really enjoying this thread. yes, some here i like, and some i agree with wholeheartedly.

first and foremost. knockout. yes, it is such a shame it is everywhere, even my kids know it is bad news. it gives roses a bad name, and there are SO MANY easy to grow beauties!!

2. new dawn. nasty thorns, worthless for the time, trouble and effort...and in a prime spot. so sad, such hopes. first patent and all...whoop!

3. distant drum. couldn't be distant enough for me. the color REEKS. mauve. with a brown current. awful. i tried to like it.

4. laura bush is crap. the rose, not the lady. twiggy, bad color.

5. oh, the possibilities...hmmm, zepherine drouhn (Spelling is off). i am reminded to sp this gal after her two blooms for the year are over. and to think i gave her 10 years, which reminds me of don juan, but, only 5. but you know where i am headed.

OT but related: Rather than throwing those bushes in the trash, save them and when you have enough put them in a charcoal grill and grill steaks over them.

I have added Spirea and Viburnum branches along with corn cobs left from feeding the squirrels in the winter and made some of the most incredible steaks ever.

Best not to use too thick of steaks as the fire does not last near as long as regular wood.

Several years I grilled thin Lamb steaks and they were good beyond description.
People who I have had over to try them agreed fully.
RpR

Personally I would not grill over any wood that had been sprayed.

With extremely rare exceptions the only item I put on my roaes is Serenade which is non-toxic.

These 5 (and probably a few more) are definately gettting SP'd this year:

JFK-Healthy plant, lots of blooms but they are so ugly to me every single bloom has brown crusty edges, yuck!

Tropicana-vigorous canes, good lord! but so thorny and quite frankly I find the color too brash

Ebb Tide-she's been in the ground for over 5 year & is still only 1 ft tall with thin yellow canes & little blooms, it's probably just poor stock other people in my area have decent looking ones, just not mine :(

Distand Drums-I love it's shape right after it's bud opens and I love the color, but the blooms shatter like crazy and it has no smell for me

Hot Cocoa-another vigorous grower but with a bajillion thorns and itty bitty flowers with no scent. I do love the color and if they were regular sized blooms instead of 1 inch across I might have kept it, oh well

~Rose

Rose,
Your JFK probably has a case of thrips infestation causing those brown petal edges. Diane

I love what Cynthia from Nebraska wrote about her least favorites, thanks. Hi Rose-Nevada: I saw Hot Cocoa at the rose park with big blooms, they fertilize with liquid fertilizer high in phosphorus. With alkaline soil, phosphorus for bloom is locked up with either excess magnesium in the soil, or forming calcium complex with limestone. This reminds me to buy some liquid fertilizer to apply every 2 weeks for my roses in alkaline soil.

About Face - very few blooms - one or two a season
Heritage - have tried it 3 times (3 different homes) and have never seen a flower
Distant Drums - the myrrh scent is intense and terrible. Smelled up my whole yard. Yet the irony is that it's the only rose I've ever had where the scent wafted.
Melody Parfumee - I hate the chalky white that mingles with the pink
That's only four; but that's all I can think of.

Carol

I found this thread and brought I'd bring it back and ask for updates.

My five non-choices would be:

1) Chihuly (gone). Too tall, too wide, very few blooms and those were small.

2) Double Delight (gone). Like others, I grew sick of it very quickly.

3) Falstaff. I can't believe the two I have are still in the garden. They're going this spring. In three-four years I've had less than one bloom per year.

4) Tranquillity. On its way out. Flowers mostly small, dingy-looking and I don't care for the fragrance. Disappointing.

5) Mr. Lincoln. On its way out. Lanky as its namesake, very stingy on blooms, a so-what experience. I have Don Juan and Oklahoma, and prefer them.

Runner-up: Easy Living. Just not the bloom machine it seems to be for everyone else.

