Few roses that have started blooming....

Strong fragrance and delightful deep burgundy blooms.

Just Joey has been absolutely brilliant this year so far. Moderate to strong fruity fragrance and pink to orange shade blooms.

Friesia has just started blooming. Fragrance is mild.

William Morris, as always, has been brilliant. It is one of the best DA roses in my house. Fragrance is mild to moderate.... hardly ever in the strong shade. However, it blooms profusely.

Health of my LEH bush is just average. It keeps blooming though

stay tuned

Few more...

Westerland is continuously blooming. Fragrance is just mild.

Lot of buds on Spirit of Freedom. The bush is quite healthy but the fragrance is just mild.

There are so many buds on Jude the Obscure. I havent' seen so many buds on a single bush in the past.

As always, a reliable performer. Fruity honey fragrance of moderate intensity.

Troika has a high quality fragrance of moderate intensity.

Strong fragrance and a lovely shade.

There are so many bushes that are full of buds and needs a few more days.... just a few photos.

A corner of my house under a tree where roses, most in pots, have been kept at different levels. I think this area will have an effect when all roses will be in bloom.

Roses in different places in my house; most of them are loaded with buds.

Lets hope for a good show next week. I will be out of Islamabad for few days but my son will take photos.

best regards

Black Prince is brilliant these days. Strong damask fragrance

Chippendale is healthy now. The white stains that you see is the dead powdery mildew after a spray of milk.

First bloom after last spring. After 17 April 2016, GJ never bloomed for me. Fantastic fragrance though

Fantastic fragrance nowadays of all the roses in my house. There are over 50 buds on one bush of Graham Thomas

JtO is full of buds. Lovely lychee fruity fragrance.

The Prince also joins the party. White stains are dead mildew.

Lovely moderate fruity fragrance and majestic blooms

Just a hint of fragrance on SoF

Khalid: I can't wait to see SoF in full bloom., so many buds.

The black prince is gorgeous too.

Spirit of Freedom looks like a great one . Thanks for sharing the first bloom taken.

Khalid, so happy that Jude is behaving for you this year! I know that you must have thought I was crazy to call him a bloom machine but now it looks like he's doing it for you too.

Stayed out of Islamabad for one week and when I came back, it was a great joy to see so many roses blooming. I think I missed a few days of blooming and couldn't take the photos.... however, still lot of roses and lot of blooms

August Luise has been brilliant. Blooming is outstanding but fragrance is just mild.

At last I saw my BB blooming. Last time it bloomed was in April 2016. It did not produce a single bloom whole year, after the spring flush. Bush is healthy but fragrance is just mild.

Belle Epoque is blooming profusely. Fragrance is just mild though...

Black Prince has been brilliant. So many highly fragrant blooms. Strong damask fragrance.

Stay tuned.....

Bronze Star is producing huge size blooms with moderate fruity fragrance.

Casino is always a top bloomer in my house. Mild fragrance but lots of blooms.

Condesa de Sastago is also blooming non-stop. Mild fragrance

Chippendale blooms open orange, turn pink and finally become almost white. Mild fragrance

The overall look is not bad. Love it...

Strong lychee fragrance

Geoff Hamilton has been brilliant this year. Mild fragrance.

Another rose that just didn't bloom after the spring last year, despite all my efforts. The fragrance is outstanding....strong old rose.

As always, GC is brilliant, in the pot as well as in the ground

There are so many more roses to post..... and I am short of time.

Very nice tea fragrance.....

Jude the Obscure and Tradescant, getting along well. Jude has a lovely fragrance.

Hardly any fragrance but very nice blooms......

Mary Rose blooms profusely and has strong fragrance too but it smells like a cough syrup. I am not sure if I like it

Lovely fragrance. I think my Nahema likes this spot where it gets lot of shade.

Pat Austin is one of my favourite. Moderate mango like fragrance

Large size blooms, nice old rose fragrance

Strong sweet fragrance....

