Coral Flower Carpet gets the least sun (4-hours), and most neglected, yet give me the most beauty for the past decade. Pic. taken today. I never water that one.

Whoa, Amazingly Beautiful Prairie Harvest Straw, capital A B P ... I love the many petals! And Coral floral carpet is dainty pink, I enjoy that.

Sam, Wilbur is very adorable.

I don't know difference between regular flower thrips versus chili thrips ... my rose society says that what we have is chili thrips here in Hawaii (and it was identified by Baldo V)

The only thing that works for us with heavy chili thrip issues is spinosad used sparingly so the insects don't develop tolerance for it.

Another clump. Each branch holds a big cluster like that. See how icky the phlox leaves are, yet Flower-carpet is dark-green:

First off love the dog pics sam... Beware of the Claw...lol

You mentioned your roses did not bloom that much this year Sam. If you had a rose midge problem I can see why....I hope you get that straightened up!

Wow straw that Prairie Harvest bloom pic is very nice!

I think chili thrips are worse than regular flower thrips. We do not have chili thrips here...

What size are flower carpet blooms Straw?

Unlike Western Flower Thrips that cause unsightly browning of rose petals, chilli thrips feed on leaves and stems and have the ability to decimate a plant. They have rasping, cutting mouthparts that work like little saws, splitting open green plant tissue so that they can suck the juice out of the leaves. Their favorite feeding sites are the tender maroon-colored new growths and where leaflets attach to the stem. In these tight locations, they feed until there is no more juice in the plant tissue and then move on to another spot on the plant. As the leaf continues to develop, scars form at the feeding site and depending on the level of feeding leaves may be distorted or not look like a leaf at all.

I read where flower thrips like it dry and we have been in a drought lately...

Agree with Jim on flower thrips. I got a few on my pots during that hot summer, but didn't have deformed blooms. Folks report that Azomite helps to deter pests, it thickens the tissue of plants. Molasses work very well in deepening the blooms' color, but I'm afraid to use it, for fear that would attract pests like rose-slugs.

When to use gypsum (calcium sulfate) and when to use dolomitic lime (calcium & magnesium) ? I narrow down to:

1. If the rose blooms profusely, means it's good in acid-phosphatase, and will have excess acid at end-bloom-period. Time for dolomitic lime during profuse-blooming.
2. If the rose is stingy, means it doesn't secrete enough acid to release phosphorus from soil. Time for SOLUBLE gypsum (calcium sulfate, with 17% sulfur). The acid, or sulfur helps to release phosphorus from soil for blooming. The mycorrhyzal fungi that help plants to bloom also prefer slightly acidic. Some disease-resistant roses fall into this category (Home Run, Basyes Blueberry, Duchess de Rohan, some Kordes roses). Folks in alkaline CA complain about Kordes being huge & healthy foliage, but stingy in blooms. Never see a black spot on B.B, but it's stingy unless given soluble fertilizer. Home Run is filled with dark-green foliage, but few blooms. I would rather get the disease-resistance from thick & shiny foliage (FlowerCarpet), than stinginess in blooms (Home Run).
3. If the rose is wimpy, SOLUBLE gypsum and sulfate of potash help.

Buffers are alkaline stuff put on top to neutralize acidic rain. Horticultural sites listed calcium, potassium, magnesium, slow-released organic matter as good buffers. Alfalfa hay is a good buffer (neutral pH, slow-to-break down), same with pine-needles. But alfalfa meal is a poor buffer: breaks down too fast, and releases acids. Cedar-mulch is a good buffer (slow-to-break-down). Pine bark mulch is a poor buffer (acidic pH at 4). Penn State research on artillery fungus cited BIG CHUNKS & SLOW-TO-BREAK down mulch as best. Red-lava-rock is an excellent buffer (pH 8) & slow to break down.

I spent $10 on a tiny bag of crushed-red-lava-rock, ordered from Amazon, and it WASN'T AS GOOD as the cheap $4 per 40 lb. bag big chunks. The crushed-red-lava broke down too fast, and stained the leaves of Stephen big Purple with its high iron-content.

In contrast, I get continuous blooming on Wise Portia this year thanks to big-chunks red-lava-on top (for potassium), plus dolomitic lime (calcium & magnesium) .. lots of leaves thanks to neutral alfalfa hay on top. Nature's way is best: For centuries big-chunks stuff fall onto roses or occur naturally in soil: leaves, branches, rocks, etc..

