I ordered my roses last year from Chamblee's and they come in gallon pots. Thus, I left them sit for a month or so before planting. I love Austin roses.

*LOL* Patti. I hear ya sister! Your new home would look lovely with LOTS of roses.

Edna

Patti, I ordered three directly from DA last year in the heat of July. I planted, watered and ignored them until late fall when I finally got around to mulching them. In between there they suffered an eternal drought, grasshopper invasion, June bugs and chicken scratching....they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. They came bare root. So soak them for a couple hours and plant away. If you need to move them later in the season just wait until evening or when it's not quite as hot as late July.

Which ones are you going to get?!

MeMo

Patti,

Ah, join the madness!

When I started my landscaping project, I knew I had to purchase bareroots in January (for California), but they wouldn't go in the ground until April. As ALL landscaping projects go, it wasn't until late July before they got planted. I potted them up in 3 to 5 gallon pots (whatever I could find) and treated them as container plants until July. They weren't terribly happy in those crowded conditions (50 potted roses crammed on the patio - the only place not getting dug up), but they did fabulously later that fall.

And the bareroots from DA were just terrific - huge specimens that were very healthy. Even if you can't pot them up right away, you can leave them soaking in water for a few days. Confession: when I first started growing roses, I'd forgotten some bareroots that I'd left in a bucket of water. Had them soaking for a month. And they did just fine.

Now. What are you getting!?!

Anne

Which ones am I getting? Which ones am I going to get?

I DON'T KNOW!!!! I CAN'T DECIDE!!!!(whimper)

I have managed to order 3 Wm Shakespeare 2000s. This seemed the absolute best red rose for my conditions.

I'm just having the worst time trying to figure out what else would do well here in windy zone 5, so hardiness is very important. So is fragrance. (and my DD says not too many pink ones!)
So far I THINK I've decided to get these three:
'Sharifa Asma'(pale pink)
'Winchester Cathedral'(white)
'Abraham Darby' (apricot/yellow)

I'm trying not to go too crazy, so 2 more should be enough for now. Some other possibles I'm considering are:
'Evelyn'
'Graham Thomas'
'Eglantyne'
'Carding Mill'
'Heritage' (not sure if I like the cup shape of this one)
'Mary Rose'
'The Mayflower'
and
'Charlotte'
OR
'Crocus Rose'

All of the roses will be planted here and there around my perennial garden, not in a rose garden.

I've read that for zone 5, I should get grafted roses because the own root just take too long to get going and aren't as hardy. But I've also heard that grafted roses can carry some kind disease (have forgotten the name) so the advice was to get own root. So I don't know which is better. I'll probably end up with some of each! I know my Wm Shakes2000's are grafted.

Thank you Anne, Memo and Debbie, it's good to know that you all had different circumstances and yet the roses did well.(Debbie, There was a lot of good info on the Chamblee's site!)

Ednofeffa! You're supposed to be prying the catalog from my hands, not telling me I need LOTS!!!

So do you all have some favorite Austins?

PattiOh

I have a Wm S. 2000. Johnny claims it is NOT red, but wouldn't let me pull it up either. (He had wanted a red rose and I tend to order pink roses, I thought I was getting one he would like.) Anyway, it smells terrific, I'm glad I kept it. It has had blackspot in damp years, but not consistently. I don't spray roses ever for anything. If they die, I can find a new plant to torture. Wm S 2000 has been cut back once and babied due to a bad outbreak of the dreaded blackspot in the past four or five years, but otherwise has done very well. Now, it is hanging over the fence, which is 4' tall. Passers by always comment on the scent. It blooms, for me, most heavily in the spring and fall (until heavy frost) and sparsely during the summer.

'Sharifa Asma' seems to have a lot of admirers.

I've grown a few other DA's, but eventually decided to give them to a friend just because I'm picky and not willing to devote much time to roses. She has had great success with all of them.

'Brother Cadfael' took too long to get going, and tends to ball in our humidity. However, the flowers are huge and gorgeous and the plant in general is lovely in my friend E's garden. The leaves look especially nice.

I keep threatening to steal back 'Noble Antony' and 'Scepter'd Isle', neither bush is as pretty as 'Bro C', but the flowers can be amazing in good seasons.

I had 'Snow Goose' also, which was gorgeous in bloom with a pink clematis. It had a delicate scent and rebloomed, but all those hundreds of tiny flowers turned icky brown and needed to be trimmed off so the new flowers could look nice. Way too much work. J was upset when I yanked it up and that's the main reason he kept me from pulling up the "not red" Wm S 2000. ; )

My mom has some DA rose in a creamy color. Maybe 'Crocus Rose'? I'll have to ask.