Very nice moderate spicy fragrance..... I love this fragrance. Blooms in spring are more in the purple shade but in cooler months, they used to be slate blue.

Khalid: such a nice comeback. Your liv Taylor is a beauty like many others. I love candy pink color roses.

Look what I noticed. We have the same taste not only with roses.

Khalid, wow! So much to comment on and I really appreciate you taking the time to describe the fragrance.

Jude looks lovely and I so agree with you on the scent, one of my favorites. Did you decide to grow him own-root also or still grafted?

Geoff Hamilton really caught my eye in this group. So did Liv Tyler, Mary rose, Casino, Bronze Star, and Friesia. Not all are my usual colors but they are just so lovely.

I really love the green wall you have in your yard. It makes the whole space look really special.

If you don't mind me asking, do you grow in pots because you think that they do better because you can control more things? Or just for convenience?

Anna, how cute! What kind of bird is that? Is it wild?

Lavender: it is wild. They come to my garden and pick up bugs from my pots. There is lots of fruit flies and gnats in my potting soil. I think the flies are feeding of organics and alfalfa that I have my soil topped with.

Cute and a hard worker, can't beat that!

Anna: That's a cute bird indeed and good to see you also have the same lights. These are nice lights indeed.

Lavenderlace: My Jude is still grafted. I have planted a few cuttings this year.... lets see.

The green wall is the ficus climber. It looks lovely no doubt but there is a heavy price to be paid. It's a very vigorous plant and sends long routes in all directions, sucking each and every ounce of nutrition from the soil. Roses just can't grow in the area where ficus is planted. The previous owner planted it and I had two options when I moved into this house. One....to remove it and replace 3-4 feet of soil near the wall. Second, to let it stay like this and plant roses 5 ft away from the wall. The area between the wall and the lane of roses to be covered with large size rose pots. So far this arrangement is working well.

You can see the arrangement in detail here. Wall with ficus creeper, rose pots and roses planted in ground, 5 feet away from the wall.

Few more photos to share....

Scentimental forms a lovely roundish bush and produces plenty of blooms. It is more striped when the weather is cool but as it gets hot, it becomes almost red. Fragrance is mild to moderate. Though HMF describes it as strong fragrance but I rarely noticed a strong fragrance on my Scentimental.

Delightful fragrance that is quite strong. Sharifa Asma doesn't produce as many blooms in my house as do so many other DA roses like Golden Celebration, Teasing Georgia, Geoff Hamilton, William Morris, Crown Princess Margareta, Pat Austin etc

Sheila's Perfume usually has a moderate fragrance. It needs high P diet to produce strong fragrance

Shocking Blue has a very nice spicy fragrance in moderate to strong range. Blooms freely whole year.

Signature has a sweet fragrance, usually of moderate intensity. Blooms are majestic, the classic HT shape.

best regards

Khalid: interesting how u've noticed on Sheila's, it needs to incrise P for more fragrance. I didn't know that.

Actually this year I am testing "Grow More - See Grow Bloom " ferltilizer. 4-26-26. So far so good, my Shilas is covered with clusters of 6 buds. The fragrance is super strong!

Anna: That looks good. Please do share the results.

Few photos in past couple of days.... there was a severe thunderstorm last night that devastated many of my roses....

Lovely lemon fragrance....

My Sheila's Perfume has little fragrance..... hope it improves

Lot of blooms and sweet strong fragrance....

St. Swithun is absolutely brilliant these days.... moderate fragrance and lot of large sized blooms. Graham Thomas and Nahema in the backgroundNahema is brilliant too. Lovely fragranceFirst bloom on my Summer Song.... lovely fragrance that is different from all my roses and what a shade. I am eagerly waiting for more blooms. Bush is healthy

Few more....

