I have one more award for Biggest Thorniest Monster Who Wants To Take Over The World...found some pictures of the big Harison's Yellow at our old house

The taller stump in the middle was cut off right at 4 feet tall, to give you an idea of the size. When I moved I took two sucker branches (stuck together at the root) and a year later they gave me this:

...which is now triple the size after this summer's growth.

That is stupendous! I had no idea it was such a gorgeous flower! I may have to look into that thorny monster or not! :-) Thanks for Sharing.

If you decide you want a piece of it come spring I know I'm going to have suckers!

Wow, Joey, that is an amazing rose. Where is it growing?

The big one is at our old house in northwest Colorado. I took a piece to Wyoming when we moved and it is going bonkers. Before the deer hit it last month it was at 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide as a year-and-a-half old plant.

Joey - that is stupefying!!! Utterly gorgeous!!! I've never seen a rose like that!!! Oh wait...someone on this forum has a huge rose (pink?) at the top of a hill. I can't remember. That's the only other rose I've seen that is this HUGE and GLORIOUS!!!! And the color!!!

The colour is amazing! Like gold! Was that Hoov's Bishop's Castle?

I'm late to the game but:

Sexiest: Marie Pavie, because to me the flowers smell like leather and rose.

MVP: Bishops Castle. The most reliable rose in my garden.

Biggest Diva: Sonia Rykiel. Gorgeous flowers, but my plant has always been the most horrid looking, with awkward growth half defoliated and leaves damaged (by thrips? blackspot? We don't get blackspot here!).

Rookie of the year: Desdemona. This one could easily become my favorite rose.

Survivor award: Scentuous. Severely damaged on arrival, it made it through when I didn't think it would.

Peter (noseometer): Sonia Rykiel likes dense & wet medium like MG-moisture-control potting soil. It bloomed more in the pot than in my clay. It's best as own-root. I have a few roses as grafted-on-Dr.Huey and they are more prone to black spots (like blooming on top, but bare-legged & no leaves at bottom). Versus blooming from head to toe such as Dee-lish, Poseidon, and Sonia Rykiel as own-roots. My Grafted-on-Dr.Huey roses like Lavender Crush lose 1/2 of lower leaves in hot & dry weather or else losing leaves from blackspots in tons of rain. Own-roots are much healthier and need less water with smaller-size.

Pots actually use less water than in-ground, so I'm going to do more pots next year since I'm out of sunny locations in my shady garden.

Osmocote PLUS is cheap at 8 lb. for $22 on Amazon right now .. that is fantastic for pots with all trace elements and NPK 15-9-12. Osmocote PLUS made all my Evelyn rootings broke out in buds. Weird to see buds on a 3 inch. rooting !!

My award for most bare-legged rose is Lavender Crush (grafted on Dr.Huey) .. I have 2, one in soaking wet & partial shade, and one in fast-drainage & full-sun .. and both lose leaves at bottom, and bloom on top only after 4 years. I see the same with Austin roses with climber-genetics: they bloom on top only if grafted-on-Dr.Huey.

Roses do blackspot if too dry. I once had Arthur Bell that I dislike, so I didn't water it for weeks in hot & dry and it broke out in blackspots. Potassium is not available when soil is dry, so roses break out in diseases (mildew or blackspot). Calcium and potassium are also leached out with tons of acidic rain, so roses break out in blackspots or rust. I reversed blackspots before on Golden Celebration by dousing it with sulfate of potash & calcium. Below is Lavender Crush (note the blackspot leaf):

Vaporvac - No...it was Lisa's Mel's Heritage....utterly glorious...but searching for it...I saw Jeri's Mel's Heritage...totally gorgeous too!!

Noseometer - sexiest rose award!!! Hahaha!!! Good one! :)

Straw - I learn soooooo much from you!!! Thank you!!!

Your roses are so beautiful and inspiring. I'm really glad to hear that Munstead Wood will grow on its own roots. I have one (on a grafted root stock) and I'll take cuttings. Did you strike it from a cutting yourself?

Those are good tips about reversing blackspot. I have a bush, the "Wedgwood rose", that is covered in it. I have picked the affected leaves off and given it a good feed and mulched around it.

Ro.

