Just gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous !! May I ask how old are the roses in your garden ? I finally planted most of my roses and they are all babies . I feel like the little plants will take forever to grow up !! Tho I know it won't be that long ... I never had the chance to see my gardens get that lush and full so I am praying we can stay long enough to see ! You have done an amazing job !

..stunning roses, especially that Peggy Martin.... I've got Blush Noisette... one of my favourites too...

Thank you both very much for the compliment.

Lilyfinch I don't remember when I planted most of my roses. I have 23 antique roses and some knockouts, but the oldest I have is Mrs BR Cant which I planted 8 years ago in the spring, I can't remember if Lamarque and Climbing Pinkie were planted the same year or the next. Once I planted my first 2-3 roses I was addicted and bought usually 3-4 roses every year, I haven't planted any new ones in the past 3 years as I just don't have the time to spend in my garden like I did. I have found my climate here (can't speak for anywhere else as this is the only place I have ever gardened before, but Noisettes (which originated here in Charleston), regular tea roses, China roses and hybrid musk roses tend to thrive quite well and can get quite large fairly quickly for some. Peggy Martin (I did a post on the antique rose forum about this fantastic rose) is a found rose so I don't know what background she has but she seriously thrives on neglect and I do very very little to her. She is believe it or not the youngest rose I have! I have a lot of heavy clay soil so working with it is back breaking and slow which is why I haven't added anymore roses as of recently. I have some roses that grow quicker than others and in my garden here are some of my slow growers; Madame Alfred Carrier is one that is always touch and go, Mrs Dudley Cross, Maggie (I threaten to dig her up every year but she is looking for promising this year so we shall see), Cornelia (another touch and go rose that I have threatened to shovel prune but keep giving her a chance and she too looks better this spring)...While Lamarque, The Charlestonian, Peggy Martin, Belinda (not to be confused with Belinda's Dream), Duchesse de Brabant are among the fastest growing then there's Mrs BR Cant who hardly did a thing the first three years and then took off into one monster of a rose. The rest seem to grow at a fairly normal rate. I had to laugh a bit at your saying hoping to stay long enough, I have wanted to move to a bigger home for awhile but my garden keeps me from doing so, I just can't leave her and anytime I tell someone we were thinking of moving they would gasp and say you can't leave your garden what about all the hard work you have done. My daughter laughes at me because in the winter I'm all about moving, that is till spring comes and I'm like I can never leave. Haha I think she right! But I would say in general it will take about 4 years to have them really start filling out again though it just all depends really in end on a particular rose. ;) So I didn't intend for this to be so long lol, but I hope that helps you some. What roses did you plant if you don't mind my asking? I would love to know!

All the best of luck and happy gardening to you!~Meghan

Actually that would be off wise, I guess I would have bought more than that a year. I had to of bought more than that a year, I must have bought some in the fall as well as spring. I really can't remember, all I know is I planted my first one exactly a year after I moved in and that was 9 years ago and the last I actually planted was Peggy Martin.

Lovely! They all look healthy and happy. On a whim I looked up Peggy Martin and it looks like it will be hardy for me . . . you are quite an enabler!

Is Peggy Martin one for the North too?

I looked her up on the Antique Rose Emporium which is where I bought her and it says she can take up to zone 5....however i don't know how she would behave up north that far, your climate is worlds different than mine, I have mild winters and hot humid summers and I don't know that even though she can survive that far north if she would react the same. She is the toughest rose I have for sure hands down, so who knows, she may survive and flourish up north too. It seems that even though it says a rose can grow in a certain zone that it doesn't always mean they like the conditions. If you can maybe find someone on either this forum or another or maybe look her name up and see if you find a blog from a northern gardener who grows her and see how she does. That's what I always have tried to do before I buy a rose, I don't go by the zone much if at all, I go by experience of other gardeners in my same climate area, for example a rose that may not do well here on the east coast may do much better on the west coast because of drier conditions and same goes for roses that tend to like cold winters and cooler summers. But of course you can always just take a chance and see what happens! I think she is a rose worth chancing! ~Meghan

Schoolhouse thank you, hey I like a person who's honest, lol. I'm still such a newbie when it comes to roses, or plants in general, maybe I do have some sort of knack but I honestly don't think so, I really think it has a lot to do with carefully chosen old garden roses that really are happy to just do there thing aside from a very light pruning and doing a bit of homework asking people who grow them in the same climate you live and which ones do good and what doesn't and that sort of thing. Really I don't do a whole lot to them, even very little ferilizer as I'm so busy to do much then maybe a little liquid fish fertilizer a couple times a year honest. Many old garden roses have been found surviving on their own in old grave yards and abandoned homes where they literally are left to themselves, that's why I am inclined to think people tend to go for roses that just aren't either suited for their climate or the more fussier hybrid teas. Maybe part of it is my climate too? I do have some years where leaphoppers and thripes ruined my blossoms and if I have a very humid rainy summer I will have more black spot than normal but these old roses seem to love being left alone for the most part which is why I love them so much because I just don't have the patience or time either to devote a lot of attention to them. Until they filled in I focused on more companion plants to make up for the roses being so young. But if you are the person I think you are from when I used to be on here years ago but under a different name, then I remember being a bit jealous over your gardens as well. ;) And were you the one that made those adorable chicken and I think it was a teapot topiary? I was always so jealous of them and wanted so bad to create my own especially the chickens so I could have them near my chicken coop. Wasn't it you also with the gorgeous winding stone paved paths too? Even if you're not the same person I'm sure your gardens are beautiful even if they have no roses! I think we all have something to be a bit jealous over when it comes to other people gardens. ;)