Some folks didn't like Don Juan or Tamora. They love it here (hot & dry SoCal). So does Oklahoma -- yes, she fries in the summer but the blooms are still magnificent. Granada never stops blooming and I love it to bits. Marilyn Monroe doesn't bloom a lot, but when she does, she's striking. Trumpeter is invaluable in my landscape (my two are under a lighter orange hibiscus).

Anyone with roses they love to hate.. or at least not love that much?

Nice thread thanks to Seil, and you Sylvia for reviving it

Eglantyne - stingy with blooms but great show in Spring
but that’s it

Gertrude Jekyll – a Thorny monster, stingy with blooms I
only see blooms in the spring , fell in love with the fragrance and like the fool
I am I actually bought four of them seriously, hind sight is 20 20

Awakening – I have had it of rove 3 years I have only seen
one or two blooms, maybe I need to move it to a better location

Alchemist - Same as
Awakening above

Oklahoma – I tried this rose FOUR times yes four times I am
a fool for fragrance and I have lost all
of them

Why oh Why do I torture my self for the Love of roses or
should I say or the lack of roses

Jacqueline, you are absolutely right. I wasted time and money on HPs before I realized they could not succeed here (I still have Ardoisee de Lyon, which is very tall and healthy but has hardly ever bloomed). Almost all my recent purchases have been teas. I would love to have gallicas and rugosas but -- thanks to this forum -- know they will never do well here. I'm nervous about bourbons too, which is why I don't have SDLM although it does well for folks in similar climates.

I wish there were a way to tell which roses within a particular class -- i.e. floribundas -- like our semi-desert situation. The only, and the best, way I know is to follow this forum assiduously and ask for feedback before buying anything! That's how I came to replace my Chihulys with George Burnses, for example.

I so agree with you Jackie and Sylvia! Roses are being dissed above when it is not their fault. The wrong zone, location, and exposure are not the rose's fault.

Memorial Day--grayish pink with brown edges

Oklahoma--stingy, with looms not worth waiting for. Not good cut was worst part.

Double Delight--shapeless bloom with a scent I can't detect yet it makes the top 10 scented roses lists ? Mystery..

Tropicana/Trumpeter and other screamers (Ketchup and Mustard, is there really such a rose?)

I am glad to see this topic revised. Earlier this year I planted 3 floribundas in the front of my yard along the street. They were from Jackson & Perkins they are called fragrant something picture of them looked fuchsia highly fragrant 3 feet tall. I don't know if it's because they're young they hate the heat I'm not sure why but the color was washed out I smell no fragrance and in the heat most of them never even opened I think they must go. I went to the Jackson & Perkins catalog to see what the name is I couldn't even find it in the catalog that's not a very good sign to me that it came and went that quickly. I hate to lose out on the $60 r $70 that I spent for them but I really want something nice. This is a new to us home and that's kind of the first thing you see when you pull up are the plants along the road. So I don't know what I actually have out there but I think they need to go.

Now, what to replace them with?

I will probably put them in a pot and see if they do better in less Sun

They are Sweet Intoxication

I don't have any of these because I could do without them! They're mostly great roses in this area, available everywhere and many love them so I mean no disrespect.

Josephs Coat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You change color and look cool. We know, we know.

Double Delight. It's really pretty and fragrant. I honestly don't have a good reason for disliking this one for my own yard. But I do.

Intrigue. Gorgeous purple blooms and lovely, healthy foliage. Smells like lemon pledge to me. Strongly.

Mutabilis. I know I probabaly should be shot for not liking this one. I don't have a good reason. I think it's for the same reason I don't like Joseph's Coat or Double Delight. I've been overexposed. Don't hate me. ;)

Also... Rouge Royale. I saw this at a rose nursery lately, all of them looking completely diseased and hideous. I have seen photos when it so pretty in other climates. Not here.

Hey Silvia try moving Falstaff to the shade if you haven't already. Mine are new, but each of them have consistently had 6-10 blooms at any one time for the past couple months and I have 3. I put 2 in the shade and 1 in the sun. The ones in the shade bud and bloom a lot more and keep their darker color better too. I'm in 9b hot and dry in NorCal so we may have similar conditions.

