VStapes, thank you so much for the photos! Yes, mine are behind as well, but I think yours might be ahead of me! :) It's great to hear the Olds College rose blooms so early for you, it's still on my want list, I've been having a hard time finding one locally this year. I love your photo of Rugelda, I have it too and it's one of my more favourite roses because it of it's fragrance, gorgeous blooms, and shiny foliage.

I hope your 'Love' does survive, it is beautiful. I tried L.D. Braithwaite last year, which is rated not as hardy (zone 6 I think?), and covered it with dry mulch over the winter, it's doing great this year, almost no die back.

I just saw Olds College at our local nursery yesterday...I think this is one of the first times I've seen it locally. I wanted to research it a little more before I purchased. I actually went to Olds College for my diploma! So I guess I should probably get it. ;)

My roses had a very hard winter, we had very little snow cover and nothing was covered with mulch. Miraculously, my alba roses managed to come back! My Morden Blush did kick the bucket, it is in such an exposed location. I'm not planning on replacing it...it is too short for my purposes, and although the initial opening bloom is stunning, and I don't like how it looks as the bloom ages.

Most years my JP Connell probably dies back to about 2 ft tall. Then it regrows to probably 4 ft. This year it died right back to the ground though. So did my Emily Carr, so they are taking much longer than usual. My Hansa and other rugosas didn't mind the winter at all. Neither did my Scotch roses.

Hi Weeper, great to hear your albas came back! I am thinking of adding some albas to my collection, I hear their fragrance is quite strong. Do you have any favourites or ones which perform better than others?

I had a similar experience here as for die back, but most during back to about 6", except for my rugosa types, which were mostly hardy to the tips.

I am going for more Rugosa, Scots and any other hardier roses then the Parkland or Explorer roses because of the die back or lack of vigor, I like the blooms but don't like dealing with so much dead canes.

I agree, I had dieback on all my Parkland and Explorer roses. It was a pain pruning the thorny canes. I also find fragrance extreme lacking in most of these newer varieties.

My favourites have now become ones with almost zero dieback and are fragrant, such as Therese Bugnet, Wasagaming and Snow Pavement. I need to add more Scots!

However, I do looooove Winnipeg Parks from the Parkland series so much I am willing to put up with its dieback. I adore its flashy huge blooms which are lightly scented. I am glad I planted these six plants close together, they will never get that large here because of the dieback, here they are today:

John Cabot is growing into a monster. No die back.

Persian Yellow Rose looked very nice on full bloom but only last for two weeks :(

Now she looks aweful. No die back though

Campfire has a lot of die back but it came back nicely.

Prairie,

I am definitely getting a Wasagaming next year. BTW, what are those little yellow flowers in the last pictures?

Brandon

Found the name on your other post lol

Stunning roses Brandon! I'm jealous, my John Cabot died down to about 12". Does Persian Yellow have any fragrance for you? Your Campfire looks great too, plenty of blooms!

Wasagaming definitely seems to have something special about it, the fragrance is magnificent. It had a very heavy flush of blooms and is in hip mode now. It's sending out some strong basal stems and I'm hoping it will rebloom, will update if it does.

Yes, those are Tangerine Gem Marigolds. Awesome performer. They've been blooming for a solid month and have no sign of stopping. Got them from stokes: http://www.stokeseeds.com/category.aspx?CategoryID=375

I don't think Persian Yellow has fragrance. My John Cabot didn't have any dieback last winter. Thanks a lot for the seed website, I will give them a try next year.

All my roses die to the ground. Emily Carr was 6 feet tall. It's up to about 3 feet now. My WParks which I got on sale last fall might be all of 3 inches tall. I've never seen Wasagaming for sale. Is it quite large?

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your pictures.

VStapes, I purchased Wasagaming from Cornhill Nursery a few years ago, http://www.cornhillnursery.com/Roses.html

It was original a *very* small bareroot plant. It's about 3 feet high now. I have heard from others it has a chance of getting big one day as because does not die back. I hope for this, as I grow more roses I get more tired of bending down to smell them, or being completely disappointed at the lack of fragrance. I also learned I don't like to trim dead canes.

Brandon, thank you for the tip on Persian Yellow.