Centuries ago, people didn't have wood-chipper to grind bark into pieces, or trucks to carry inappropriate mulch (pine-bark) onto roses. Chicago Botanical Garden made a good point of mulching plant WITH THE SAME optimal pH range for that plant. So it doesn't make sense to mulch Dr. Huey-rootstock with acidic pine (pH 4), or to mulch blueberries with horse manure (pH over 8, with lime added).

I know HomeRun does not bloom well in Chicago but honestly it blooms ok at my friends.... Everytime I go down to check Carefree Celebration I look at Homerun and it has a decent amount of blooms on it as does Carefree Celebration. That's why I have already ordered Carefree Celebration. Our soil I think is also better than his harder type soil... If I liked regular HomeRun I would not be afraid to try it here. BUT I just do not like its single red blooms that much...

( I just got this list off him the other day)...His best disease resistant roses that he kept out of 180+ roses....) Home Run, Carefree Celebration, Carefree Sunshine, Knockout, Double Knockout, Earthsong, Carefree Beauty, Floral Fairy Tale, Kosmos Fairy Tale, Quietness, Flower Carpet Scarlet, Paint the Town, Grandmas blessing, Sweet Fragrance...

Therese Bugnet... Doesn't bloom real great at his locaion but he likes it...lol

These are all the roses he has left... Only the roses that did really great stayed... If they got to much BS, PM, or did not bloom well they were tossed! He does not fuss with roses like me...lol... So most of the roses he grew did NOT like his growing conditions except the above list...

Of course every garden can be different... This only represents his garden and conditions...

I never seen his Flower Carpet Scarlet not sure where he has that planted at...

Straw, I think your last post about how to use dolomite lime, soluble gypsum, potash, and alfalfa will be what I will be doing with my roses.

Homerun in the community rose garden didn't do well in one part of the garden, but we moved it and it's 1000% better. I think I like all roses, honestly, I can find beauty in all of them and have "wanted/coveted" each one that I've seen. :P

I like the Fairytale series but it's not locally available here. Shipping is a big factor.

By the way Jim, who is "he" that you refer to?

Woohoo we have a flash flood warning!

I went outside to see what form Earthsongs bloom would have this morning... 69 degrees at 9am... Bloom was still more closed...

Funny thing about this bloom is it seems to cast a neon appearance... "Hey look at me it says" When I had blooms on our first Earthsong and people came to visit Earthsong was the first rose they noticed and commented on... People around here mostly only grow Knockout or other smaller bloomed roses so I think the color along with the bloom being a much bigger size than people see around here really appeals to them...

This D. KO bloom is approx 3 days old... still holding the darker red color here... Yesterday was even 95 degrees. This rose bush gets direct sun from 12 noon until sunset...

Some Morning Glory Madness!

Morning Glory creeping up our front porch steps...

I have Earth song in the center of my Island flower bed.

Earth song has a nice glowing-neon color. Zinnias beat morning glory by far. I look over the list of Jim's friend-best-roses. It looks like he has LESS alkaline clay than mine, since Grandma's Blessing gave me hell ... I had to give it sulfur before it bloomed tons. Jim's soil is even loamier than his friend: easier for a variety of roses.

Heavy clay like mine is more suitable to zillion-petals which demand solid minerals for their solid-petals. Heavy clay is also suitable for aggressive roots that can acid-phosphatase: Dr. Huey-rootstock, Flower-Carpet, and French Meilland Romantica roses. But heavy clay is NOT suitable for roses that do LESS acid-phosphatase (Home Run).

The problem with Thomas Affleck? I grew his parent Basyes Blueberry, that's the most solid & slender root ever: it's like a NARROW single strand of rope, going straight down. For such a localized root, the soil must be rich-in-minerals for that spot below. The aggressive & spreading roots can get its nutrients from the surface. BB's root just go straight down, like a rope. It's a lazy-root, doesn't want to spread out to get nutrients. I have to spoon-feed it SOLUBLE sulfate of potash & gypsum to achieve blooms, and that's just single petals.