By shade, I mean about 4 hours of morning sun. Probabaly less now that it's fall. The rest of the time they are mostly in shade from a huge oak and so far, those are the two that are blooming the most. Also, I feed a light dose of Eleanor's VF11 maybe every week or so.

I agree Cori ann

I think those really dark Rich colors prefer a lot more afternoon shade might seem to do really well with some good morning son and a nice afternoon break from the Heat

There's been a few over the past several years that have gone "by-by" for one reason or another.

Chicago Peace---Beautiful in the spring then "blahhhh" the rest of the year.

Royal Amethyst----Same as above, plus blackspot even with spraying.

Snuffy---Just didn't like the bloom

Sidoni---Nice bloom. Ugly, floppy foliage that stayed covered in black spot.

Incogneto---Nice bloom. Nice foliage. NASTY thorns that jumped on you as soon as you get close to it. I had more thorn problems with this rose then ANY rose I've grown.

Lady Emma Hamilton -- it grows smaller and smaller each year, and Emma is a pretty much a nudist year round here.

Golden Celebration -- weak canes, weak plant, another leaves optional rose

Blaze improved -- used to grow on the fence above 3 double knockouts. They look exactly like the double knockouts from afar, but unlike the knockouts, which ae workhorses, this one shuts down for the rest of the season after its first blush. Naked from top to bottom, always.

Gingersnap -- another flasher. Zero BS tolerance, and the color is so LOUD

Carding Mill -- this thing does not know how to grow or keep leaves. No repeat what's so ever. It is a miracle that it is still alive. I would notice if it is gone as it NEVER EVER blooms after its first and only blush.

This is a fun exercise! Actually, as much as I love roses, there are surprisingly few that I would miss if it/they were gone. But here are 5 roses that I have either removed, or would be rather grateful if, say a gopher devoured it/them in the middle of the night.

1. Knockout. Just about the antithesis of what I love in roses. The strident color, the lack of flower form, the ungraceful plants, the nasty thorns. The only things I like about it are its vigor and the fragrance.

2. Glamis Castle. The mothball rose. Flowers look and smell like mothballs. No need for the gopher. It's gone.

3. Guy de Maupassant. The flowers are never the beautiful things I know they can be. In addition, the leaves are miserably diseased like no other rose I have, and roses just don't get foliar diseases in this climate.

4. Bolero. The photos from other people are of such beautiful roses, it makes me sad that mine are rarely that way.

5. Old Blush. I hate to say it about a rose that grows and blooms, and I could never remove it since it was a gift, but the flowers are so formless, the color is yucky, and there is no fragrance to rescue it.

There are a number of other roses I could put on this list, some I still have hopes for, and for some their faults may be due to cultural problems, but really, I wouldn't cry if they were gone. Nor would I replace them. Of all of my roses, only about 5 of them I would have to replace were they to be missing.

1. Mme Berkeley. Prissy, tight little flowers in a not very attractive colour here. Pity, as it was the fastest growing and shapeliest shrub rose I've ever grown!

2 .Maman Cochet. As Jackie said, not its fault, but the blooms just didn't open here.

3. Iceberg. Spotted flowers, and just not keen on it even when it's at its best. Give me Mme Hardy any day.

4. Lumped together, anything garishly coloured.

What a great thread to resurrect! Don't have 5 yet. But I think if a plant doesn't bring you joy; it's not worth keeping.

1. Sunny knockout. It grows ok, but the blooms are washed out, messy when not deadheaded & the Japanese Beetles love it. Also currently has an infestation of small caterpillars. Just lacks anything to make me smile when looking at it. Removing it next spring.

2. Abraham Darby possibly - 1st year, only rose to not bloom for me in a season. Grew like crazy. Massive canes, basal breaks. Very disappointing to not see a bloom. Had high hopes for this one. It's in a prime location. Hoping to see some blooms next spring. If not this dud is a goner.