Westerland has very less fragrance.....lot of blooms though

Moderate fragrance and lot of blooms
PAOK has no fragrance nowadays... huge size bloomsFrom right.... Geoff Hamilton, Teasing Georgia, PAOK, NahemaAugusta Luise. Black Prince and Sharifa Asma in the background

Chartreuse de Parme, Condesa de Sastago, Belle Epoque

My favourite corner. Prominent roses include Gold Medal, Doris Tysterman, Oklahoma, Casino, Golden Celebration, Spirit of Freedom, Geoff Hamilton, Nahema, St. Swithun, Graham Thomas, Teasing Georgia, Benjamin Britten, Pat Austin, Sharifa Asma and Alec's Red. Most roses are in potsSignature, Crimson Glory, Papa Meilland, William Morris and Tradescant

best regards

Wow look at all those blooms. Excellent photography. That back yard Garden must put everyone in a good mood.

Thanks Sam. Yes....... it takes away all the tiredness when I come back in the evening. I just like to sit there and do nothing..... some times doing nothing is also a great pleasure.

Few more pics today....

St. Swithun is just brilliant nowadays...

So is Nahema, love her fragranceCrimson Glory, strong perfume

Geoff Hamilton is also blooming profusely

Chippendale also has many blooms and buds

Always a wonderful scent

Blooming well this year....This rose fascinates me. Hoping to see more blooms. Many buds forming up...

This rose, named Tipu Sultan, has been bred by a local breeding. Has a strong scent.

best regards

Gorgeous pictures!! So nice to see color; everything is brown here. The sun is starting to come out some, and the birds have returned. It is finally starting to feel like spring. Summer song has such unique coloring! Thank you for taking the time to share your beautiful roses!!

You are welcome Kelly. And yes, Summer Song has a unique shade and fragrance is unique too. I am happy I purchased this rose (though it too me lot of effort and time to get this rose to Islamabad).

Few more pics.... it's raining since the last five day including a couple of thunder storm that devastated few of my roses. Many blooms were destroyed and due to continuous rain, there is hardly any fragrance

Both bushes, after the mildew attack, are doing great. Crimson Glory has a strong spicy damask mix fragrance and it is maintaining some of it during heavy rains too.

Blooming non-stop

Doris Tysterman is always a prolific performer. Susceptible to powdery mildew though.

First bloom on Ebb Tide this season. A lighter shade that I hope will get darker in coming days...

My DD bush was devastated and my branches were broken.

Geoff Hamilton is still doing great..... so many blooms. Fragrance is just mild.

Jubilee Celebration.....huge size blooms on a small bush.

This one might interest you Kelly. Nahema has just been brilliant this year for me. Most of my roses are being grown in pot BTW, including Nahema.

My PAOK bush was almost devastated during past 5 days of rain

but still had many large sized blooms.... no fragrance though

Blooming non-stop. Light spicy scent

Scentimetal is blooming well. Haven't noticed any fragrance on it yet.

St Swithun has a good bloom life. Unlike most Austins that turn lighter with age, St. Swithun doe the opposite. Blooms get darker with age.

Westerland is throwing wonderful bunches of apricot blooms. Hardly any fragrance though. Tom Brown has also been performing great this year.

Another porlific perfomer.

Chippendale has been outstanding these days

Moderate tea fragrance and lot of blooms......

Crimson Glory has lovely fragrance......

Gorgeous pictures Khalid! You have inspired me to grow a lot more in pots. I had been coddling mine and moving them as weather dictates but now have them outside being pounded by a thunderstorm!

Lavenderlace: Growing in pots, overall, needs more care because there is little room for error and one may keep fighting against one deficiency or the other that might keep happening in a pot (at least that has been the case with me but I learnt a lot about the roses during the process). However, it has the advantage that one can shift the roses as per the requirement during different seasons.

Very showy blooms on Rouge Royale. Just a hint of fragrance

I love this rose. Large size upright bush with clusters of highly fragrant blooms that transition from orange to light salmon pink.

Lovely fragrance though of moderate intensity. It used to be quite strong last year.

Westerland is blooming non-stop. Hardly any fragrance nowadays but it used to be quite fragrant.

