Edith Malek was instrumental in the American Clematis Society being there in Irving, California. I have to confess clematis growing in the extreme heat has been a challenge here. The foliage looks awful later in the season. I might try to cut it down next summer when bloomed out. Edith recommended this in her books regarding clematis growing in hot climates. The viticellas are supposed to be some of the best for heat, as "Italian" clematis. I do hope I figure this out here. I had one mislabled clematis that was Ernest Markham, I think, that probably bloomed itself to death in a 1 gal pot last summer. I planted it anyway in August and I am hoping it didn't die. I never figured out where to plant it before because of it's color surprise, when I had planned for purple. The plant foliage just fried even with watering properly so it looked horrible by the time I planted it. We'll see. What I am trying to say is I bet my clematis wish they were up with John and Carol etc in the NW rather than with me.

Clematis grows successfully in SOME parts of Southern California, but in many of the very hot desert inland areas ... not so much. Irvine has a very mild climate. I do not think I had air conditioning when I lived there... if so, it was rarely used.

Diane, my G Celebration is 4 years old, and about 4'. He's one of the roses the deer kept pruned to a stump. There was a surge of growth last year and more blooms than ever. He's in a group of four or five that need to be spread out and given more room. When I had deer, I planted everything close together because they couldn't grow normally. Now that the deer are no longer a problem, a bunch of my roses are way too close together. Always something!

We're dry, but I'm sure you're drier, so I can't say why your Austins are not begging for more water. Khalid Waleed, from the Organic Rose forum, not Antique, as I said up thread, suggested I might try giving Jude more water and maybe it was a coincidence, but by golly, he perked right up. So, I started giving all my Austins more water. I did notice the growth and blooms were better after I started doing that. I hand water, so it's easy for me to adjust the amount for each rose.

Diane, I hope that I didn't steer Khalid wrong, but he said that Jude wasn't really blooming that well for him. Mine were loaded with blooms, though the leaves may or may not look good, and I told him that I really flooded them with water constantly. I have fast-draining sandy soil though.

Austins have been easier for me than other kinds because in my climate and soil, it doesn't seem to be possible to over-water them! Lots of others can get fussy here though, but not Jude. Mine aren't very old, just big. We have a lot of drought here though (when we aren't flash flooding!).

Those pictures are dreamy, sigh...

Even in pots, my Austins don't seem to mind staying quite wet. They seem to come down with BS when water stressed in pots. OT, but is anyone still home on the Organic Forum? I recently posted there, but noone answers. : (

Diane, who blooms more for you? Golden Celebration or your Julia Child roses?

Robert,

While Diane is napping, I grew Golden Celebration and Julia Child both in Texas , and Julia Child was the much better repeat bloomer. GC was mostly a big spring flush, and a few sparse blooms the rest of the year. JC keeps coming flush after flush until very hard frost (Here in CA, it bloomed until I pruned her in January). Of course, your climate is much milder so you might get better results with GC than I did.

JC

GC

Ben - those both look amazing...but then you don't do anything below amazing. :) :) I love the irises too!

Ben, napping? Are you implying that I'm elderly? Lovely, bloomy roses above, and the iris is outstanding. I agree with you that Julia is the better repeater since she is pretty much #1 in my garden for repeat with Munstead Wood not far behind. And I do love JC, especially my grafted girls which I've grown since 2006. My third Julia, own root, is not as bloomy, and the blooms lack a bit of the beauty and size of the grafted Julias' blooms. But in my hot dry summers, Golden Celebration is not far behind, and after the first big flush, reblooms very well. GC is a wee bit more lovely than JC, and the blooms are bigger. Golden Cel is huge for me with graceful, bendable canes. It's self supporting, but could be grown easily as a climber. I love how Golden Cel twines and blends easily with its neighbor Boscobel. Robert, you must grow both roses. They are both outstanding, and in your climate, I think Golden Celebration would repeat quite well. Diane

You've all seen too many photos of my Julias, so I'll post some Golden Celebration photos.

.

Diane - G A S P ! ! ! You must post pics of GC more often...you hardly ever do...those are incredible!!! Your first pic absolutely took my breath away (honestly, I turned blue lol).

Diane

I always see you posting updates in the wee hours of the night, so I figure you’re a Night Owl still asleep in the early morning, when I post. Keep in mind I’m asleep at 8:30 pm, so anything past that is ’wee hours’. While we’re talking golden yellow roses, I updated this Golden Zest thread that you last posted in, since J&P is offering him again.

Diane and Ben, thank you! I have both roses, but they are being shaded out by trees and I need to move them in the next few weeks. I was trying to figure where to site them to enjoy them the most. And I do have Boscobel and LOVE it. Fabulous rose!

Thank you so much, Carol, and please don't turn blue. I'll post some GC photos on the seasonal thread.

Ben, I'll be back later to comment on your bedtime.

Robert, I'm so glad you have all those roses, but sorry about the trees. I have the same tree problem and have spent a fortune on reining in trees, and you can't win against a tree. Good luck with moving the roses. Could you use GC as a climber? Diane

Diane - :) :)

Same to you, dear Carol.