3. Bill reid rose - winter hardy, but failing to thrive in my garden. Black spots bad. Japanese Beetles love it too.

As for the comment about Tropicana- I have it planted in a back corner of my yard & I love how I can see the blooms from afar! And yes they are bright. But I can see how it is not to everyone's taste.

After growing 134 own-root roses, here are the 5 roses I could do without:

1) A. Shopshire Lad: I rename this "A shoplifting lad". It's puny & wimpy as own-root and refused to bloom in a pot. Also stingy in my soaking wet clay. The flower is boring & not much scent. The bush is ugly with dark-green foliage.

2) Scepter'd Isle: Too vigorous & occupied lots of space as own-root, the scent is like "dirty socks and menthol", plus I'm not crazy about exposed stamens.

3) Queen of Sweden: too tall, stingy, plus small & boring blooms & not much scent.

4) Arthur Bell: bloomed well, but boring flower & exposed stamens, scent is inferior to Golden Celebration. It reminds me of gaudy plastic yellow flowers.

5) Governor de Rosellini. small red blooms, not much scent.

All the above are healthy in my no-spray garden, but I get more joy from a silk-flower bouquet than from them. Not worth watering the above.

Below is Queen of Sweden in my garden with stiff & boring blooms. Nahema is stingier but Nahema bloom is prettier with heavenly scent. I will grow Nahema again, but I won't bother with Queen of Sweden.

Due to our very mild winter with no snow cover, the roses were exposed to up and down temps and wind. Some didn't make it. The ones leaving this year are:

Magna Charta. One of my oldest, so sad to see him go. The blooms are exceedingly lovely, but no amount of thinning old canes helped his tight growing habit. With no space for air flow, he welcomed spring with a severe case of white fly. More trouble than I have time for.

Johann Strauss. Never reached his potential. Rebecca's Johann Strauss border in front of her home in z4 was my inspiration, but it just wasn't to be. I will miss him.

Calypso, Lim. I picked this one up by mistake when I was reaching for Caramel Fairy Tale. I tried to love him, but we never hit it off. Healthy, no complaints, just didn't care for it.

Rhapsody in Blue. He wants to live in Hawaii, but probably wouldn't survive the flight. Such a pitifully weak rose for me. Summer highs are too much for him. He may stay as a springtime rose.

Tamora. My only Austin that is always miserable. Gophers left so little of one a few years ago that it'll never be the same. The other loses about half of itself every winter, severe or mild. Probably digging up both.

Roses I could do without?????! Anything common like "oso easy" and "at last" and especially knockouts. They drive me nuts they are so boring and basic. I love big hybrid teas like Blue Moon and Le Petit Prince.

Talk about tropicana, it's said to be vigorous according to HMF(tough as nail?), mine first time died, second time is now one cane, both graphed. Should I get one own root or give up? I miss roses died on me, and get bored of roses that flourished, like Eden, a no brainer, also Coquette des Blanches, balls.

For me At Last is a perfect rose that fits nicely under my window and blooms a lot.

I have gotten rid of several roses o er the years and some I regret and some not so much.

Dark Desire, I wish that it had looked even a tiny bit like Sara Ann's beauty, but alas it was an ugly cane with a bloom at the top.

Dick Clark, a muddy weird red color

Oklahoma, boy, I really wanted that one to work out but I never got one single bloom that didnt crisp even when it wasn't hot, even with only morning sun

Maurice Utillo, there was something wrong with that rose. It turned in to all thorns and no blooms.

I think that it was thzt particular plant and would try it again because early on it had gorgeous blooms.

Floweraremusic: Tamora is too small & doesn't have the vigor for zone 5. Saw Tamora at the rose park (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) and it was a small bush (Abraham Darby was twice taller). Their Tamora came down with bad blackspots in the fall .. worst looking bush at rose park.

My Tamora is a beautiful plant, currently covered in buds and blooms. This rose was meant to be a small one. She's a continuous bloomer for me and is grafted on multiflora (from Pickering nursery years ago). She's about the same size as my own root Abe Darby right now--what a different experience from yours. Diane

My list isn't super long...