The woody-root (Dr. Huey) consumes a large amount of calcium & magnesium, so dolomitic & heavy clay is best. The cluster-root (multiflora parentage), such as Grandmas' Blessing is best suited for loamy & fluffier soil. If the root is woody like a tree, heavy clay is best. If the root is like alfalfa sprout, sandy or loamy soil is best. Some multiflora parentage traits: spreading & cluster roots, small leaves, disease-resistant, purple/blue color, and preference for acidic & loamy soil.

Annie L. McDowell has multiflora parentage: small leaves, disease-resistant, lavender hue. I had to give it tons of sulfur to make the soil loamy. Plus sulfate of potash & gypsum for its zillion petals. Below pic: in front is Annie's bush (smallest leaves). Behind is Marie Pavie (polyantha likes heavy clay). Right is Frederic Mistral (French Romantica likes clay), and behind Fred is Mary Magdalene:

So if Thomas Affleck roots go straight down maybe I should replant him next year in a more fluffier soil area and fertilize him with a routine???? Something I really do not want to do though...lol

Yes I like Zinnias better also but my wife whats to keep those Morning Glories there in that location... I did have plans of digging out that soil and replacing it with native soil from the backyard then plant Zinnias. But wife said NO GO! lol

Thomas Affleck foilage seems to stay very nice but sadly the blooms look rough 24 hours after opening that is what I do not care for... Last year it did the same thing in its other location which had fluffier soil and more sun...

If the blooms were not like this I'd be much more excited about this rose bush... (Excluding thrip damage as Thomas can't help that...lol)

Some of these blooms last year have only been on the bush for less than 48 hours and look how rough they look..

Below pic. shows zillion-petals in Annie which are best with SOLUBLE sulfate of potash & gypsum. Note the lavender hue in Annie. Most blue roses have that multiflora parentage .. not best for heavy clay, unless grafted on Dr. Huey. Yellow is Golden Celebration.

Great looking bouquet Straw!

You know area to area things can be so different. Read articles and they say Rose Slugs are only around for awhile and there gone and the same with aphids... And yes that's probably true for some areas but not all...

We have rose slugs and aphids the entire season here... I do not bother with aphids nor the rose slugs any longer...

But I feel blessed only having these certain critters around here as insects like Rose Midge, Chilli Thrips, can be much more frustrating to deal with...

I plant the Marigolds and that's about it... Now soon I will be planting GARLIC bulbs around some roses to experiment. I will plant GARLIC soon and leave it in the ground until next fall...

But anyhow just snapped this pic of the D. Ko up beside Earthsong/Prairie Harvest...(Pic shows Aphids)

Gah, that Annie is so beautiful Straw, I am pretty envious. I asked Burling to put me on the wait list for that one ... but I have to save up money to buy around 6 of the band roses to justify the $50 in shipping (Hawaii inspection fee).

I don't know anything about rose midge nor what the difference is between a regular slug (plentiful with the random rain we get) and a rose slug, that's the next topic I'll research. Aphids were plentiful at the old house, but I just sprayed them off with a powerful burst of water. Luckily this new place that is not a problem.

Hehe, now I have read the full thread and can comment more definitively:

Jim --- jeez, your double knockout puts some of my hybrids to shame :P I love that morning glory invading your steps!

Straw --- your garden is also very organized and clean looking ... mine truly does look like a mismatch, pot slum with no real order to it.

Sam --- would love if you could post some of your plants, roses or not!

Blooms for work (sometimes it would be great to wake up early enough to actually pick good blooms instead of whatever I can find):

Sam: I love your natural setting. Your Viking Queen is awesome. All your colors are deep & vibrant, that's the advantage of acidic soil.

Msgirl: Mystery Red rose is beautiful ... so many petals... how's the scent on that one? I love the color-combo of all 3 pics. The last pic. is very nice, it has all the colors. Wow! $50 shipping charge, so the 6 roses better be worthy.

Among Burlington's roses: For great scents & thornless: Annie L. McDowell (3 to 4 days in the vase), Duchess de Rohan (need shade), and Reines des Violettes (purple) are worth getting. Mary Daly is also thornless but it's to perfume your garden, rather than to cut for the vase.

For beauty and best-scents: La Reine (vase-worthy & good bloomer), Oklahoma (dark red, at least 4 days in the vase), Double Delight (last long in the vase), Gruss an Coburg (peach), Comte de Chambord (3 days vase life, small bush). Sutter's Gold (orange, only 2 days vase-life). For beauty & compactness & nice scent: Blue mist (can't cut for vase), Sweet Arlene (a mini, great cut-flower), Sweet Chariot (a mini), Prospero (Austin rose. good cut flower).

