Rose Report from Robin

Since we had such a mild winter, I really expected my roses to be in peak form this year. I was wrong. They are very spindly, and covered with blackspot. But only those of us up close to them can tell. The blooms are still lovely. Of course, the Rosa Sunny Knockout is just as lush as ever, and covered in beautiful, fragrant roses. I have been calling this one Radsunny for awhile, and finally got a good look at the tag for the correct name. Consider this one a must-have in your rose garden, or any kind of garden, for that matters. Always perfect and beautiful.

I've had the first blooms on my Zepherine Drouhin rose climbing up the arbor. Some day I hope these flowers cover the arbor.

 On the other side of the arbor, I planted Golden Showers. It has remained quite small, but did manage to put out a beautiful bloom. I hope it has a growth spurt! In the meantime, I planted Grandpa Ott's morning glories on that side to compensate. 

My little Knockout tree rose is blooming, but it never has caught up to the blooms it had when I bought it. More fertilizer maybe?

 Here's another exception to the weak year my roses are having. Tahitian Sunset is a top performer in my garden. It's tall, very full, has no problems with disease and has perfect, fragrant roses. You must get this one!  Here's a before and after shot of one of it's beautiful flowers.

Funny Face is another dependable shrub rose, but it is trying to take over the rose garden. Always the first and last to bloom and never stops all summer long. However, it's not fragrant and is slightly bothered by blackspot.

Poor little Michelangelo is looking quite pitiful. Lost most of the canes that were sky high last year and covered in blooms. It's still putting out blossoms here and there, even this strange, flat flower that is not at all like it usually looks. This one has been a real favorite of mine, since it is deliciously fragrant and so very yellow!

The Fourth of July climber looks pretty good at a distance, but it is also being bothered my blackspot. I love the tie dyed look. I wish it was fragrant.

 My Don Juan climber is fragrant, and a pretty, traditional rose red. The petals often brown at the edges, but I'm the only one who can see it. 

Hot Cocoa is not a favorite. I thought I'd like the interesting orangy brown coloring of the flowers but they don't thrill me much in person. Not to mention that it has no fragrance. Any replacement roses in the future will be fragrant, because otherwise, why have them?

This little cutie is called Cecile Parade. It was actually a grocery store potted rose sold as a florist item. Once I planted it in the ground, it took off. It is now a fairly normal size rose and has these beautiful blossoms. All the other really tiny miniature roses I planted last year died off over the winter. Guess they were hothouse beauties not meant for the real garden.

I'm still waiting on blooms from Garden Party, Angel Face and Oranges and Lemons. They are all struggling mightily. My greatest fear is that my rose garden is falling victim to rose rosette disease. I've already removed one rose with it, and perhaps that's why so many of the others are struggling. Before I knew what the problem was, I ordered a beautiful David Austin rose to take it's place. Now I don't dare plant the David Austin in that tainted ground, so it has been planted in an urn for safe keeping. I fear for all of my roses at this point! I have to admit that none of them appear to have rose rosette, but I'll be on guard. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the blossoms I'm getting, like this Happy Chappy groundcover rose.

I definitely need more of these happy little blooms!