed at me, so I'll comment. I like the
apricot and dark red colors together. In fact, I have Lady Hillingdon, a pale
apricot, next to the deep red of Dark Shadows. The coral of First Edition and
lavender Angel Face looked great together, maybe my favorite color combo ever.
So there. g

Julie

Unique Too wrote:

So how about this:
JUST Joyfulness and Royal Amethyst! Just these two varieties,
maybe six plants a piece. [I can imagine the collective gags
of you pinky-white-light-peachy-only rose lovers, but if
you must give voice, I can take it!]


Have a feeling this may have been aimed at me, so I'll comment.

Hee! Not really, but I'm glad I got your attention. There are lots of folks
who don't like contrasting brights.

I like the
apricot and dark red colors together. In fact, I have Lady Hillingdon, a pale
apricot, next to the deep red of Dark Shadows.

Oooo. Tell me about it. Orange and purple are energizing, but, say,
Jude the Obscure and Ink Spots are just plain delicious to the eye.

The coral of First Edition and
lavender Angel Face looked great together, maybe my favorite color combo ever.
So there. g

No way! You just busted clean out of my sterotype for you! g


Julie

Julie, I know you don't grow too many moderns, but have you ever
grown Apricot Nectar? It is the rose I currently long for. One of
those fab 1960s floribundas. Bulletproof like Europeana.