Jim: I took a picture of my Coral-Flower-Carpet, bloom is about 2 inch. I'm pretty sure my neighbor's Sweet-Drift is bigger, since hers have more petals.

Since Msgirl asked for a bush-shot of Bronze Star, I'll post it. I pinched off 5 buds after the 1st bloom. Winter-hardiness is iffy, so I have to pinch off buds to encourage deep root-growth. It's an own-root I got for $10 from Roses Unlimited end-of-june-sale. Pic. taken yesterday August 17, very humid & rainy weather.

Here's my cheap lavender rose, bought for $6.59 from Meijers recently. It has 6 buds .. it's grafted-on-Dr. Huey, so you can see the blackspots. Grafted roses can't be healthy as own-root:

Azomite is keeping some roses 100% clean: La Reine used to be a BS-fest with cow-manure, now it's the front-runner in healthiness, 80% humidity. it's short since I kept moving it around to fix the icky-blackspots. Finally solved the problem with gypsum & cracked corn in the planting hole, plus watered with Azomite. Pic. taken August 17, very humid & rainy weather.

Sharifa Asma got 2 doses of Azomite, very healthy despite extremely humid weather. I haven't taken a walk outside for 1 week, it's like a sauna .. hot & humid & rainy outside. Sharifa has 3 buds, it's a good-bloomer, mulched with alfalfa hay & red-lava-rock & gypsum. Taken today, August 18.

Great bouquet msdorkgirl! Lots of nice roses!

Thanks for posting photos of your roses/flowers Sam!

Straw thanks for info and that photo of Flower Carpet...Nice Bronze star and other rose bush shots Staw!

I'm not really into single flowers but if the right color combination reveals itself I might change my mind. Plain red, pink, orange etc. singles don't appeal to me but a nice color/colors with say a bright yellow in the middle might...lol... Or blue combinations...lol

It rained alittle! Just enough to wet soil though...Dried up already...lol

If anyone ever wondered why the two end Double Ko's were smaller than the others it's because both of them were transplanted because I messed the spacing up (twice)...lol. One D. Ko was moved August 2014 and one was moved May 2015. These two roses were purchased the exact same time as the others from the same vendor. They are just slow to start growing again after being transplanted for whatever reason... I expect by the end of next year they will be as big as the others...

Just took the 2 below pics:

Shot of Earthsong bush:

Straw makes a good demonstration that if you have healthy ingredients to the soil that they will be healthy and disease free.

Sam???

Those two roses will catch up to the others sooner or later...lol... Leaves are healthy etc. new basal breaks coming...

Sorry I was watching TV I guess did know I didn't finish what I am saying.

I am excited to get my new compost this week. This actually has manure and clay mixed in with it. I went to see it today it is the dirtiest brownish blackish stuff but I know it will be great. I don't know if I should get a little lime but I'm going to try some.

My usual compost is just yard waste compost from the tree company. But this other place that I went today is a half an hour drive into farm country where there's plenty of cow manure and clay soil. The manure is in it but you don't smell it because it is well composted . The last time I use this compost was 3 or 4 years ago and I got tons of blooms.

So I'm hoping September will be a blooming month.

Awesome Sam! Sounds great! Let us know how it works out in the future...

I'll be putting some compost down next month sometime...

How lows your PH Sam?

Maybe ask the people where you get compost if lime is needed? A few years ago I actually got to talk to William Radler by phone for about 30 minutes. Talked to Linda Chalker Scott by phone also once... Now days it tough to even email those people and get an answer...lol...

Cool

Last time I used the lime was when I bought the house in 2001. Due to acid rain I'm probably due for some more lime. Yeah I'll ask the guy at the dirt place in the things I need lime.

Jim: Your earthsong looks really good, MUCH BETTER than my neighbor's grafted-earthsong. My own-root Pink Peace had a better-bush-shape than my present grafted-pink-peace (gangly looking).

Sam: The compost stuff you are getting sounds great !! I have to admit that cow manure, WITHOUT quick lime added, is really good for blooming. Over a decade ago the rose park mulched their roses with fresh cow-manure (acidic pH), it was really stinky but that was the best year for their roses: glossy foliage (from the corn that cow eats), plus vibrant colors & lots of blooms.