Ben, did I post in that thread? I will check it out. I did notice J&P selling it. I'm still dithering about another Orange Dude. Also dithering about Desert Sky and Bring Me Sunshine, which seems to be Austin's hit of the year in the US, so I'm probably out of luck for dithering. Space problems here and Orange Guy and Desert Sky are very small. Hey, that rhymes.

Robert, carry on and may the Rose Gods shine on you. Diane

General Golden C: Private Bosco, I outrank you.

Diane, that British guy did a video review of Bring Me Sunshine and said that it blooms a lot but that the ENTIRE plant is floppy. He said it needs support for the canes and that the flowers nod too. He loves the rose, though, and I don't think he would expect his review to be a potential turn off, but it certainly was for me. As much as I like my Austins, I really wish they didn't nod so much. Maybe I'll change my mind after reading reviews from those who have grown it here?

It's so hard to know with Austins. My lovely Gabriel Oak, a fragrant blooming machine did start throwing out octopus canes in year two. Sigh. I kept cutting it back to 12" and it would throw out enormous canes with blooms at the tips. It's lovely though, so I think I just need to move it. Anyway, Austins behave so differently here!

Much as I like my Golden Celebration, it's definitely a nodder. Diane's blooms are incredible, but when the background is the sky and/or the roof, you know it's a nodder.

Which is probably fine if the rose gets above your head :-D

Maybe you are cutting back too severely. I've never cut back any rose of mine to 12 inches. Some of my Austins do shoot out those long canes, but it's usually late August or September, and I cut them back, harvesting any blooms on the ends of the long canes. I like to leave some canes on GC as graceful droopers (is that a word?), but the the rest of the shrub is pretty upright and totally self supporting. In the last photo of the first group, GC is not leaning on the porch at all. I let him grow to about nine feet tall. It works in that space. Young Lycidas can be droopy, but he has grown out of most of it as he's aged. I love the look, though, and he makes wonderful plonk bouquets I finally discovered this year. His fragrance is superb I found out when he started wafting in the house. As far as Bring Me Sunshine goes, I'm not worried about drooping canes, but about this rose's potential size. I have so little space left. I do like a variety of sizes though, from less than 3 feet to nine feet, depending on where a rose is growing. Diane

Diane - I think you should definitely get Desert Sky if you can find one...it's a beauty!!! :) :) Oh, I adore your GGC... and the two military men look great in your garden. :) :)

Carol, at first I was puzzled by the two military men. I say some really silly things. Desert Sky is available at Edwards as a five gallon plant. I'd be stupid not to get it. Edwards will give us details in March so we can pre-order. How's your weather? More wet weather coming up for us. We are way ahead of our usual yearly average. Diane

Diane - lol :) :) Our weather is a bit under freezing, but quite nice. :) :) We're getting -8C/-18F tomorrow. So we're not ahead of our usual temps. Yup, getting snow tomorrow too. :)

Ewww. Sorry, but -18F sounds dreadful. Let's talk about fun stuff. Are you going to visit Kedra even with the snow? Stay safe if you do. And plan your garden for next year. Still going to grow raspberries? And have a lovely Valentine's Day. Diane

Diane - still here...for a bit. Yes, there'll just be a bit of snow and we have snow tires. :) Yup, still going to grow raspberries, we're going to plant them in the troughs and surround the troughs with styrofoam to the sides and above. You have a lovely V Day too. :) :)

Diane, I say 12" but it's probably more like 15"-18" but even when I don't do this they throw out long canes. Gabriel Oak starting throwing out long canes in the summer for me, and I believe something like this was also happening to Kristine LeGault 8a pnw 's Gabriel Oak. I still like the rose, but I do think I need to re-site it. It was 8' tall easily in July.

Evelyn is a cane shooter, among the worst. And several others, though it can vary from year to year. Have you tried Young Lycidas? I don't worry much about those long canes. It's like thorns, which don't bother me, either. These are just something certain roses do, and it's part of rose growing. Diane

I love the flower on Young Lycidas, but I don't love how it nods. AT ALL. The reason is that I have a really tiny garden (believe it or not) and so it's really difficult to be in a position where you can view it and enjoy it because you have to be up close most of the time, and for those nodding blooms, I think it helps to be further back or even further down. I don't have those options. My planting area is 30' by 20' and it's packed. I cram things in because I just can't help myself -- I want all of them! :) Maybe we will move in the future and have a bigger garden where I can have all of these roses that grow like fountains!

Robert, YL really doesn't nod that badly, and its stems support it well in a bowl or vase. But I understand about lacking space for what you want. At my age, it's probably good that I can't add much more to my garden. I'm sure a bigger garden is in your future, and you live in such a great place to grow roses. Diane

YL not nodding a whole lot.

Robert, could you grow Young Lycidas in a planter? I have mine in a half wine barrel and that gives it some height and a space for the branches to drape.

Librarian, what a gorgeous photo of a gorgeous rose. You look pretty good, too. Diane

Aw, thanks. I always love your photos of YL. They certainly encouraged me to grow them.

