Rain?!? What's that??? So glad you got some. Your roses look beautiful. That front fluffy bloom of Easy Does It is sooooo pretty. Your bouquet is gorgeous too and I absolutely love your shots of Claire. Simply beautiful!!! Judy

Claire reminds me of a teacup in a saucer. It's just lovely! WM2000 looks like velvet. I want to touch it! Beautiful. We are so fortunate in California to have blooms mid October.

I love seeing the yellow blush on the back of Claire Austin's petals. As delicate as bone china. Gorgeous.

Lovely photos of roses.

Claire Austin captured the show. The bloom resembles The Poet's Wife, but Claire looks so much better.

Wonderful looking roses!

Thank you everyone!

Judy - I give bouquets away on a regular basis to friends who we visit but I rarely keep them for us. Maybe that's why I love seeing your bouquets in your home which look so cozy! Easy Does It is one of the very few floribundas I own and I appreciate how much it's constantly in bloom when other roses are taking a break.

Cori Ann - I've been very interested in your Falstaff purchase. I have Falstaff OR on my list to buy from Regan Nursery. I know you only have one or two blooms but how dark is the red compared to the WS 2000 photo above? WS 2000 is typically more purple than the one posted.

Kentucky Rose - I was thinking the same thing about Claire and The Poet's Wife. TPW has gone to sleep for the year but in her last flush, she resembled a yellowish version of CA.

Ann

Your roses are so gorgeous!

Ann Falstaff needs shade from the hot sun of the 9b Bay Area. The blooms that I have forming now on the plant that's in the most shade are the color of a dark garnet. Gorgeous. So far, with our sun and heat the blooms survived and still had nice form, but faded to rosy red. Pretty and fragrant, but just OK in the sun. In the shade they are MUCH better. Definitely darker than the WS2000 photo with a tinge of blackish purple.

The shade may affect the fragrance a little though. Not sure yet.

My darkest plant right now gets about 4 hours of morning sun. Then an hour of dappled shade from 11-noon. Then shade from a neighbor's BIG oak tree until the sun is setting and the last rays find their way to him.

I have a lot of buds on all three of mine now so I'm hopeful in our area we won't have the same problem with stingy blooms that others have had.

Tying it horizontal should help so I am hoping for even more buds now that 2 are tied to an obelisk.

The canes are flexible and a little lanky so if you have something like a trellis or obelisk to reign them in he would probabaly look better.

Amazing fragrance. You will like him. :)

Thanks Cori Ann! I think the spot I have in mind will work quite well for Falstaff. I'm glad to hear that it's dark and fragrant. Looking forward to photos of your Falstaffs!

Ann

Wow I really like CLAIRE AUSTIN. One of the few DAs I don't have. LOL Very nice. Oooh and I'm glad to see MERCURY RISING. Just got it this yr and it only had one bloom so far. Yours is beautiful! Oh shoot those PARADISE FOUND blooms are gorgeous too. Mine is almost dead. I was debating whether or not to replace it before it does die. I might just have to...

Thanks Beth! Hard to believe there's a rose you don't have - LOL - but even the great collectors have a few missing roses. Hope Paradise Found hangs in there.

Ann

Amazing blooms and I love your bouquet! The bi-colored ones are so pretty! And of course I love the gorgeous PAOK bloom.

Thanks for comments Ashley! The bouquet is filling my living room with a wonderful scent. I keep walking up to the PAOK bloom and inhaling her lovely fragrance. This is why I love growing roses.

Ann