My Ebb Tide from Chamblees bloomed a beautiful clear reddish purple in the spring. The summer blooms were a ugly faded color. The first fall bloom colors are not impressive. They have a whitish tinge on some petals.

I would not purchase it again just because I think there are prettier roses.

My spring purchases there of Nacogdoches and Strike It Rich have bloomed all summer and are really "showing out" now.
Climbing Don Juan did not make it. Graham Thomas has grown but has not bloomed sinced I bought it in spring.

All of my roses had sufficient water, but I think that different roses take the heat differently.

Ah, Ruth, wish I had known you were going - I would have met you there!

Weldon has Quietness, so maybe he'll speak up - when I saw it last year at his place it looked gorgeous.

The last time I was there the owner's son was wandering around and I picked his brain a bit on how certain roses would do here.

Lin

Lin, next time.
This trip was spur of the moment.
I wanted to go last week end, but we were camping,
and we're busy the next two weekends.
So when I saw they were havings tours Friday & Saturday, I was afraid they would sell out of the two I wanted.
Two different employees recommended Francis Dubreuil.
It was blooming and I loved the color and fragrance.
Did the son give you any good advise?

I was looking at some Buck roses, and he did steer me to some rather than others. He also gave me some tips on how to amend my sandy soil for the roses (he recommends expanded shale for clay, so you might want to make sure you have that).

jealous! I don't know how any of these do, as I am just starting out with roses, but will be curious to see how your Francis dubreill does, it's on my list of "wants."
If you don't mind sharing, what tip did he give you on amending your sandy soil? LOL, I had clay down since that is all I have ever gardened in until we moved here, now it's more sandy and don't know what to add besides compost.

I'm wondering if the son mentioned any Buck roses. I've grown about a dozen roses hybridized by Dr. Griffith Buck and my favorites are Quietness (new for me this year, but so far very fragrant and healthy), Prairie Sunrise (large, full, fragrant blooms, and very healthy) and Prairie Harvest (beautiful yellow fading to cream, very prolific bloomer and very healthy foliage). I just posted a couple of pictures of Prairie Sunrise on the Texas Gallery.

I've never been to Chamblees and would love to go. How are the roses priced? Can you tour the greenhouses at any time?

Ruth, IMHO you made some great choices! I just got The Prince this spring and really like it, and Sombruiel is a rose I'd like to grow again! I tried to root it from a rose in a bouquet that Shiela brought to the swap last year, but it didn't take.

roselee
Go to the net and surf their site.
Their roses are moderately priced.
I mostly buy the gallon size at $8.95. But they are graduated in price according to size. There is a separate
section that has bargains at around $5.00. These always look pretty healthy. I do not think they would sell a puney rose bush.

The Tyler Rose Festival is going on now and they sell out of a lot of popular ones. They are giving tours every hour today.

And if it is an overnight trip for you, I'll put you up.

I adore Chamblees, was just there 2 weeks ago. Great prices, great roses! A Buck rose that has done extremely well for me is DORCAS. It is a hybrid tea looking pink - right now, it is just covered in blooms. It is next to Sally Holmes and Chuckles, all of them are full of blooms. They are in full all day sun - the bushes themselves are looking great, while the other roses are just trying to get back on their feet after our brutal summer. These 3 are real troopers! I have loved Dorcas for several years - it makes a tall upright bush, well behaved and blooms like mad. I will take it over Quietness any day and I do grow and like Quietness - Dorcas blooms more.

Dublin Bay is an excellent red climber, tho the Don Juan blooms are more velvety looking deep red. DB was another that tolerated the all day sun and blast furnace heat and I highly recommend it. Bright Melody is another Buck that I really like, also Honeysweet. I am trying some of the new ones like Summer Honey, Cinnamon Spice.

Sorry, Ladybugfruit, for the delay in replying.

He told me to amend the whole bed, not just the planting holes. He suggested adding 4" of organic matter (he suggested a landscape mix whose name escapes me, but it was not a national label but rather a local brand). Once you till in the organic matter and plant the roses, then mulch, mulch, mulch - at least 4". I think he said he used shredded leaves and/or shredded tree trimmings (or that may be what I use, lol).

He also said to be sure to check how long any fertilizer you add, will last. He has some organic time-released fertilizer at the store, but if I bought that I'd have to put some plants back . I'm sticking with alfalfa tea and seaweed for the rest of this year.

Hope this helps!

Lin

Thanks Lin!! ohh, the whole bed, that could get expensive! Guess I need to start looking for the neighbors bags of raked leaves soon! I think I remember that roses like more acidy soil. I just cleaned my gutters out last week from our cedar tree needles. There was quite a bit that was already motsly decomposed. Do you think that would be a good addition as organic matter or is that too much acid? I was also thinking of adding the rest into the hole where I am planting my mediterrean palm.
LOL, I know I am in serious trouble when roses start popping up in my dreams. I think I may have become a rose addict!

