Oh you'll love Julia Child! Wonderful rose!

When I lived in Winter Haven we had 2 Don Jaun's planted about 6 ft apart next to the car port on a large trellis. They intertwined with each other and made a HUGE display of velvet red blooms. When we lived in Port St Lucie we planted two along a 6 ft chain link fence and let them run up and down that fence. It was beautiful. I might get a couple of Don Jaun's from Jim and see what I can do with them up here. Feed them good and you'll love them. I've heard good things about Julia Child. Try to give it afternoon shade if you can.

Hi Sally, I received an order from K & M Roses two weeks ago (Veterans's Honor, Gold Medal, Pope John Paul II, Louise Estes), they are lovely, healthy plants and are growing well. I am so glad there is a good nursery that grafts onto Fortuniana. Julia Child and Don Juan are good selections for the southeast, as I'm sure you know. I hope you enjoy them for a long time.

Don Juan does great here.

Everyone but me loves Julia Child. Julia was my biggest disappointment this year. I was very surprised when she came down with a bad case of blackspot. Roses are prone to BS in NJ. Since this was her first year and we did have a very rainy summer, I will give her next year. If she does not improve she will be replaced. I am trying to have a sustainable rose garden and she is touted as a very disease resistant rose. After my experience with Julia Child I don't know who/what to believe as far a disease resistance goes.

The only problem I've had with Julia Child is, when own root, she will drop her leaves if the soil gets soggy. If you tend to get extreme rain, a grafted JC is likely a good idea, or at least a raised bed.

My Julia is 2 years old now. She did black spot more last year than this year. This year although she did get some black spot she never defoliated and most of it was pretty much contained at the very bottom. She also bloomed a lot more this year even though she got moved from her pot into the ground. She never dropped a leaf or quit blooming from transfer shock. Once in the ground she bloomed non-stop the rest of the summer. I think she's one that needs a little time to get established to really show her stuff.

Don Juan will love the warm climate of St. Pete, FL. You are in for a treat.

Good luck.

Thanks for giving me some hope Seil. My Julia was a first year own root. She bloomed profusely but then came down with BS and lost most of her leaves. Interestingly, my other disaappointment this year was Cinco De Mayo which shares the lineage of Julia Child. Just goes to show that all gardening is local. Even roses that do well on the next block might not do well for you. Makes sustainable rose gardening a challenge!

Sally, I hope you can keep leaves on your Don Juans in August and early September. I could not. The flowers were to die for but on Fort he did not climb per se - just stood there like a naked tree alongside the arbor, very stiff and thick-caned. Didn't throw any long canes to cross the top of the arbor. I pruned him like Malcolm Manners said in a tiered effect. He still defoliated after July and then deigned to leaf out again in September. I must not have been holding my ears right. I gave up after 3 years.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Hi Sherry- I've always had good luck w/Don Juan and have/had abt. 7-8 of them, until this year, this Sept.-- what with so much rain rain rain most of them developed a canker (?) and within a week or two it just spread up them and girdled the canes and killed them, I have 3 left and the canker is there but not covering the whole cane... they always did drop a lotof leaves in summer , in my no-spray garden... but they are at the back of the beds and shorter roses (Belinda's Dream) hid the bare legs... this is a heart-breaker, I'm going to replace them but am seriously thinking of spraying at least during the summer, and during periods of heavy rain like we had.... I don't know if that would suffice.. maybe someone with more expertise could chime-in.... sally

Yes, Sally the canker! I had some too for the first time ever this year. What's with that? Two of my newly planted roses got it, but none of the older ones.

My Don Juan gets a fair amount of blackspot, but has a quick leaf recovery time so I ignore it.

Here in normally very dry SW Idaho, we've had two years of cold, abnormally damp springs, which resulted in a wave of cane canker for many rose growers. I started a thread about it last spring, and there were some helpful suggestions to combat it. One person, more knowledgeable than I, mentioned the proper spray for this bacterial disease, but I can't remember what it was called. Also, it was noted that it's best not to do much pruning on non-cankered roses when canker is around, and be rigorous about cleaning pruners when going from rose to rose. I had 22 roses affected by canker, but I didn't lose any, though some of them ended up half their normal size. I ignored a few cankered canes, and after the weather warmed, the canker seemed dormant, and the roses affected did ok. I'm a little worried about this spring, so I'll do a lot less pruning and hope for warm, dry weather. Diane

I usually carry a bucket w/alcohol full-strength so I can dip my pruners in it, but must admit I am not really diligent and cut stuff in an area w/o sterilizing...so that maybe caused a problem, when the canker appeared... also I read to spray w/fungicide to reduce canker, but the rain we had was almost constant so I feel spraying at that point would be useless... there was one Don Juan had a wet-looking area on the cane and seemed to be oozing a dark liquid, next day it was girdled and died within the week... these are all big 40 year-old bushes, I also lost maybe 10-12 newer plants, modern roses... my 5 Belinda's Dream did show some lesions but were not girdled and seem to have recovered, but are not robust... also some canes did die back.... I've planted abt. 20 OGRs now, on Fort., and am trying to be more diligent abt. dipping my pruner between cuts.. also I'm just snapping off the dead-heads instead of using the pruner.... this has sure been a wake-up call for me... sally