Ro: Thank you !! Here in zone 5, I buy my own-roots from Roses Unlimited Nursery. My Munstead as own-root is MUCH HEALTHIER than the Munstead wood at nearby rose park (grafted on Dr. Huey).

That's so interesting. If a plant grows on it's own roots, it means you can strike it from a cutting very easily, so I'm delighted to hear this! Because....in Australia, I'd always been told that DAs would not strike from cuttings or grow on their own roots. Seems I was misinformed!

Ro - I've never heard of any companion plant that stops bs. Too bad you can't try it with alliums (plus they're beautiful in their own right). Let us kn ow if the chives help.

I always grow parsley, because it's delicious when it's crispy when you cook it in butter that you brown...and then put over potatoes. So much fun to hear of your "summer" stuff when snow is all around here. :)

Ro - oh! :) :)

What a lovely Wedgewood!!

I’ve always wanted a Wedgwood Rose. Tell more about it, Ro?

Thanks Ro, I look forward to hearing more about it (and seeing more) as your season progresses! As the season of quietude begins here, and with the shelter-in-place orders, seeing your roses will be welcome.

Stay safe noseometer. Cheers.

Madame Alfred Carriere gets the Most Variable...she grew so slowly last year with cool weather and no sun that her thorns were close together and she never bloomed and fooled HCR into thinking she was the wrong plant...this year the heat has caused her to really grow and space between thorns to extend and bloomed in 95f weather. She loves heat and smells amazing in it!

Ann Beck: Thanks for the info. on Madame Alfred Carriere, it will help many people who grow that.

My award of "Hating clay and acidic rain" is Felicia. It went down hill in a pot, when we had 2 weeks of rain early July. I moved to dense clay then it died. After much research, I found that Felicia likes loamy & fluffy soil (sand), and prefer full sun .. which I don't have in my garden of shade and heavy clay. Plus Felicia does better for dry climate and has a blackspot reputation for rainy climate: Below is how Felicia looks in a fast draining pot during 2 weeks of rain. I did put lime to neutralize acidic rain but it wasn't enough:

So sad when a roses dies........hoping not to say goodbye to my Distant Drums.

Straw - Yup, we can't save them all...good learning!!

Ann - same with my Crazy Fashion...good luck. :)

Distant Drums may get Most Improved it has put on 4 new leaf sections (5 leaves each)!!! Had to change it to MG moisture control and really, really watched my watering to make sure it dried out enough.

Taking my cue from some of the categories above.......

Most Heat Sensitive _ Rhapsody in Blue. Can't take it over upper 70˚F. Tried 3 areas.

Rookie of the Year _ Peach Swirl. Surprising growth and bloom for 1st year.

Survivor Award _ Geoff Hamilton. Crushed by ATV, propped up and doing fine.

Most Determined _ Vanessa Bell & Mill on the Floss _ Arrived in poor condition. Almost tossed, but kept in bucket of water since spring. Going in the ground this weekend. Looking good.

Best Comeback _ Paul Bocuse. Found under overgrown arbor, poor and sickly. Dug up and replanted. Grew backward for a month. Planned to toss, but unexpected new crop of growth last week.

Best Recovery _ Twilight Zone. Weed Torch left one live cane year before last. Just counted 12 blooms on small bush.

Best Successful Relocation _ Morden Sunrise _ Dug up large, 15 yr. old bush and placed in bucket with no drainage, almost no soil, for 3 months. Dried out in heat, floated when it rained. Finally planted in ground and started blooming immediately.

Best Surprise _ Kiss Me Kate. Took off faster than any other rose, ever.

Most Underrated _ Dortmund. Dependable with a capital D.

MVP (s) _ Wollerton Old Hall and Crown Princess Margareta. Winners from the get go. Super fast growth and tons of blooms.

Best Comeback from Roots _ Aloha Hawaii. Died to ground. Popped up this spring. Looks like it's going to be a slow process, though.

Most Improved _ St. Swithun. I'd given up hope, but with some pampering, he has bounced back. Cleaned out lots of old canes.

Most Missed _ 2 Koko Locos, Morden Blush, Johann Strauss.

.

Ugh, Flowers!!! Kiss Me Kate is SO SLOW here! I would be tempted to get rid of her if her blossoms weren’t such a beautiful silvery pink.