I don't mind some nodding blooms..they look graceful to me. Not stiff. YL looks good in a big wooden pot. I like your outfit, librarian.

Here's my smaller Golden Celebration. It started out as a 3" own root cutting. It has been a good plant but eventually started declining as it practically never gets watered and some poison ivy grew up around it. I sprayed the poison ivy with Roundup but may have gotten some on my GC plant. I started a new own root one in a different spot. Love the fragrance, size and shape of blooms and the color.

Some nodding going on

The one on the right is whispering something to the one in the middle

I like the buds. Moonlight on the right.

Ok, so what I ended up doing was moving my Golden Celebration into a GIANT pot (it's 4' tall and I don't know how wide; I could hide in it) with a cylindrical metal support so that it can grow up and out and be graceful and gorgeous and not really take up garden space. I think it will be a good move because it will help fill an area that is paved, and the fragrance will be very enjoyable at that height (as I am 6'2"). :)

I love this idea, Robert. I can't wait to see photo updates! I definitely use large pots (but not yet that big, just the half wine barrels) to expand my garden space. We have a long driveway and I've turned it into a garden patio.

Thanks, Erasmus. I always enjoy your garden photos. I lived in overalls last spring and summer while I was pregnant. They're the perfect outfit that grows with you and have the best pockets I've found on women's clothing.

Man, these are some seriously gorgeous roses!! Good job everyone!!! :) :)

I've seen 6' x 6' mature orbs of 'Golden Celebration' in front of homes, in their gardens. Like 'Jude the Obscure', they can get massive, and the width can be as wide as the height, so buyer beware. They ARE beautiful, however.

My Golden Celebration is about 7X9 feet, and I love it and have grown it for many years. I've already posted pics above, and yes, this rose gets big. It's grafted and pruned every year. GC is almost a continuous bloomer. Just had a small earthquake here a couple of minutes ago as I sat wasting time at my computer. All's well. Diane

Really? An earthquake? I would have thought that Idaho would be free from earthquakes. Shows what I know. I'm glad it was a small one. Hard to believe how big GC can get...wow!

Carol, Idaho is one of the top earthquake states in the US. I have experienced a lot of them, plus one in California, and one in Oregon when I was tiny. Idaho is just about all mountains with flatter land in river valleys. We are also one of the windiest states, and yes, we have windmills generating power, but hydroelectric power is the biggy. Diane

From our backyard a while ago.

Beautiful!

Diane - I didn't know that. Hopefully, you never get strong quakes? The snow on the hills made me think of a white (grey...I hate how there is no white color for horses...they're all called grey) horse hide...looks like it would feel great under the fingers. :) :)

We had wind chill temps of -27C/-17F today. Don took the dogs for a walk and he said the way home the dogs were pulling on the leash to get to the warm house.

Carol, I've experienced a couple of strong quakes in Idaho, by far the worst was in the late 1950s when I was thirteen. It was much worse in other parts of the state and Alaska, This quake extended into Yellowstone and westward to eastern Oregon and up to Alaska. Lots of people were killed and there was much destruction. And I was sitting on the throne when it began, just what a thirteen year old girl would want, especially later when having to write an essay about what you were doing when the quake hit. Your temps sound awful and really not good walking weather. I don't blame the dogs. How are you feeling now? Diane

Carol, check out the Hebgen Lake 1959 earthquake in Wikipedia. It was 7.3 on the Richter scale, equivalent to the 1908 SF quake. I was on the ......when that struck. Diane

Wow!! The surrounding landscape dropped as much as 20 feet!! Oh my, lol, you've quite the "moving" story to tell. :)

Carol, that was in Yellowstone. We had the quake, but nothing like there. The epicenter was many miles away. Back to Golden Celebration. Diane

Diane - yeah, I saw that...Yellowstone. :)

Oh, SWOON!!!! and again... SWOON!!!!

Wow, Diane...I'm amazed!!

that;s amazing. i just love it

Diane, it looks like I'm recreating your garden in my own garden. Thank you for the inspiration :)

Robert, go right ahead. I;m sure what you come up with will be beautiful. And you're welcome and thank you, too. Diane

I had heard this rose might get tall, but things don't usually get huge in my climate as it's just not that sunny, so I thought I'd try. However, rather than growing up, my two-year-old GC seems to be growing "out", like a wild thing... I have never quite seen a plant grow in every direction like this. When I stake it, branches tend to grow out sideways, then flop over, or flop, twist and grow upside down. Worse than any raspberry bush. Like a Clematis on steroids. It's in the back of a border, I can't seem to keep it from learning on, or hugging branches around its neighbors, and it grows fast. It's like The Stranger Things vines this year. Some shrubs like this start to grow straight-up better with time, is this one of those? Or will it need its own yard? Is there any kind of pruning that reigns this in? And how to do it? Pruning it after the first flush last year seemed to kill part of it off, which was surprising, so i don't want to go too hard on it.

Robert, it isnt me who grows Gabriel Oak and after hearing how large it can get, Im out. I should be done actually( at least for today ) Golden Cellebration is just magical but prunning those giants is way too much at this age.