Charisma: bought him labeled Peace. Expecting big beautiful yellow blooms and getting shrunken, harsh burnt orange on a twiggy little plant was depressing.

Ultra Violet: wispy little blooms on a bush that refused to grow. Gifted it to my mother in law and it's growing great guns at her house.

Double Delight might be on the chopping block before she ever blooms if she doesn't pull her socks up. All the other roses I bought at the same time are growing beautifully and putting on buds. DD is wilty and refusing to grow and covered in mildew. Moonlight in Paris started out the same size, has been planted right next to DD in the same soil, and looks three times as good.

Joey: Double Delight likes heat. it was the only rose that bloomed at rose park when it was 95 F. Double Delight likes alkaline: I constantly have to lime it to get the pH near 8. Mine is 8th-year grafted-on-Dr.Huey. Dave in Montana, zone 5, commented in HMF that Double-Delight has a higher need for iron. My black clay is high in iron so red roses like Double Delight does well. I also had 2 Double-Delight as own-roots .. these bloomed more than the grafted-on-Dr.Huey, but the own-roots could not survive zone 5 winter, despite getting up to 3 feet tall. DD own-roots had stronger scent .. that's the reason why I bought 134 own-root roses: for the strongest scent possible. Amazon has SOLUBLE MasterBlend NPK 4-18-38 with super-high iron & trace elements which might help to force DD to bloom.

Straw that's really good to know! Thank you! Yeah we are lacking in heat so far, the fog was dropping snowflakes this morning, no wonder DD isn't happy!

Straw and Diane, that does it. Tamora isn't suited for my climate, so out they go. They gave me one fabulous year, then zilch. Being small, they are getting buried by the roses on either side, so that doesn't help. I'm actually glad to get them off my mind and have 2 more spaces for new roses.

Joey, you would be surprised how often I think of you. When I feel defeated by my weather, I remember you (and Carol and Cynthia among others) are battling weather to grow roses, too. I just came inside for a cup of tea and to sit by the fire until the rain and wind storm passes. I've already put my space heaters away until next fall. The Californians among us are probably amused, but this is gardening in the north.

Besides freezing cold, like last year we had a snow storm in Mid-May ... I battle lack of sun in my garden. The best spots (reserved for Evelyn and Carding Mill & Dee-lish and Princess Charlene de Monaco) get 6 hours of sun, the rest of my roses get 4 to 3 hours of sun. It doesn't matter since I grow roses for scent alone, rather than a massive display of blooms. If I want massive display of blooms, I go to rose parks where they have workers standing there watering roses full-time.

I'm very lazy in watering and dead-heading, I don't see myself watering over 100 roses plus dead-heading. Growing roses in partial shade is about quality, rather than quantity. Most of my roses are grown next to the garage and house for winter-protection & I don't see them. So a few blooms to sniff is fine with me. My logic of getting rid of no-scent roses: silk-flowers last forever in the vase, and they don't shatter and make a big mess on the counter either.

Straw - I had to laugh bc I absolutely love loved love scepterd isle scent ! In fact I can recall the smell as clear as if I just smelled it . I love that rose and it’s so funny how our noses work so different . It is an unusual scent but I find it absolutely hauntingly beautiful.

I could live without :

plum perfume - husband loves it and that’s why we have it but I don’t love it .

mother of pearl: blooms a ton and is really beautiful but no scent and for that I fault it .

I know I have others I don’t love but these in particular when I walk by , get the side eye .

Lilyfinch: Looking back, it was my pH 9 tap-water that messed up Scepter'd Isle scent during hot summer. Fabulous Old rose scent doesn't show up unless pH is neutral to acidic, myrrh itself is stinky. Like Bolero is stinky rotten melon with my pH 9 tap-water and pH 8 horse manure, versus rose park's Bolero is exquisite perfume with their neutral soil pH. I bought St. Cecelia as own-root and its myrrh scent is way better than Scepter'd Isle, plus blooms last much longer. Scepter'd Isle blew fast in the vase, and my allergy get worse with exposed stamens.