First blooms on tiny The Poet's Wife bush. Nice citrus fragrance of moderate intensity

Jasmina is spread all over the place and is blooming non stop. Light sweet fragrance

See the difference in first and second day blooms.

First bloom on young ORA bush. It is growing well.

best regards

Wonderful pictures Khalid!

Do you grow Westerland in a pot? Do you notice any correlation between the bloom's color and the fragrance in your climate? This question would apply to all varieties.

I really love that shade of yellow on the Poet's Wife. It reminds me of a cool lemonade on a hot summer's day!

https://youtu.be/c8Za6FZNWDM

https://youtu.be/NZkwg4m06pM

https://youtu.be/f8dnNZSlLck

https://youtu.be/4xLIp59wlP4

I'm so excited. I found a four part series on the tour of Elaine Ingham celebration farm in Oregon. It's 20 minutes long. I'm just starting to watch it. I thought you might enjoy it. Matt Powers is a permaculture farm garden instructor in California. He is learning from her. She says to cover the compost to keep it 50% moisture.

Khalid

Thanks again for your pictures of the best compost and roses. I think your Compost program made the roses even better this year. Olivia rose is the best.

Sam

Wow, thanks Sam! I look forward to checking these out and really appreciate all of your super helpful contributions to organic growing!

I'm a big fan of Chippendale

Few more clicks.....

Very nice fruity fragrance and beautiful clusters of semi double blooms. Great impact

Sweet fragrance and a cool shade

Spicy clove fragrance. Bloom size is small but there are so many of them

Hardly any fragrance. Blooms don't open up properlyNice moderate tea fragrance and lot of blooms

Moderate damask fragrance

Strong sweet fragrance. This is the only rose with a higher than moderate fragrance. The shade of RdR is usually darker..... this flush is lighter

best regards

A dark GC with a nice moderate tea scent

Moderate damask scent

Very nice fragrance and I love the shade. Just a hint of fragrance in my Sheila's Perfume.St. Ethelburga is very impressive. Lovely fragrance and lot of bloomsSt. Swithun is amongst the best DA performers in Islamabad climate

I lost the tag on this one. Could this be Heritage? Any views?

William Morris is always a top performer

Fabulous pictures! CPM really caught my eye this time.

Your mystery rose could be Heritage. What is the fragrance like and how long do the blooms last? I have a lot of Heritage here and they are beautiful but the blooms do shatter quickly.

I did buy some Fredric Mistral based on how well you say it does in the heat. I hope that I like the scent though as I think that Straw wasn't a fan.

Great pictures Sam and very good point about the number of petals!

Spirit of freedom maybe?

Khalid, I don't know where to begin. I was fascinated by your beautiful roses. Every time I came to one that I especially enjoyed, I moved on to another and should have been writing the names down. Beautiful photography! We share the same Zone 9 and I do a lot of planting in pots too (our soil it adobe clay!!). Thanks for sharing.

Thanks a lot everyone for liking my roses. I am traveling nowadays so wont be able to long in much and wont be able to post any pics.

Sam: Thanks for you input. As far as I know the nursery from whom I bought this rose didn't have Queen of Sweden. He sent me three pink roses at that time if I correctly recall. Heritage, The Alnwick Rose and Geoff Hamilton. The tags were later mixed up and lost when I shifted my house. I wonder if this is one of these roses or a different rose.

best regards

It looks like maybe it's the Geoff Hamilton. I think the Alnwick is more pink and less orange. It's a good one that rose you got. A rose by any other name. Would smell so sweet. The Alnwick smells like raspberries.

Queen of Sweden: light myrrh .

Geoff Hamilton: light old rose w/ hint of apple

Fantastic post and pics. It was worth the wait and it looks as if all the effort with your compost and amending has paid off. Stunning pics. Sam, your pic of Heritage is one of the most ethereal Ive seen.

Here's a very relevant post about the difference between Queen of Sweden and Geoff Hamilton.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1712993/queen-of-sweden-or-geoff-hamilton.

bump up. this thread contains many bush-shots pics and details on roses that can't be found in HMF.