>I always considered myself to be an adventurous gardener

....but I keep buying the same rose.

There's nothing odd about that. While we all might try plenty of new things, that doesn't mean that the newest is a bit better than the old, tried and true. It's a sign of intelligence to be able to separate the best from merely the newest and least familiar... when the newest, indeed, isn't the best.

>I realise that there is a narrow little pallette of roses I continually select. White, pale pinks, apricots, semi-doubles and singles. My major variation occurs with rose species...but again, I am moved by simple five-ppetalled shapes, with stamens and interesting foliage or heps. Not one red, apart from a Moyessii. Whole groups dismissed out of hand (aarrgh, damask, centifolia).

Nothing odd about that either. Congratulations on finding your favorite colors and forms. Quite an enjoyable journey!

>So, I am forced to conclude that, far from being innovative and creative, despite the sterling suggestions and advice from this very forum, I am in fact, a completely boring (stubborn and opinionated)old git.

That's silly. Surely you know that? Maybe you're just looking for some feedback and support for your personal ways? Well... you're extremely interesting and your gardening comments extremely wise and experienced, Campanula. And while you know your own preferences, you don't try to force anyone else to have preferences that are the same as yours. Your contributions are always constructive too. You ARE much appreciated!

Now, the thing to do is to worry about something REALLY important... like when I should start worrying again about a drought? We are ahead on rainfall for the year thus far, but worry about getting plants through droughts tend to be my speciality. All our plants are doing splendidly now, but who knows for the fall and winter???

Sterling suggestions are the best guesses someone else can make, but mostly they are based either on their own individual experiences and preferences or are based on someone else's that they've read or heard about--not your own. You are your own best advisor when it comes to knowing what you like. And there's nothing odd or wrong with finding out again and again that you like the same particular plants in comparison with umpteen different alternatives.

Best wishes,
Mary

P.S. By the way, Maggie is the next rose you can try to reaffirm your preferences for other roses. It's listed as red, but it's really not red. It starts out as a nice rosy deep pink and ages to a nice rosy deep purple. It goes nicely into a vase with any white, pink, pale salmon, or pale yellow with a blush of pink on the edges (like Mrs. Dudley Cross). Maggie is highly disease resistant too. :))

Youth is finding out what you like; maturity is for living fully with the results of one's youthful experimentation. Not that the curious gardener ever stops trying new plants, but she knows that one can't grow everything, and doesn't attempt to, but deeply enjoys the plants that she has discovered to be for her the most beautiful and interesting.

Glad to see you back campanula!
and why cant white be innovative?:)

Life is short. Get what you like and enjoy it! And if you get something you don't like, get rid of it guilt free.

I do the same thing! LOL For the most part, all my roses are either white, pale pink, soft pink or dark pink, with a few that turn puple.

It might be a monster in your area, but Celsiana has done so well in my garden, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes low maintenance, soft pink roses. It's got a wonderful fragrance and looks great with my purple (turns pink as it gets older) bee balm. Also works great with the Hidcote lavender.

Another possibility, the lovely Baby Tausendchon (I think I spelled that right) which I got last year, from Rogue Valley Roses. She's a cutie :)

{{gwi:296805}}

grow what you like. :)

Mary, thank you for sweetly pointing out my tendency to disappear up my own bottom. Not fishing though I was a little baffled by my resistance to so many varieties of rose. Especially annoying because I enjoy observing my plants and learning as much as possible from them. Of course, if you limit your choices, you also limit your knowledge. I have decided to jump on Melissa's kind explanation and claim wisdom and experience - I certainly know enough about my own lazy tendencies to know that any rose I grow must look good with weeds. Also, there is no formality or shape at my allotment - just a long strip of land, filled with many timber supports for beans, tomatoes, squash, fruit and vegetable nets and so on. Roses have to have a definate presence en masse, flopping and rampaging with abandon. Much as I love the insane and subtle colours of roses such as Grey Dawn, Iris Webb, Belle Epoque, Julia's rose, none of these temperamental beauties would stand a chance in the hurly-burly of an allotment. I don't do design unless I get paid for it but I do know there are certain guiding principles based on place, vernacular and style. Without fully articulating why I have been drawn to certain roses, I can just about detect an underlying vision for the whole plot, loosely based on wildness, abundance and a certain amount of make-do, bodging and chaos. A large moyessii holds its own rather better than the dainty Mrs Oakley Fisher currently being mugged by Japanese anemones.Even so, I have jumped out of my comfort zone and finally ordered Hot Chocolate (after years of dithering)-it can live in a pot on the sidewalk if it looks too silly at the allotment.

