Thank you all for confirming my long time suspision. Now the journey to get a real Evelyn begins again.

Any one out there want to trade an Evelyn for a Masora or some other relatively rare rose? My rooting attempt was very successful this early spring and i have way too many small pots heading to the garage this winter. Bitter sweet challenge, LOL

@Claire Z5 IL i’m not sure how to set up messages (ive tried with Kristine and it didnt work) but if you can find a way, message me

@Claire, did you see my post above? As of yesterday, A Reverence For Roses, and Garden Roses LLC both have Evelyn in stock. If you're looking exclusively to trade, you need to enable/set up messaging on your profile so you can swap info with others.

To set up messaging, go to EDIT PROFILE>ADVANCED SETTINGS>SCROLL DOWN TO PRIVACY SETTINGS>CHOOSE "ALLOW ANYONE TO MESSAGE ME".

The photo Garden Roses LLC uses as their Evelyn example does not look like Evelyn. Proceed with caution. Diane

Diane,

I brought up the same thing when Garden Roses LLC was first mentioned here…on that pic, both color and form are wrong for Evelyn. Someone wrote the the owner was very active in their local rose society and really knows their roses. I have no need to order from them, but wish the best for those who do. The price and selection is very nice.

Thank you for showing me how to change my profile setting to allow PM. My profile should be updated now.

My pleasure, Claire. I checked your profile, and yes, it shows that you can receive messages now ;)

John

Hi All, I dropped by to let you all know that I just received a nice plant of Aussaucer grafted on Fortuniana from K & M Nursery. When I ordered they told me that they had more in stock in both grafted and own-root. FYI.

KS, I wish I had room for an Evelyn on Fortuniana, but I think we're a little too cold for that rootstock. This area is just barely a zone 7. I have no trouble with other rootstocks in this zone, and I rarely get any kind of cold damage at all to my roses from our winters. Diane

More E from 2023

KS, I've been thinking about fortuniana rootstock. What do you think are its limits as far as cold hardiness? I notice you are in zone 7b, which is warmer than our 7a in winter. Diane

Diane, you have the best pictures of Evelyn that I've ever seen.

Unfortunately I haven't been in Arkansas long enough to have a feel for how roses will do on fortuniana here. I don't even know how deeply I'm going to plant. In the upper midwest I'd bury the graft. In the Seattle I wouldn't bother. Here? I don't have a sense yet for what is best. Arkansas is wild -- the winters here can be mild, and folks grow gardenias in their yards. However, sometimes it gets very cold and gardenias die. Last spring I planted some old tea roses (and a couple of gardenias). On Monday it is going to get down to five degrees... we will see who survives. The point is that I haven't been here long enough to know how far I can push plants, and what rootstocks work for me, but I'll keep paying attention and report back. :)

Thanks, KS. I understand about your living in a whole new gardening environment. I bury the rootstock about 3-5 inches and have never regretted it. I'd advise doing a little burying even in Arkansas. You'll be getting down to where we're getting as a low tomorrow. Not much difference, but your growing season will be longer than up north where we are. Thanks about Evelyn, and good luck with the fortuniana. Please keep us posted. I'd like to push zones a bit, and try one rose on fort. But I want to read how your rose does first. I'll let you be the brave one--ha. Diane

Gang, one of the reasons I've shied away from fortuniana is that James, the owner of K&M, stresses NOT to bury the bud union. I don't remember the reasons, but I've heard here on the forums that the fibrous roots don't do well when buried deeply. I seem to recall there was another reason entirely on the K&M website. I'll try to look around the site to see if I can find it.

EDIT: Here's what K&M's website says-

Fortuniana rootstock roses are container grown, so they are planted different from bare root roses. The roses should be planted the same depth as they are in the container with the graft union well above the ground. The secret in growing Fortuniana roses is never let the union get covered. (Emphasis mine).

Remember that over the years you will add mulch, fertilizers, lime, manures, etc and you will have a soil buildup. You never want the soil to touch the bud union. If it does, the rose will revert back to its own roots.