Lilyfinch, lack of scent is why I don’t have Mother of Pearl, even though she is SO beautiful.

Hmmm... I don’t think I could ever get rid of them but if they died I wouldn’t be devastated: Plum Perfect-even though last year it finally developed a slight fragrance it still doesn’t make my heart zip. JFK-while it’s fragrance is top notch I’m finding hybrid teas don’t even make my heart beat, let alone zip!

Straw and tina , mother of pearl just looks like it should be fragrant, and that’s what makes it hard ! Some roses I am ok with no fragrance, but that one , it just really lets you down !

Tina my plum perfect is also just eh in the fragrance department but I do love the rose . And most hybrid teas don’t work for me either . Do you have roberto cappucci ? That is my favorite hybrid tea

Queen Elizabeth - I regret buying mine 😑

Lilyfinch, I don’t. Do you think it‘s a must have? Know who has it?

RaeAnna, why? That one has been on my maybe list....

Straw, I love St. Cecilia so much, I bought a second one. The scent and the bloom look like they belong together. To me, she is one of those ultra feminine roses.

Lilyfinch, I agree Mother of Pearl looks as though she ought to be fragrant, but mine is a big, healthy bush, so she stays I'm always sticking my nose in a bloom because I forget, no scent.

Roberto Cappucci is a favorite, but this unusual no snow winter was hard on him. Lost a big portion. He's growing back. The Lavender Crush from your TN garden is finally showing some enthusiasm. He has stayed the same little guy since he arrived, but this year, he's found his mojo. I'm excited to see him grow and bloom.

Flowers you'd probably be surprised how often I think of you too, seeing your lovely pictures and posts on instagram is really inspiring knowing that you are in a cold zone too and yet you have such a lovely garden!

@oursteelers 8B PNW

Queen Elizabeth is reputed to be a stingy bloomer.

Cupcake (stingy, don't like the color), Hattie Burton, Moonlight Romantica, Milwaukee's Calatrava, and (I'll get flack for this) Earth Angel. EA's blooms are beautiful but she throws weirdly long canes, has a lot of winter dieback, and doesn't bloom often enough for my liking.

Lilyfinch - I got rid of my Mother of Pearl for the same reason. It would bloom like crazy...but no fragrance...that was when I was starting to realize that fragrance is where it's at for me. :)

Straw - I'm surprised that you can keep your roses so healthy with so little sun. But, you made it work by experimenting and figuring things out. And your roses are beautiful...both leaves and flowers. :)

Aaron: What are the qualities in Moonlight Romantica that you don't like? Thanks for any info. I thought about buying it for the vigor, too many rabbits here that devour short roses. Agree with you on weird long cane shooting out out a round bush, saw that with Cream Veranda in a pot for $5 at HomeDepot .. sniffed that and it was odd fruity for me. No regrets not buying, I am spoiled by Marie Pavie's perfect round bush.

Carol: Thank you. My roses are healthy thanks to alkaline clay. In my last house with acidic black clay and FULL SUN, roses were blackspot-fest & wimpy. In my present house of alkaline black clay & very shady garden, leaves and blooms are pale but healthy.

I find that at alkaline pH, roses bloom well if given alfalfa meal & sulfate of potash & SOLUBLE fertilizer.

I put too much garden lime in the planting hole of band-size-Marie-Pavie, and leaves turn pale, but it pumped out 5 buds (fertilized with alfalfa meal & soluble fertilizer). In contrast, another bigger-gallon-Marie-Pavie planted MG-potting soil, fertilized with MG-soluble for roses refused to bloom for months even with dark-green leaves. The pot was too acidic with accumulated rain-water. Click on below chart to see all the major nutrients are less available at pH below 5, and rain-water here pH is 4.5 (same with the East Coast):

Below is a map of USA showing the pH of rain:

Always fascinating!