Just goes to show, one gardener's success is another's disappointment. I'm always surprised, and grateful, when any rose does well. Poor soil, unpredictable weather year round. I agree that Kiss Me Kate is a beauty.

Flowers: I love your list, each one of yours carries an exciting story !!

Here are my awards for 2021 for own-root roses:

Most continuous blooming in my rock hard alkaline clay: Poseidon, Carding Mill, The Dark Lady, Mary Magdalene, Sweet M., Munstead Wood, Twilight Zone, Firefighter. Below is Mary Magdalene:

Best comeback: Twilight zone. I zapped it for years with wads of chicken manure (too high in phosphorus) which burnt 1/2 of the bush .. but it bounced back thanks to low-phosphorus fertiiizer (only once in spring) & plus SOLUBLE sulfate of potash & lime during rain. Now it's twice taller & loaded with blooms as of August 13 in 4 hrs. of sun. Will post pic. later.

Most wimpy band: Felicia .. I should had done what Heirloom stated; NO GRANULAR fertilizer on wimpy roses, NOT EVEN OSMOCOTE !!

Most gaudy yellow: Golden Fairytale, but the scent is surprisingly good & lasts 5 days in the vase. Golden Fairytale is the lowest yellow. Upper yellows are Moonlight Romantica (best fruity scent):

Most blooms as band-size: Sonia Rykiel, Well-being, Parfum de Paris .. these I pinched off at least 20 buds per band since received this May. Below is Parfum de Paris which bloomed in 1.5 months as a band:

Most water-hog: Abraham Darby in a pot, so I put in partial shade & soaking wet clay and it stopped wilting at 90 F. Abraham 1st bloom is the lowest right (zillion of petals). The large and many petals like AD, PcdM, Evelyn, and Poseidon need more of water.

Most drought-tolerant: Prairie harvest .. get the least water but blooms constantly. Below is Prairie Harvest with Pink Pet (also drought tolerant but zero scent):

Most lime-hogs: these need alkaline lime to pump out blooms (see most blooms as band-size). Below was my 1st Sonia Rykiel back in 2012 next to a limestone-based patio (always healthy):

Most acid/sulfur hogs: low-thorn roses like Sweet M., Leander, and St. Cecilia as own-roots. Below is Sweet M, which I put at least 10 cups of gypsum in the planting hole, now 5' x 4' across.

Most beautiful large blooms: Radio times, Tchaikovsky, Evelyn, The Dark Lady.

Below is Tchaikovsky in 4 hrs. of sun, but still pump out 4" across large bloom & candy scent:

Longest pause between flushes: James Galway, I consider it a twice bloomer: big flush in spring, and much less afterwards. Below James' scent becomes amazing carnation/old rose in the vase:

Biggest and longest roots & most winter-hardy: Dee-lish, PcDM, Sweet M., Betty White, Gruss an Teplitz (father of Dr.Huey), most Austin roses except for wimpy Jude the Obscure and Eglantyne. Betty White had the best scent in both Chicago Botanical Garden and Cantigny rose garden. Also winter hardy (survived six of my zone 5 winter as own-root). Below is Betty White with Evelyn in upper left. Betty White's scent is heaven with acidic rain, but it's too fruity with higher pH:

Most thorny or prickly: Radio Times, Mary Magdalene, Orchid Romance, Princess Ann, Strike it Rich, About Face, Solitude, Carding Mill, Munstead Wood, The Squire, Double Delight. Below the Squire (red) likes full-sun and alkaline soil & tap water at pH 9:

Low thorn or thornless: Zeph. Drouhin, Firefighter, Yves seedling, Bohemian Rhapsody, Twilight Zone, James Galway, Annie L. McDowell, Sweet Mademoiselle. Firefighter is my most fav. low-thorn rose, but it died 3 times in my zone 5 (not winter-hardy):

Scents which sent me to heaven: Comte de Chambord (one bloom can perfume the entire room, best scent among my 140+ fragrant own-roots), second place is Mary Magdalene (enchanting and intoxicating frankincense). I missed Mary's scent during the winter so I bought expensive bottled frankincense, and it's not as good as Mary's scent. Below is Comte de Chambord, fast repeat and it gets my vote as the most compact bush. Duchess de Rohan's scent is just as good, but 3 times larger plus Duchess suckers.