This doesn't really address how hardy the rootstock is, or if it will survive being buried deeply. So I've not been much help. James does say, "We have found that after the first year the rootstock is as winter hardy as most other root systems."

However, K&M is in Mississippi, and previously were in Florida, so you can take "hardy" with a grain of salt.

R. fortuniana is rated to Z7a, so there's that.

Thanks, Fig. I'm zone 7a, but I don't want to try any rootstock left at ground level or have to worry about amendments building up around the rootstock, so I guess I will pass on fortuniana. Thanks again for the warning. Diane

Thanks Fig -- I'm currently trying to decide between actively trying to protect the old teas in my yard for our short but intense cold snap, or practicing "letting go". I suppose that I could keep Evelyn in a pot until I figure out whether my teas and tea-noisettes made it. If they do, then perhaps fort will be an OK rootstock for me. If they don't, then I might bury the graft and hope it goes own-root.

I dont know if this helps at all. I am in N FL. Last winter we probably had a 8a winter. I had a huge Fortuniana rose in a 3 gal pot because it was dug up to move. We had a week of teens temps 16, 17, etc. We did pop up to the 40's to 50's during the day. We also had many other weeks in the 20'sF. It was just crazy. I also had 2 Abe's grafted to Fortuniana in 3 gal pots. None had any problems at all wuth the cold temps.

It is said, that if a plant is in a pot, you have to assume its about a zone colder for it in the winter than if it was in the ground.

Another thing to consider with Fortuniana is it loves to sucker below the graft. Both my Abe Darbys on Fort. do it. I rip off (instead of cutting off) the suckers. They just do it again. I had a PJP2 at my old house that was also on Fort. that one never suckered. It was in a larger pot. Not sure what the difference was. I think they were all from Nelsons Roses in FL.

I dont know if burying the graft on Fort might cause more or less suckering. Maybe someone else has experience with that.

Back to Evelyn. I'm bored. Diane

Diane - exquisite...it makes my heart ache for summer. :)

Last Evelyn of the year

Just got Evelyn - own-root from https://www.areverenceforroses.com/. It is a healthy 18 inch plant. This is my second purchase from them. Back in 2021, I had bought JTO own root that has developed beautifully in my garden. It is way better than the Dr. H grafted one I got same year from DA.

Note: Evelyn sells out really fast so I had registered for notification for availability and that helped.

Bad news for those who ordered from Garden Roses LLC. Tess and Nate Fisher have a long history of scamming:

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/05/former-snyder-county-businessman-gets-probation-for-stealing-employees-identity-running-up-bills.html

https://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/judge-orders-fraud-suspect-to-sell-musical-instruments/article_66db71ea-3fe8-5942-8e8a-76dc8e3005ad.html

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6428111/anyone-get-your-roses-from-garden-roses-yetFisheranyone-get-your-roses-from-garden-roses-yet

Evelyn is available other places. The way to find the out of patent DA roses you want is to find the AUS name, then Google that. Evelyn is Aussaucer, avalable from several places.

This rose is so popular, it just seems bananas that no one can get their hands on it--like bad business in every way! It's like capitalist logic just came a complete cropper... Maybe they just need to change the rootstock? Or do more own root? A lot of people seem to have success growing the "cancelled" varieties in "alternate" ways from the official DA grafts in many countries. Mine is ownroot, and it's tough enough. And I don't have any disease or pest issues on the varieties they cancelled recently, but mine are all on different rootstock than most US vendors use or are own root... Just a thought...

The perfect rose. New to my English garden last year but an instant favourite with my family.

Dr Huey rootstock is fine for my four Evelyn roses, three of which are starting their 20th year this March. The fourth Evelyn is about 12 years old. All were from David Austin and one came from Austin via my local nursery Edwards. Rootstock is not the problem. I wouldn't like to grow Evelyn own root, that's for sure. Diane

Evelyn in 2023

Sarah - beautiful!!! Evelyn is, to me, the most beautiful of roses. I'm looking for one along with so many other people. lol

Diane - I was ensorcelled by your 2nd picture...SWOON!!!