I probably wouldn't mix stuff like the needles or leaves into the soil (ties up nitrogen as they decompose), but will use them as a mulch and they'll decompose quickly.

I can't afford to do the whole bed either, so I'm going to dig really wide holes and amend them, then let the leaf mulch in between work on the rest of the soil. I like to lay cardboard down first, as it both keeps weeds down and decomposes nicely.

Lin

And I think each of you knows where there is donkey poo.

Ruth, I do have three Quietness and one mini climber, Jeanne La Joi. My price is better than Chamblee's!! I've got a lot of other stuff too. If even in the Keller area, get in touch.

The person that helped me said to use 3 inches of shale and 3 inches of compost in the hole for the rose bush.
Then put about 3 or 4 inches of mulch.
I told him I normally buy the shale/compost mix and he said it's not enough shale.
Roselee, the area I was in is the retail area and I'm sure it's open year round.
The roses are well marked and most were bloomimg so we could see & smell them.
They are very reasonable.
Prices start at $8.95 for a 1 gal. size.
They had some discontinued roses for $5.00, but I didn't look at those.

Ruth, thanks for all the information.

Alameda, I plan to look into Dorcas on your recommendation, but unfortunately Chamblees is not listing it right now. I wonder why? Some roses are listed, but out of stock, but Dorcas is not even on the list of Buck roses.

Evidently they used to carry it since HelpMeFind has Chamblees as one of the sources. I wonder if it was in the discontinued $5.00 bin? :-(

No, they wouldn't discontinue as rose as good as it is. Must be something else going on.

Here is a link that might be useful: About Dorcas on HelpMeFind ...

Many times I have found it is listed as not for sale on the website or in the catalog but they have it at the nursery. If you cant visit, call and ask for Maria and see if she can get it for you.....I dont know if others have had the same experience, but it has been a great rose for me and I want another one - good luck!
Judith

roselee, I don't remember seeing Dorcas.
They show that Quietness and Sombruiel are not available online.
I called before I went to confirm that they have them for sale at their location.
Maybe Dorcus didn't sell well for them.
I asked about Maggie and thay said they used to carry it, but it didn't sell well.
I assume that's the case of the $5.00 dicontinued ones.

Thanks Judith. I'll do that in the morning.

Ruth, amazing that Maggie didn't sell well. BTW, Dorcas has a lot of fans listing it as a favorite on HelpMeFind and Maggie has even more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maggie on HelpMeFind

Ruth, the guy I talked with was really big on expanded shale in clay.

And Carrie, the donkey poo sounds like a good idea - wonder if it still will after a 3 hour drive home with it in the SUV? LOL!!!

They had some of my favorite Buck roses in clearance because they didn't sell including Sunbonnet Sue and Ellen's Joy (for the hips - just gorgeous!). The plants in the clearance area were 2-gallon pots, healthy plants, blooming away - it made me sad that folks didn't want them :(

I guess the great thing about Chamblee's is that you can't really make a bad decision! Ya'll have planted more seeds of roses I want to add!
Sweet donkey doo!! I forgot that you had that as an endless resource Carrie! How wonderful. I am so tempted to take you up on that, if only I could figure out how to keep my dogs from rolling in it! :)

ladybugfruit,
My dog doesn't roll in it. (yet anyway)
I use it mostly in pots or in planting holes but sometimes its spread on top, same as using horse poo.. she sniffs it at first then moves on.

Hey, Erin, they are GOING to roll in something....may as well be good, clean donkey poo.

Lin, what are your favorite Buck roses?
I'll make a list and look at the $5.00 roses next time I go.

I called Chamblees to ask about the Buck rose 'Dorcas'. They said they had discontinued it last year because "the sales weren't there", nor would it be in the $5.00 sales bin because it has been that long since they had it. Oh well ... thanks for the recommendation anyway. Maybe I'll run into it somewhere.

Ruth, sorry for the late reply - I've been out building a new rose bed! Mike B. (from here on Gardenweb) cut down a few trees in the back (some dead dogwoods, a small pine, and a nut tree that had the misfortune of being INSIDE the fence ), cleared out some wayward shrubs, and established a nice sun area for me. I moved a massive beautyberry after admitting that it WAS in the wrong place .

Anyway, most of my little roses were literally strangled by my crinums, but I love my Folksinger and Sunbonnet Sue. I love the color on Winter Sunset, and it seems to be thriving. The dogs have broken off Distant Drums, which I also love, and I seem to have lost my Enchanted Autumn :(, but managed to move the others over to the new bed (and I am forgetting one or two of them).

I had to buy El Catala - it's red with a silvery-white back - don't know how it will perform but it was outstanding, and at $5 for a 2-gallon I was thrilled. I am spending more on the organic amendments going in the holes...

My lesson learned is that 1-gallon roses won't stand up to crinums out here in east Texas.