Any recommendation for low-thorn and easy-blooming like Twilight Zone? Thanks for the info. Below is Twilight Zone mingles with Savannah (blooms fade in the heat).

Straw, you get our MVP award for your detailed information. Your experiments on your own roses benefit all of us. I hate to think how many roses I would have shovel pruned without your help.

Straw, what zone are you in. I saw that you said Betty White was good for the Chicago area and thought that might be good for my mother-in-law, but helpmefind.com says that it is only good for zone 7

I'm in zone 5, helpmefind is wrong on the planting zone of Betty White. Betty White as own-root survived six zone 5 winters. It's also most vigorous as grafted-on-Dr.Huey in both rose parks (zone 5). My Betty White is small & compact bush as own-root, but is a constant-bloomer:

Ann - good going on improving your Distant Drums! :) :)

Straw - oh my!!! Your roses are wonderful!!! My faves are your Sweet Mad., the three large blooms, The Squire, your James Galway and the picture below it, and your Comte!!!! :) :)

Looking over my mistake of burning Twilight zone with too much chicken manure. It's now fully recuperated, loaded with 40+ blooms in 4 hrs. of sun, with only soluble fertilizer after spring flush.

Twilight Zone is low thorn and purple color, typical of multiflora-parentage. I also killed low-thorn Felicia (new band this June) thanks to using Osmocote. Felicia has Trier (hybrid multiflora) as its parent thus sensitive to salt in granular fertilizer & hates my dense & heavy clay.

Carol: Multiflora-rootstock IS SENSITIVE TO SALT, thus SOLUBLE fertilizer is best.

I spent 1 more hour last night checking on the mobility of calcium compared to magnesium and potassium. All 3 are available to plants only in SOLUBLE FORM, but calcium leaches out twice more than magnesium and potassium.

Aggressive roots like Dr.Huey-rootstock & or matured chunky own-roots can utilize calcium in the alkaline-lime form. But wimpy-own-roots like Felicia is best with SOLUBLE calcium (as in gypsum). Lesson learned. Back in 2012 low-thorn & tiny leaves Annie L. McDowell was vigorous with gypsum & sulfate of potash to fix alkaline tap at pH 9. Annie is wimpy as own-root and can't produce acid to utilize hard-minerals in my rock-hard clay, and need to be doused with SOLUBLE fertilizer. Below is Annie L. McDowell, fertilized with SOLUBLE gypsum and sulfate of potash:

Frankly speaking, I am not an HT person, so when an HT far exceeds expectations in my garden, I think it deserves to be rewarded. These two HTs do change my previous perception of HT and make me wanna get more HTs with such great qualities.

Most clean HT -- Dee-Lish

My second year own-root Dee-Lish is one of my cleanest roses in my no-spray garden, which is amazing since Seattle is a high-pressure area of black spot and powdery mildew. I usually see fungus disease on my roses here and there, but not Dee-Lish. It keeps growing and blooming and the newest stems just reach 5'. It has only a couple of yellow leaves even in August since in spring. Strong Fragrance. Upright growing habit. Fast repeat.

Most floral HT -- Secret

HTs usually produce solitary or in small cluster flowers on one stem, but not Secret. The bloom in the pic is from one stem. That's not a special case. Almost every stem borne more than two or three flowers. It's disease resistant and shade tolerant (mine is in 4hr sun). And there is another thing makes me love it more: it's very shrubby. If it weren't for the trait of high center, you wouldn't have thought it was an HT. Strong Fragrance. Shrubby growing habit. Fast repeat.

Gorgeous pics. Thank you. Too bad my zone 5 is too cold for Secret, but Dee-lish is hardy and always healthy in my no-spray garden. I have 2 Dee-lish as own-roots: one is 7th-year-old, and the second one is 6th-year old (in 4 hrs of sun). It's the best bloomer among my 140+ own-roots, only Poseidon and Sweet Mademoiselle can match Dee-lish in the amount of blooms in my heavy & dense clay, we get 37 to 40" of rain per short summer, plus 28" of snow in winter:

Feiy Lo (PNWZ8b) Where did you get Secret? Is it own root or grafted?