Carol, don't use them big words on me. What does that mean? I hope it doesn't mean an evil spell cast by Evelyn,

Sarah, welcome to the Rose Forum all the way from England. Do you post on Marlorena's thread? Your Evelyn blooms are beautiful with such great color. She's a very special rose. Do you have more photos from your garden you can show us? How about posting some on the spring thread? I'll bet your garden is farther along than here in zone 7, SW Idaho; hot and dry, semi arid desert. Not quite a green, English landscape, though the hills are getting a faint green cast after our last rain. Diane

Diane - bespelled, fascinated, charmed. :) :) And who else but your lovely Evelyn could do such a thing? :) :)

I've heard of bespelled, but how do you get ensorcelled out of it? Of course, I get a red underline on both those words. Oh, it must be a Canadian word--haha. Diane

Diane - I googled it, and it's an old word, not used anymore. :) :)

DictionaryDefinitions from Oxford Languages · Learn moreen·sor·cell/enˈsôrsəl/verbARCHAICpast tense: ensorcelled; past participle: ensorcelled

1. enchant; fascinate."he was a child when the power of a mythic image first ensorcelled him"

OK, you Canadians win the word war for now. You're too much like the hoity toity Brits with your Oxford Dictionaries. I go for the commoner known as Webster's--haha.

Evelyn--she's like a rocket ship.

Unfortunately, Evelyn is a bad BSer here. At this time of spring (3/31), it already shows serious BS problem. I moved it from west side garden to the full sun southern location last year hoping she would do better. That has not helped

Diane - that is such an unusual shot showing Evelyn in her rock phase!! Cool!!

Forever - drat. I'm sorry about that.

HA HA HA HA! I have an image of Evelyn just talking BS all the time now! Far from ensorcelling people! 😜😀🤪

Diane, my little Evelyn is one year old own root and already larger than my grafted Augusta Louise from Palatine that I got bare-root last Spring. She is one vigorous girl, very full and bushy. Maybe she is one that does just fine on her own roots? But I’ve never grown her grafted to compare it with.

Deborah. all my roses talk BS to me. It's one of the perks of old age (mine). They are all either males or females, and are all totally disrespectful of the elderly. Happy Easter.

Judi, that's great that Evelyn is so vigorous own root for you. I think it has as much to do with our dry climates as anything. I assume you have no blackspot on your roses. That makes a huge difference. I'm surprised that Augusta is not as big as Evelyn because my AL is also another vigorous.rose. Mine is grafted, but not from Palatine, and a much older rose. Frankly, I think my rose a better clone that what Palatine sold. But I should zip my lip, and of course, I don't do that. Diane

Judi - my AL from Palatine has been pretty wimpy. But looks to have fat canes this year - here’s hoping. In the meantime I got an O/R AL cutting from Straw that is now about as big as the grafted Palatine. She’s still in a pot. Will probably move to garden in fall. Straw also gave me an Evelyn cutting, which was doing great, planted it in garden, looked like it started to struggle, so put it back in a pot for now. This will be year 2 for both of them.

DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA) own-root Evelyn is a waterhog. Last spring I rooted 2 Evelyns through my zone 5 winter. Both were 1/2 band-size in April. I put both in 7-gallons air-pots. One air-pot got a crack at bottom so it could not retain water. But the OTHER Evelyn in 24/7 wet potting soil GREW OUT of the 7-gallon pot.

The Evelyn in dry soil remained tiny 1/2 band-size for the entire 4 months. Its root didn't grow despite my watering daily .. I should had used Pro-Mix MOISTURE for that leaky pot.

I took the 7-gallon root Evelyn and planted in my clay. Its 1st-year-own-root was massive & bigger than any Dr.Huey-rootstock. I tried to mail that to a friend, Post office gave me an estimate of $60 to mail, so I brought it back home & trimmed off all branches & cut down the root, and re-mailed it again for $25 shipping cost.