Quick lime is the worst type of lime. The best type is dolomitic lime, or Espoma Garden Lime, which has both calcium and magnesium. Walmart sells that for $12 per 5 lb. bag, I opened the bag, and it's gritty. That's what you want, some powder, and some gritty-granules for gradual release. Here's a cheaper deal of 40 lb. bag of dolomitic lime at $3.98 at Walmart:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/GreenAcres-40lb-Dolomite-Lime/16781334

I use gritty &chunky dolomitic lime to de-ice my side-walk in the winter, it works great, good for plants, and doesn't harm concrete like salt.

Thanks straw

Straw you might get a kick out of these pics... 2012 I visited my son in Dekalb ILLinois...

I found this picture of myself "the small town man" lost in Chicago...lol...Outside Chicago train station... I remember weighing myself at my sons house at 247 pounds back then. I have lost weight over the years I'm down to 228 pounds right now...Took me years to lose just that much weight...lol

msdorkgirl Wrote:

I don't know anything about rose midge nor what the difference is between a regular slug (plentiful with the random rain we get) and a rose slug, that's the next topic I'll research. Aphids were plentiful at the old house, but I just sprayed them off with a powerful burst of water. Luckily this new place that is not a problem.

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http://hedgerowrose.com/rose-gardening/2013/07/18/meanwhile-in-our-garden-lets-talk-rose-midge/

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/insects/sawflies/rose-and-pear-slugs-sawflies.aspx

How could I forgot the dreaded Japanese Beetle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdrLRgi-wU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle

Congratulations on your weight loss, Jim. I recognize those buildings, and the sign "Chicago". We were at those locations the week before Christmas to see Christmas lights. Lots of people on the street, even in the winter. There's a group of Japanese girls (tourists), with one girl having a flimsy & string-thin-strap-purse around her shoulder. I told her "watch out for purse-snatcher". She looked at me confused, perhaps she doesn't understand what I mean. I don't go down-town Chicago much. The main attractions are lake shore, the museums, and the parks.

We got to go into a couple museums. We went to the zoo and just basically walked many miles throughout Chicago. The real far away stuff we rode the train... I wish we had those options here but we do not...lol...

We do not even have a taxi service here in our small town...

We have a passenger train that picks people up downtown but you better be planning on going some place really far away...lol... That's the train I took to Chicago...lol

We are suppose to get alittle rain today and maybe some tomorrow.

I've decided to just let Thomas Affleck out front and see what he does in the future. Maybe he will surprise me next year...lol... He has been growing real well... He should be quite a large bush by next summer... Even in zone 5 he can be quite cane hardy. So I do not expect much winterkill on Thomas...

Very pretty color on Thomas Affleck. The weedy-thing next to Thomas doesn't enhance the bush. I hope that can be replaced with zinnias !!

That's that grass stuff my wife planted... I need to get rid of that somehow. 6 clumps of that grass I need to plant elsewhere or get rid of...lol

I only hear good things about Thomas Affleck so maybe I can get him figured out in the future...lol

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UPDATE:

I was just contacted by the place I bought Thomas Affleck from and they told me in my climate I should plant Thomas Affleck in a location that gets the most sun for the best results with blooming... Advice from there own experiences of growing Thomas...

So next year early Spring while TA is still dormant I'll fix a spot just like that for Thomas and transplant him then we will see... After that no more moving except to a garbage bag...lol

Thomas was bred by George Michael Shoup and introduced into the USA by Antique Rose Emporium

When moving time comes.

Jim slide a tarp under the root ball so you can drag the chunk of earth undisturbed. That method has worked good for me.

Thanks for the tip Sam! I'll move TA next Spring while he is still dormant best time I've discovered...

I found this old vase pic of Mister Lincolns blooms from 2010...

Cool

See.... you can do a vase Jim! Time for next thread :p

Wow !! that's a gorgeous vase, Jim. Lots of blooms too.

I think that was a end of the year bouquet...lol...

Notice all the blooms that was the year I grew Mister Lincoln in a large container until September when I planted him in the ground...

OK I'll start a new thread.... lol

Yeppers those are joined together like Siamese twins....

I might be able to win the tomato growing contest with that one

Wow! Never seen that before in my garden. That's so neat.

I'm leaving soon for Pittsburgh! I'll write later this evening... I started a new thread...