Hi Campanula,

>Mary, thank you for sweetly pointing out my tendency to disappear up my own bottom.

A little introspection is a good thing and those who never indulge are missing out on some good insights. Apologies! I didn't mean what I wrote exactly in the way it might have sounded.

>I have decided to jump on Melissa's kind explanation and claim wisdom and experience - I certainly know enough about my own lazy tendencies to know that any rose I grow must look good with weeds.

Melissa is certainly right.

And I like weeds too. We pulled a huge one growing right next to General Gallieni earlier today. I kept looking at it, thinking that it was a good-looking weed, so did we really need to pull it? But it was clearly steeling lots of nutrition from the rose; we almost had to pull up the rose to get the weed up. Anyway, I'll bet that if we looked up that weed in our book on native flowering species of North Carolina it would be one of those natives I'd really enjoy having somewhere.

>Roses have to have a definate presence en masse, flopping and rampaging with abandon.

I think our tastes are fairly similar so I know exactly what you mean, I think.

>I can just about detect an underlying vision for the whole plot, loosely based on wildness, abundance and a certain amount of make-do, bodging and chaos.

I've purchased some landscaping books and have noticed over and over how drawn I am to landscapes like this. What most people consider well-balanced symmetrical perfection seems too unnatural to me to be the ultimate in beauty.

>Even so, I have jumped out of my comfort zone and finally ordered Hot Chocolate (after years of dithering)-it can live in a pot on the sidewalk if it looks too silly at the allotment.

We've not tried that one but it looks exciting! Good luck on it!

Oh, oh... I just heard your Hot Chocolate asking for another rose friend to sort of repeat some of its colorings a bit farther along in the plot. I hear Hot Chocolate right now, saying that it wants you to plant Cinco de Mayo, ownroot if you can find it there. Just to keep Hot Chocolate company. Or maybe just because Hot Chocolate likes its developer? Anyway, we have tried Cinco de Mayo, and both of us loved it. It might have been a bit thornier than average, but that's the only negative that I know of. We lost it due to RRD and I still miss it, happy party rose that it is. Healthy as you could ever wish for; no spot of anything anywhere at any time. Beautiful, beautiful foliage, dark green with new growth edged in red for many weeks. It grew to about 4.5 feet here in one season, growing extraordinarily rapidly from a plant in April so tiny to begin with that its foliage could have fit into a teacup (though it had its roots in a gallon-sized container). The fragrance is at least moderate 90% of the time and it is WONDERFUL. When my husband brought a single cutting into the house, that wonderful scent from a single bloom wafted across the room.

I hope you have a great time with whatever you end up deciding on!

Best wishes,
Mary

oooh yes, Cinco de Mayo - what a fabulous looking rose. Good Grief, Mary, reading of your terrible trials with RRD, I have to admire your generous spirit in continuing to show such enthusiasm and encouragement to other rosy types - I suspect I would still be having the mother of all sulks if I had to deal with such losses. You are a class act, my dear, and we will be looking forward to your garden 2.0.
ornamental grasses - now I really like a lot of these because they have such movement. For a good few years, I have been experimenting with tall perennials and grasses, even some of the wilder roses, grown together. As well as the wonderful miscanthus, there are a few stipas (tenuissima, barbata and gigantea) which I wouldn't be without. Molinia is a new one for me this year, growing with oregano and tritonia. Initially, I was going for a prairie style with echinacea, rudbeckia, lythrum but I couldn't hold onto enough moisture, so I changed the perennials to gauras, scabious, salvias, verbascums, mallows. I also grow two types of callirhoe (are these native to your area?)There is a terrific range of colours in grasses, from golden (millium effusum) to pale blue (elymus magellanica). On the down side, they do seed everywhere - the hardest thing is retaining distinct clumps...although I could let it run amok and call it a meadow??
Anyway, you are definately a gardener first and a rose-lover second. Instead of losses, these missing roses are really an opportunity. Good Luck with your lovely hilly garden.