Some more blooms from last week:

'Prairie Joy' has the tidiest mounded bush form of all my roses, I love the very dense grey-green foliage. A continual bloomer too:

'Hansaland' is full of lush red blooms, bush form is pretty tidy too (from Corn Hill nursery). My salvia is huge this year and crowding it:

I still love 'Morden Sunrise', the blooms just glow. I also have 'Bill Reid' and definitely prefer 'Morden Sunrise' as it has more pink tones in the flowers, a fruity fragrance which definitely wafts, and more uniform growth:

'Emily Carr' has the most lovely dark red blooms which really, really long, unfortunately no fragrance I can smell:

'Cutherbert Grant' has the one of largest blooms in my yard,

they are more cupped/globular blooms than 'Emily Carr', and become more purplish as they fade. The petals are very velvety, and the blooms definitely have a fragrance. Bush shape is a little wacky but the flowers make up for it. Definitely one of my favourites:

'Snow Pavement' is one of my most fragrant. It has a wild rose clove fragrance, and lighter green leaves which pair well with its pale lilac flowers. Bush shape is tight and mounded, and best of all, had very few dead canes this year. Very low maintenance, I don't even bother with watering:

'Snow Pavement' overall bush shot:

'Morden Centennial' blooms early and profusely. Planted it late last year, the plant was very small, one branch about 6" high, it's come back strong. Here it is to the left off 'Morden Sunrise' (top), 'Rugelda' (middle, not blooming yet), and 'Bill Reid' (bottom):

'Winnipeg Parks' does so amazing well for me, I love the bright flashy pink. Largest blooms in the yard by far, mild fragrance too:

'Polareis'. Blooms have a lovely soft pink centre unfortunately they fade pretty quick to white in this heat wave we're having!:

And this was really exciting to me, my barely alive 'Prairie Peace' opened its first bloom!

'Never Alone' has come back strong, lovely flowers:

'Marie Bugnet' surprised me, she had almost no fragrance last year. This year she is definitely strongly fragrant. Her petals actually have a lot of substance/thickness for a rugosa:

'Turbo' died back almost the the ground and it's grown back like crazy and is loaded with buds again! I love the orange tinged tips and shiny foliage:

The 'Never Alone' looks really interesting. I guess I am adding it to my list as well. How big is the rose? Do you have a pic of the whole rose?

Beautiful roses PNR. I think I will put Morden Sunrise on my list, despite all it's bad reviews. Prairie Joy looks beautiful. I almost bought one this year but worried it might get too big. Might rethink that now. I got a few on sale last fall, including Cuthbert which has only had one tiny bloom so far but I am looking forward to that one. Also got Country Dancer. Here's the first and only bloom so far.

Here's a bloom from deMontarville ... I suspect it has thrips - is that what you have around your snow pavement? Thrip traps? I put out a blue cup. Caught a lot of something. I think my Morden Blush also had thrip damage.

I hav a lot of slug damage this year too.

Your Prairie Peace looks mighty thorny LOL. I have an Easy Elegance Calypso just starting to open. Really excited about that one.

Brandon, your John Cabot is beautiful - is it climbing something, or just growing as a shrub? It looks like a tomato cage in your Campfire, is that to keep it more upright? Mine is quite a spreader. Or maybe the cage is behind it for something else ...

VStapes, your Country Dancer and DeMontarville blooms are stunning! I've been long thinking of adding them to my garden, I just don't come across them often. The papers I have on Snow Pavement are to cover up hips because I am trying to breed roses.

Brandon, I took a photo of the overall bush shape of Never Alone today but this is not the best representation because it's been very crowded by tall violets all season. I've pulled some of the violets away:

Its on the north side of my yard and is about 2 feet tall at its highest point. My understanding is it's supposed to be a more compact rose. The leaves are very dark, smooth and shiny, contrasting well with the flowers:

'Champlain' is one of the most floriferous roses! Here it is putting on a show, photos of the front and back of the same bush:

The flowers are a very clear red:

'Turbo' is close to opening up as well, the buds are insane this year. Although it's later to start, it usually blooms until frost:

Both these need staking for me due to the weight of the flowers.

Wow, those are both stunning. I struggle with where to put the reds so they don't clash. Those buds on Turbo are ridiculous! Here's Calypso. Only had one bloom last year so this is an improvement. Starts pink, turns a little peach and then ends up spotty.

Thanks VStapes! I really like the peachy colour of Calypso, and the leaves. It is part of the Easy Elegence series? Is it resistant against blackspot and powdery mildew for you?

I'm funny with my roses, I have mostly the same colours together. The reds are together, same goes for the yellows/oranges, whites, and pinks. The red roses look really good with purple salvia and white cosmos.