My second favorite in bouquet is Pink Peace, smells like butter-cream frosting with a floral base. YUM! The color is vibrant since I mulched with horse manure, it blooms well with my alkaline water, pH 8.

Strawberryhill,

What is the name of the two roses to the left of your pink peace? They are lovely too.

Lynn

Hi Lynn: Apricot-pink is Liv Tyler, big producer in alkaline clay, vigorous as own-root, looks very good at 95 F, no frying, no fading.

Light-pink is Sonia Rykiel, weak necks, but blooms well in alkaline clay, it's a deep-cup with many petals, blooms last long in the vase. Won't fry in heat, but needs calcium & potassium for stronger neck. It's a water-hog but gives 4 times more blooms than Frederic Mistral.

White inside is Bolero Floribunda. No frying, no fading in recent 95 F either. Abundant blooms in alkaline clay. It's planted next to a tree, so it must be drought-tolerant to produce that many. Red is Firefighter, my biggest producer, can easily make a dozen long-stem gift.

Those photos are lovely.

I wish I could grow Annie but the plant I have hasn't really grown and I don't think she likes my chilly summer fog.

Diane

Hi Diane: Last year in late cold fall, very weak sun, I put Annie in 3 hours of morning sun ... lots of gloomy rainy weather. Annie doubled in size big enough to chop her into half to give cuttings away. She roots better with acidic rain water, pH 5.6. She did well since I put used lemons to lower my tap water (pH 8).

Recently I gave her soluble gypsum (22% calcium, and 17% sulfur). She shot up immediately. The calcium part helps with root-growth, and the sulfur helps with alkalinity.

Annie has wimpy root, best to spoon-feed her with all trace-elements. Lilly Miller Rose food has NPK 5-8-4, with 4% calcium, 4% sulfur, boron, iron, manganese, and zinc ... trace elements that are made deficient by alkaline tap water. The sulfur part is important, since plants deficient in sulfur become yellowish with poor growth.

I used the wrong Lily Miller for Annie, with NPK 12-5-4, with sulfur for acid-plants ... but her roots became 2-gallon, so I'm pretty sure she grows best when it's slightly acidic. This Lilly Miller with all trace elements helped my fruit trees tremendously, with essential boron for fruit production. I got a broken peach branch from too much fruits. I have the most fruits in my cherry tree in over a decade.

I wrote a comparison between Rose Tone and Lilly Miller, see link below why Lilly Miller is better for alkaline conditions ... contains a link where one can find which fertilizer has the most slow-released nitrogen ... Lilly Miller is 1/2 slow-released nitrogen with chicken-manure, thus only need once a year in spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: Comparing fertilizers for Roses

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 0:08

Strawberry, your bouquets are just luscious, as usual--I love the subtle coloring of Annie, and I appreciate all the thoughtful research you do. I just wanted to mention that over the years, I've used so many different fertilizers I've lost count, and they've all helped the roses to a degree. But in my alkaline desert soil, the hands down winners in the fertilizer sweepstakes are Rose Tone and Plant Tone. I have some roses that were complete dogs until I used those two--there was a total turnaround in bloom production and new growth. The good bloomers also got way better. I'm so sold on the "Tones" that I order it in quantity on Amazon because It's so hard to get around here, and only available in the little bags if you can find it. For me, whatever works is what I'm going to use. Diane

Hi Diane: I agree with you completely that no formula fits all, we use whatever is best for our soil/climate, which are different from each other. I forget to put my motto on top "I speak for myself only."

A soil test helps. A fruit grower reported that her crop increased substantially with the addition of boron, which a soil-test recommends. I used 10-10-10 fertilizer in my fruit trees, blah results. But when I use ACID Lilly Miller with trace elements (boron & iron & manganese & others), amazing result.

My soil is rock-hard alkaline clay, tested most deficient in phosphorus .... and bone meal doesn't work at my pH 7.7 level. For my heavy clay, soluble fertilizer with trace elements works best. The soluble MiracleGro Bloom Booster NPK 10-52-10 has boron & more iron, whereas the regular soluble MiracleGro doesn't.

I used the Bloom Booster on Stephen Big Purple, bought as a tiny band mid-April, it's on its 2nd flush, with 7 fat buds.

Using the right fertilizer helps. My 1st Annie last year in a pot refused to grow with horse manure, so I scraped off the alkaline manure, and put Acid Lilly Miller ... gang-buster blooming. I got sick of pinching off 10+ buds a day, so I moved her to 3 hours of morning sun, less blooms, but the root ball became solid 2-gallon size, with used lemons to lower my alkaline tap water.

My 2nd Annie in a pot this year ... I got lazy I put Cocoa mulch on top, pH 5.8, NPK 3-1-4, plus a bit of granular gypsum. I watered her with my hard-well tap water, pH 8. After 3 months I planted her in the ground yesterday, the root ball crumbled on me, wimpy like alfalfa sprouts.

For $20, EarthCo gives the basics: soil pH, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter. For $30, EarthCo. gives the basics, plus trace elements levels: boron, iron, manganese, etc. See link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: On-line soil test at EarthCo.

Diane, I don't know how long your rose has been there, but 3-4 years is not unreasonable for a climber, especially one like this that needs to have the buds picked off to make it grow instead of flower. Unless it is actually growing backwards there is hope.

(But if you ever decide to give up on it, I could offer it a home. Mine died and I would love to replace it.)