I've orderd other roses from DA too and had good results. I've even kept some of them. ; )

Do I have a favorite, you ask? oh yes! All of them!

You've started with some great choices.

BTW, Hydrangeas do well also in zone 5. Paul James said so just today on his show (back on HGTV *yahoo*)

Edna the enabler

I have Evelyn and absolutely love the color and fragrance. It is a huge tall bush here, and last year I tried cutting it off to see if it would bloom shorter, to no avail. This year I thinned and tied. The year I tried pegging it all fell over. Anyway, it is not prolific for me, but blooms fairly continuously. The roses can be several colors, ranging from pink to more yellow, but when I get the ones colored like Bryce Canyon I am entranced.

Kent, I just put Bro Cadfael on my list, but after you said it balls I'm reconsidering. We're not exactly dry around here. I love Jude the Obscure, but it balls in the rain too, so that's out. Wm S 2000 may not be "red" but I think he'll be easier on the eyes in combination with other flowers.

Debbie, I've read a lot about Evelyn. She is gorgeous and she does have a pretty big fan club, inspite of the growing "problems" you described. Not hardy enough for my area, unfortunatley. :-(

Edna the E, don't get me started on Paul"How do you like this close-up of my nose hairs?"James. I love hydrangeas. I have one and will buy more. But if they bloom on old wood you can lose the flowers to winter die back. So I'm going to select the kinds that bloom on new wood (or old and new on the same plant).

I almost forgot to ask you folks about thorns. Initially I had Gertrude Jekyll on my list, but took her off because I read that her thorns were quite nasty. I hope this isn't true of the other roses on my list. Is it?

Thanks for your responses.
PattiOH

Oh Patii, another one bitten by the Austin bug. My favorites of my Austins are:

Graham Thomas (yellow)
Pat Austin (orange/yellow)
Evelen (peach)
Abraham (pink/yellow/peach) A MUST HAVE

Hi Patti. Nice to see the rose bug has bitten once again.;) I heart roses and grow several varieties, mainly HTs with some antiques. I do grow Sharifa Asma, and adore the lovely shell pink blooms that smell heavenly! I've had Sharifa for one year so I have no idea what type of bush she eventually will make.

Here is a link to the "Antique Roses Forum" on Garden Web. Several members live in your zone. They would be able to give you some good rose recommendations specific to your zone.

Good luck in your selections. I am looking forward to seeing what you go with.

Becky

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique Roses Forum

Thanks Becky, the Antique Roses Forum is a great place for info! I'm glad that you like Sharifa too!

Well, the deed is done. I just put in my order to David Austin. I can't believe how many hours/days I've been agonizing over this. I had to order before I spent ANOTHER week trying to make choices.
Thanks all for your responses.
Patti/Pat_Tea I have two from your list. Hope I like them too!
Here's what I ordered:

Abraham Darby (apricot/yellow)
Graham Thomas (yellow)
Sharifa Asma (pale pink)
Crocus Rose (soft apricot, pales to cream)
The Mayflower (rose pink)
(and the 3 reddish WmShakespeare 2000s ordered previously)

I knew before I posted this that Lady Emma Hamilton was going to be impossible to get,
but she is definitely on my list for next year.
So if you think there are any other roses that should go on the 2008 list, do tell!

FREE:
When I ordered my D.Austin catalog a few weeks ago, it came with a special offer. If four or more roses were purchased before Feb.28th, they would offer another rose of my choice free. Since the roses are about $20 each, that was a nice deal! So order your catalog!

PattiOh

Patti, I hope I'm not too late for you to add another one to your order. Nobody here seemed to mention Jude The Obscure and this one is hands down my best rose, Austin or no Austin. You need this one. Trust me.

BTW Kent, Jonhny is right that WS2000 is not red - maybe a very strong hot fuschia, but definitely not red in my garden.

Austins do not do exceedingly well in my hot, dry Mediterranean summers and tend to look their best in Spring. All in all, Patti, so far you're following the normal route to rose enabling - stumble into the Austin catalogues, then from there proceeding into the true antiques ;-) I still think you need a gallica and an alba or two. They will do very well in your climate and are bullet proof. The Antique Rose forum here at gardenweb is the place to be for these matters :-)

As for the grafted/own root issue, I don't know where you got this information from, but as far as I know, grafted roses are preferred in warmer climates (in Florida I believe specifically on fortuniana rootstock due to the soil characteristics) and colder climates should prefer own root. Main reason being that if the roses suffer a lot of Winter die back due to the cold they can resprout from their roots come Spring. If you have a grafted plant it may resprout from the graft, not from the rose you're trying to grow.

