Roses: pics, scents, growing, perfumes, sites, tips...

I'm really jealous of all you guys with gardening space. I live in the dorms, so it's impossible for me to do anything outside. I'm getting a house this summer, but I don't know how long I'll be staying in it, so I'm trying to decide if buying a $30 rose bush will be worth it if I won't really get to see it bloom. Anybody here have any luck growing rose bushes in pots then moving them outdoors when it's warm enough?
- Rich

Thanks for that link, very helpful!
- Rich

Manhattan, KS. I'm pretty sure the little apple doesn't have a world known flower show.
- Rich

odinthor is a rose maven and I know he knows of rose discussion groups...

wow very nice pictures!
I personally love white roses, if they're intensely scented, all the better.

just a bit unrelated to roses (i think): is there a flower that has more than 2 or 3 colors? i'd like to see one that has 7 or 8 colors!

I have about thirty large rose bushes, was out trimming some this morning. Lot more to go, but they are not blooming yet, not time. A few have several different colors on one bush, interesting. I keep forgetting the fertilizer.

For those of you on East side of the nation, what do you do about Japanese Beetles? I just about gave up on roses - almost blinded myself with Sevin one day, and the little buggers just eat the blooms down to nothing without the major poison.

That's beautiful. It's delicate. Strong. Alive.

I don't have a green thumb but once planted about five or six types of flowers as a scientific experiment. Conclusion: marigolds are INDESTRUCTIBLE! I could relieve myself into the pot after a night of hard drinking and they'd only grow taller.

Any suggestions for fungicides for this humid climate? Something not too hazardous to the gardener's health?

For anybody that lives in KC, there's a mom and pop place on about 82nd and Metcalf. It seems that they bought their house before it was a big business area, so they just converted their home into their place of business. It's quite cute actually, a quaint little home next to a gas station and a car dealership, with a grease monkey car shop across the street. I haven't been there in a while, but if I remember correctly, they've got about 50 rose plants, and assorted breeds of other flowers, and the usual fertilizers.
- Rich

We do have quite a deer problem in our area, and I have found a solution that works as well as anything and better than most (expensive bitter sprays, stinky coyote pee, etc.): Garlic powder. Cheap and effective. Of course, it tends to cover up the fragrance, but so do the other remedies. Works on tulips and other deer delights, as well.

Curiosity question:

Do any of you northern-type rose growers winterize your bushes by digging a trench from the entry point of the plant into the soil outward the distance equal to the bush height and lay the plant over, into a straw-lined trench and cover with straw/leaves/soil until next spring, when you simply uncover and upright the plant? I saw that done on a gardening TV program years ago and wondered if it really worked.

Next year, I'll have to take some pictures of my Grandpa Chuck + Alberta's rose bush. They planted it nearly 20 years ago, and the base trunk is about 2.5" thick, with the tops of the branches blooming OVER their house. It's fabulous, and despite the late frost we got this year, it bloomed harder than ever. I think it's a tea rose hybrid, because it has small blooms, but it isn't very fragrant. Bright red in color.
- Rich

- Rich

My last roses are still attempting to bloom though we've had a freeze here. Would like to share a poem I wrote about 10 years back:


Last Roses

I wander through my garden
scuffing orange oak leaves
and crumbling vines
finding seed pods opened wide
which having performed
their service
burst their hearts and died

With fingers coldly grasping pruners
I'm searching for that one last rose
as scents of autumn fill my nostrils
and nothing in my garden grows
Searching for that one reminder
of honeyed summer breezes
replaced by smoky autumn pyres
and coming winters frost-laced freezes

Already the trees are barren
and canes are bowing
to winter winds to come
I look, I bend, I stalk
a hunter...
hoping I can find just one

just one last rose
her head held high
stretched to catch
the waning sun
her petals bunched
but still defiant
undaunted by the snows to come

and lo...
she stands
off in the corner
shielded by the garden wall
that one last rose
a sentinel
a thorny princess
standing tall

I cannot reach her
tho' I try
she nods smugly
with rosy attitude
the pruners fall
from my hand
I cannot breech her
solitude

I turn away roseless
leaving her to die
a natural death
and a faint whiff
of her perfume on the air
haunts me
"no scentless hothouse blossom
am I"
she taunts me

I walk away slowly
one last glimpse
bejewels the dusk
I stop
I turn
and then salute her
savoring the hint of musk

She nods again
and whispers
and my heart begins to sing
for she stated
oh so simply
"I will see you...
come next spring"

copyright 1996 Denise Oliver-Velez

Just welcomed three rose bushes into my garden, Angel Face, Mardi Gras and the Double Knockout.

Looking for a fourth, perhaps a creamy or soft pink. The Peace rose sure looks purty.

Will post some photos in a bit.

Peace,
--------------------------------------
Here's a photo of the Angel Face Rose