Rosefolly

I forget to inform Diane (fogrose) that Annie blooms decent in partial shade (4 hours of morning sun then shift to 3 hours in late fall). My 2nd Annie in partial shade: I pinched off 10 buds for 1st flush, and pinched off 12+ buds for 2nd flush ... that's from a wimpy root.

My 1st Annie last year had aggressive growth with Acid Lilly Miller NPK 12-5-4, but the nitrogen was too high, so it didn't bloom when I moved to partial shade. Keeping nitrogen low, giving extra potassium, calcium and phosphorus helps with blooming in partial shade.

Below are the blooms I picked during our heat wave above 90 degrees. The best for bouquets are Liv Tyler (salmon pink), Golden Celebration and William Shakespeare 2000 (raspberry purple) ... the light pinks one smell good, but they fade in full sun.

Lovely bouquets, Teresa, and the last one is spectacular. I'm going to try the Lily Miller on my Annie Laurie McDowell, which is not growing nearly as vigorously as I'd like it to.

Ingrid

Oh My these blooms are all gorgeous---

I think it is amazing how much research you all put into your rose food.----the research sure has paid off with all these beautiful blooms.

My gardens are not what they used to be ( but then neither am I)--LOL Thanks for sharing all these beautiful roses--it is wonderful to be able to visit the Forum and see all this beauty

Florence

Hi Florence: Thank you, your kind words grace this forum more than my bouquets ... I love your fun and gracious spirit!

Chicagoland weather can drop 20 degrees in a few days. Here's a bouquet picked today, after rain and in cool temp. of 70 degrees. The leader in biggest bloom is orange Sweet Promised, mulched with cocoa mulch, plus horse manure, plus Lilly Miller for rose NPK 5-8-4 (with boron, iron & other trace elements).

Second biggest is Evelyn (peachy pink), mulched with cocoa mulch NPK 3-1-4 with trace elements, then horse manure on top. Frederic Mistral is the pink stiff petals, lousy result with tomato spike NPK 8-16-8. WS 2000, deep raspberry has horse manure (pH 7.5) plus sulfur, smaller bloom.

I love your bouquets Straw.
I am hoping to get Annie Laurie McDowell this winter.
I hope she likes my garden and looks as good as yours.
Daisy

Hi Daisy: I love your garden too, always enjoy all the pics. you posted. For folks here, Lilly Miller fertilizer at NPK 5-8-4 for roses with 48% slow-released nitrogen, plus all trace elements is sold 10 lbs. for $10 at Home Depot. It has ammonium phosphate, the readily available phosphorus.

Epsoma Rose Tone with NPK 4-3-2 with 65% slow-released nitrogen is sold 20 lbs. for $21 at Walmart. However, the phosphorus comes from bone meal, which can't be utilized at pH above 7.

I repost the link comparing the two fertilizers in the English Roses Forum. Below is a bush-shot of Annie before her 2nd flush:

Here is a link that might be useful: Comparing fertilizers for Roses

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sun, Jul 28, 13 at 21:59

Hi again, straw. Such yummy bouquets! They look good enough to eat. I wish I had so many lush roses after our month long heat wave (up to 113 degrees out here). But it's ending and the roses look better already. I just wanted to mention that Plant Tone, which I like just as well as Rose Tone, is available on Amazon for $34.99 for 40 pounds, and there is no shipping charge (Amazon doesn't charge shipping on qualifying orders over $25). I don't think they make much on this one, given how much it must cost to ship a 40 pound bag! The Rose Tone was $23.99 for 20 pounds so I switched to Plant Tone. It only took a few days for the package to arrive. I thought I'd mention this for those who have trouble finding the Tones or any other fertilizer, for that matter. Diane nana

Thank you, Diane, for the info. to save us money, much appreciated.

Strawberryhill, your bouquets are wonderful. Here's a vase pic of Brilliant Pink Iceberg, Mme Pierre Oger and a Hybrid Perpetual.

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Marchesa Boccella, Lavender Lassie and Mme Pierre Oger

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Hi Krista: Your bouquets made my day. Thank you! They look like paintings that lift my spirit. I love Jacques Cartier with the button-hole. I enjoy your pics. very much.

My sister in Southern CA informed me that a contagious disease wiped out her garden, including Annie L. McDowell. I think it's downy mildew. She lives near the coast. My heavy clay retains salt well, so I keep track of salt-index of fertilizers. CA dry climate with saline water is worse, that can shoot up one's blood pressure, plus wreck havoc on plants.

I put too much Jobes organic fertilizer NPK 2-7-4 (bone meal, sulfate of potash, etc) into the planting hole of Gruss an Teplitz. It broke out in mildew instantly. So I put soluble gypsum on Gruss. That took away 80% of the mildew, amazing. Gypsum is used to de-salt saline soil or water.

Gypsum salt-index is 8, so I gave Gruss "banana water" made by soaking chopped up banana peels NPK 0-3-42, very high in potassium and no salt. I let it soak for a few days, and watered Gruss with that. That helped!

My husband is a marathon runner .. I don't run, but read his running magazines. In one study, volunteers were divided into 3 groups: fed low-salt diet, and low-potassium, fed high-salt diet, and high-potassium with lots of bananas, and a control group.

Surprisingly, the group with high-salt and high-potassium had better blood-pressure than the group with low-salt and low-potassium diet. That's why they always feed runners bananas after the race ....

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Jul 29, 13 at 12:45

Hi Strawb, Hope I'm not too late to the party. Your roses are to die for. Keep the pics coming. I'm loving them.
Jeannie