Now, hurry and go ammend your order now! LOL!
Eduarda

Here is a link that might be useful:

"Johnny is right..." Yeah, yeah, like I don't already hear that often enough. ; ) It was the closest to red I was willing to get. I hope you know you are the person I point to when I bring a new rose home. J recognizes your name. (He just passed through and said "told you so.")

PattiO, the Wm S has thorns, certainly, but they aren't all that bad.

Gulp, Kent, I wasn't aware I was so infamous! I try to do my share, but the roses themselves are the real enablers ;-)

Eduarda

Here is a link that might be useful:

I just wanted to add another note about grafted versus own root. I heard, as well, that own root roses were better in colder climates (die back, etc). However, it sounds as though Austins may be the exception to that rule. I have asked for advice about this on the antique rose forum several times, and have been told fairly emphatically that Austins tend to be quite "under-performing" if they are own root, some in particular. Sharifa Asma is one that I was considering and I was advised to go grafted.

Just something else to think about . . . :)

Patti,

Of the ones you have on order, I have Graham Thomas, Abe Darby, and WS2000. GT was a little bit slow to start - lots of long canes, blooms clustered at their ends mostly in spring and fall. I'm hoping some judicious pruning will increase blooming. AD had floppy canes with heavy super fragrant blooms that came pretty continuously throughout the season. And WS2000 was very subdued the first season, though has made up for it in his second season - blooming regularly. I was noticing more pink tones and lighter green leaves. Someone on the rose forum suggested a dose of iron - that did the trick. I got darker crimson blooms almost immediately.

As for thorns, the only two that I know for their vicious thorns (Tamora and Comtes de Champagne) you don't have :-)

Anne

p.s., I agree with Eduarda - that Jude should not be missed. Somewhat slow to get going in my climate, but is definitely worth waiting for.

EDUARDA, Very odd that you would mention Antique Roses.
This afternoon,I took a frigid stroll out to the mailbox (at the end of the driveway). I think half the neighborhood heard me shriek "Ekkk! OH NO!" when I pulled a copy of the Antique Rose Emporium catalog out of the box. Temptation is everywhere! (Love the photo of Will & Chuck, thanks!)
Yes, I mentioned Jude the Obscure myself. I've heard the most glorious praise for this rose and it's scent. Unfortunately it is NOT recommended as hardy for zone 5 by David Austin, AND unlike your lovely part of the world,Eduarda, we get a lot of heavy rain here and Jude balls in the rain. SO he didn't make the first cut. HOWEVER, I strongly suspect that at some point I'll find a place for him close to the house where he'll be protected a bit from the cold and rain.

As to the discussion of own root vs grafed. I agree with you Eduarda about the own root being preferable, but as Cziga said, (thanks C )the advice I received from different cold zone and rose forums was that in the case of Austins, go with the grafted. I wrote to David Austin Roses about it and they said that all of the roses they are selling in the USA are grafted. So I'm going with grafted. The other advice was to bury the bud union 4 inches below the soil surface on the Austins for cold climates.

Anne & Kent, thanks for the very helpful info on WmS2000 and thorns. I'll remember the iron trick, Anne!

Yes, close to the house, that's what I was thinking for Jude. Maybe under some eaves, to protect it a bit from the rains? South facing wall? Under an harbour that grows vines? Under the window of your bedroom, to have its fragrance wafting in the air? A little cuddling and zone pushing? He's such a handsome fellow ;-)

I wasn't aware that DA recommends grafted plants even for cold climates, but they should know better about their plants, of course. On a general note, and other than Austins, the own root thing for cold climates seems to be accepted practise. Anyway, my Austins are all grafted - I imported them from England as bare roots and I think DA there grafts them on r. laxa.

Contrary to some popular belief around this forum, I am NOT in the least affiliated with the ARE, nor am I on their payroll list, LOL! (I wished!)

Now do look for their gallica and alba section and report back to us.
Eduarda

Here is a link that might be useful:

Roses grafted on multiflora generally do better in my climate, especially the Austins. The ones on Dr. Huey do not do as well. I have grown the same rose on different rootstocks (WS2000 was my experiment) and the multiflora grafted rose was twice as vigorous and bloomed more! I guess it depends on your soil and climate so you should check with local rose growers to see what does best where you live. Own-root roses are ok for the more vigorous varieties, it will reduce their size and vigor, but for some Austins they will not thrive.

But I love Austins and grow many different varieties along with my Antique roses. I've got two new ones for this year -- 'Rosemoor' and 'Teasing Georgia', though I got them from Pickering which has my preferred rootstock. That was very restrained of me as I could have ordered a bunch more from DA in Texas, but I would rather wait and get them on a different rootstock (DA uses Dr. Huey which seems better suited for Western gardeners like Texas - California) plus I don't have the room for more roses.