Well, my four Evelyns get the same amount of water as do all my roses. Even steven for everyone. And I don't see Evelyn being a water hog here in the desert. Deborah has had a terrible/terrific amount of rain this past year or two, so I don't see her Evelyn getting short changed on water, either. Diane

Evelyn is quite vigorous io spite of being BS prone. I got the baby plant from nose last April. It is over 3’5 tall 2’ wide now. Now it is in full sun so hopefully will bloom more this year

Diane Brakefield My own-root Evelyn starts out as a few 1 inch "alfalfa sprouts" roots, it needs A WET medium for calcium & potassium to be soluble to enrich the roots to grow bigger. Versus your Evelyns' GRAFTED-roots have big "pipes" or 100+ times thicker roots, so it can store water in its existing thick roots.

Also the soil which I rooted my roses are VERY FLUFFY with mostly dry perlite, and doesn't retain much water like your dense clay, or Deborah's clay in CA. Roses in pots have to be watered frequently (like twice a day) since the soil is VERY FLUFFY for tiny-own-roots.

forever_a_newbie_VA8 Soil in the East coast has less calcium than soil in the West Coast due to high rain. I no longer leave pots opened through the winter, since the acidic rain here leaches out calcium, and potting soil goes from fluffy (with plenty of calcium) to dense & hardened due to calcium leaching out of pots.

I re-used some old potting soil today and I had to put 3 cups of pelletized lime per 3 gallons of soil to make it fluffy.

Evelyn as own-root needs lots of calcium and potassium to be healthy. I have to top my Evelyn with 1 inch of biochar (high in potassium & calcium and trace elements) to buffer tons of spring rain here. Evelyn is healthy if there's enough alkaline minerals (calcium & potassium & magnesium) ..Bagged top soil here is dense black clay, so if I don't have biochar, then I top Evelyn with dense black clay mixed with pelletized lime to offset the high rain in spring. The gloss below from Evelyn leaves are from biochar, or dense black clay. My Evelyn rootings (in fluffy potting soil) DOES NOT have glossy leaves.

Below is tiny Evelyn rooting with a bloom, after 3 months of rooting from a cutting:

@DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA) my AL from palatine last year has also been pretty wimpy! I’m sure she’ll do better this year for both of us. My Evelyn from Straw got moved up to her own pot this year (i potted her with a small jubilee on accident lol). She’s still growing beautifully! She’s putting out her first buds for the season now.

I purchased a small grafted evelyn (along with Tamora) from K&M this year and something (probably a rat) chomped off the top half of her yesterday and just left it laying there. So frustrating, so i moved her into my small greenhouse. I’m so frustrated at whatever keeps eating all my new growth on my roses. Time to set out traps again :/

KrystalW 9b SoCal I get chipmunks & squirrels jumping on my pots to eat my rootings in spring (despite a large heap of kitchen scraps compost nearby). Husband likes to drink cranberry juice, so I get these PLASTIC bottle and cut the bottom off, also take off the cap above for ventilation, then put that over my rootings outside.

For bigger roses, I put pruned & thorny branches around existing roses, and that keeps the chipmunks & squirrels from eating roses. I leave messy thorny canes around roses to prevent animals from eating. It works great for rabbits in using pruned thorny branches as mulch.

Straw, that sounds like a good idea especially since i know how much it hurts to step on a pruned thorny stem barefoot! i wish i kept them from my pruning but i can actually probably get some from my lemon trees now that i think about it.

@strawchicago z5, thanks much about the acid rain in east coast. We have had tons of rain this spring . a big portion of our yard had been flooded a few times. That is very likely the reason Evelyn has broken out BS. I saved a lot of ash from buring then tree branches and will add some to the soil .

You are right, Diane. Black spot is not a problem in my area. I do have trouble with Powdery mildew on some of my more susceptible roses, but not many. And I wouldn’t say that my Augusta Louise is really wimpy, just not hugely vigorous. I’m satisfied that she will be great in time, but she’s not up to the level of your beauty yet, for sure.

Both Evelyn and Abe get a little black spot here..not too bad..this is usually during our rainy season in summer. They shed the spotty leaves and regrow them quickly. I think Evelyn is worse than Abe for bs here. PCdM usually has nice green leaves even during the summer.

I'm still searching for Evelyn I have had no luck getting my hands on her. I just need a cutting if someone would be so kind to provide one.

HU

DM me

Carla

Sautesmom, I just sent you a message.

Shannon