Straw - thanks SO MUCH for doing the research! So granular isn't good for my roses. Good to know. I won't use Osmocote next year. I just used a little of it in each pot in the early summer. And I haven't been using MG soluble because you said it isn't good for hot weather. Just been using things like fish fert, kelp (which is probably too salty). I finally have some worm leachate which I'm going to use after the rain is gone. :)

Your ALM is so beautiful!!! Scrumptiously beautiful!!

Feiy - your Dee-Lish is so vigorous!! My fave is your Secret!! What a glorious rose!!! Oh my!!! Well done!!

@ann beck 8a ruralish WA Own-root Secret is very difficult to find in commerce. I got mine grafted from Christianson's nursery (Mount Vernon, WA). They have a rose list on their website updated every year. A great place to buy roses and other plants.

https://www.christiansonsnursery.com/plants/christiansons-rose-list/

Carol, I wish you could repot your roses in fresh, new potting mix and next Spring put Osmocote Plus on them in the correct amount in Spring and then just water. My 5 gal pots maybe take 1/4 cup of the pellets at the most and your roses could be happy. That could help you be happy.

Osmocote Plus is great for pots. They recommend waiting after repotting a couple weeks or a month before any fertilization. After that this could be a yearly one time application.

Less is more. Get away from all this winging back and forth with multiple products.

I used Osmocote Plus in my potted roses and annuals for the first time last year and couldn't believe how quickly it went into action. I never got results like that with Miracle Grow. I do the weakly weekly thing, which I guess, if it's slow release, isn't necessary. I've never used it on roses in the ground because I love Lilly Miller so much, but for a mid season pick me up, I'm thinking I might try it next year on the ones that are lagging behind.

Sheila - I agree - I need to repot all of my roses. Then they could have a reset. But that's just not going to happen. So I'm hoping that they'll sort themselves out. :)

The thing about using all the products is that I love watering with buckets. I would be a bit bored if I didn't dither about. And dithering about used to work for me. LOL I posted about my streps on the seasonal thread...and I really enjoy that they love to be fussed with. But, I really appreciate your caring. :) :)

Flowers - another vote for Osmocote. :) :) How do you do the weakly weekly thing with Osmocote?

I’m voting Teasing Georgia as Most Popular with the Japanese Beetles. a bloom in the morning is gone by afternoon and it is the only rose I’m growing that has leaf damage from the beetles.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR I so agree on the less is more. Of course this doesn't apply to every situation, but earlier this year I was concerned because I think I burned some of my bands with too much manure. It was recommended to me to add such and such to fix it (I can't remember the remedies now) but I got too busy with the kids and the rest of the garden and I just forgot about it. Well, the roses recovered all on their own without any extra care, and they've put forth lots of healthy and beautiful new growth. I'm a lazy gardener who is not really willing to pamper anything, so they're just going to have to get by with minimal special attention 🤷‍♀️

I am giving myself and award for Listening to new ideas....I had always heard that if plants don't perform, it is a bad plant/rose...this year I am listening to new ideas from everyone here that I can do something to help a plant perform!

It actually started earlier this year by listening to this guy on orchards and his plants and aphids as indicators...this one is about perennials and mentions roses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mttYLTpoERc Strawchicago's wisdom has helped me see how it applies to roses.

I found it.

Here my best;

HT---This is a tough pick but I have to go with Louise Estes

Floribunda-----Lady of the Dawn

Shrub (other then David Austin)-----Pink Knock Out.

David Austin-----Munstead Wood

OGR-----Marchesa Boccella

Miniflora-----Another tough pick. I have to go with Tiffany Lynn

Mini-----This might surprise most folks but the grocery store mini, Kiss Kordana

Thank you, Keninnega for those bush beauties. Agree with Louis Estes, mine was perfection in blooms and the bush was 100% healthy. Still kick myself for moving it and killing it in the process. I replace it with Orchid Romance (better scent), but lesser in beauty.

That Lady of the Dawn is so beautiful.

Ken, I have a baby Marchesa Boccella because of you. Yours is so beautiful. I also love your Lady of the Dawn.

Keninnega - your roses are exceptionally beautiful!! My favorites are your Marchesa Boccella, Louise Estes and Munstead Wood!! My goodness...amazing! Your minis are super healthy and look great!

Straw - I'd go with great fragrance over beauty. :) :)