Well Sunny, you scored some good roses. Ebb Tide (I have three) and Twilight Zone (have two) are among my favorite roses. And I love all the Distant Drums photos I see posted by forum members. Just how many kids did you have along for the ride? It looks like lots of car seats might have been involved. I love what I can glimpse way in back. You got some big plants, already blooming--very nice. And we'll expect photos as the season progresses.

My rose garden has been pretty much complete for several years, due to lack of space and my ancient age of 76, but back in 2006, I did some driving for roses. I remember being happy to have found two Julia Child plants in pots in a big box store. Julia had just come on the market that year. These two Julias were to be the linchpins of my front yard rose plantings. The colors were going to be yellow and purple to go with our tall yellow house. I planted the Julias, which took off immediately, but they didn't look alike. I was so upset because I knew one of the pots had been mislabeled. And indeed, one rose was Wild Blue Yonder (also a new Carruth release in 2006). So WBY was banished to a boring side bed, and I took off all over two counties looking for another Julia Child. I had to have the second plant, or my entire plans tor the front yard would be ruined. Finally, in the next county over, I found another Julia, the last one, at a rural nursery. She was about five times the price of the first Julia, but who cares? I got her! And today, they still bloom beautifully along with two Ebb Tides (2006 Carruth releases, too) found at still another nursery. The Wild Blue Yonder, which I initially hated, I now love, and he is my Clown Prince. All's well that ends well, right? Diane

Ooooh 6 hours thats dedication Sunny! I've done some wacky things and traveled to get roses. A friend and I went and dug up twenty something Austins a few years back because the sight was going to be transitioned from a rose garden to the location of a new house. The owner offered the roses for free soooooo yeah it was fantastic! I enthusiastically dug up so many roses in the heat of summer. which normally wouldnt make any sence,but roses are unbelievably hardy. We sprayed them with water and brought them home. I think we may have lost two of the puny ones but after looking like death itself the roses quickly recovered and started blooming :)

More recently I stuffed a young Julia Child ( bareroot of course) In my suitcase and brought here back home with me. She was originally mine but got left with my sister who offerd her back when I came out to visit.

Diane I love Twilight Zone and Ebb Tide lol. when I was deployed in Afgahnistan I was rose shopping ( window shopping really) I saw Ebb Tide online and fell in love. As soon as I got back home I went hunting for her but found Twilght Zone instead ( which is a daughter seedling of Ebb Tide) I purchassed her right away 😍

Great find Seeingreen. I actually like TZ a little better than Ebb Tide, but it's close. I think TZ is harder to find than Ebb Tide, too. I don't know why that is. Diane

Hey Diane! i love your story of your hunt for the second Julia Child. what a relief you found it at last and were able to plant it during the same season! I always enjoy your Julia Child pics. Your Ebb Tide is what inspired me to add it to my list. Twilight Zone and Celestial Night were not on the list, but when I saw them as such large, healthy plants, I had to buy them. I guess they will live in pots for now. Im trying to create a fragrant, no-spray garden. I hope these varieties will prove to be winners here.

I have three kiddos (5,3,and 1yo). The 1yo came on the trip with me while the other two were in school. My husband was able to do an afterschool pickup for me so that was a major help!

Seeingreen i cant believe you dug up so many mature plants in the middle of summer! what a great score but man i bet that was a lot of labor! im so happy most of the transplants survived and thrived! I love the mental picture of you packing a bareroot in your suitcase! Julia Child is such a great rose. Cant wait to see your pics this season!

The roses i purchased were from Pine Hills Nursery and the plants were huge and very reasonably priced. Their Austins were $34.99 and all other roses were $24.99. im so happy I made that drive. The Austins at the nursery near me go for $60.

Pic of the Distant Drums in bloom. Every other plant has buds! Yay!

maybe i would have just bought one Distant Drums if it were just buds, but the fragrance! and thr beauty! Of course i had to get the only three left!

The Ebb Tide stock was also dwindling. I may have grabbed the last Twilight Zone and the last Celestial Night.

Has anyone heard of Sweet Madame Blue?

im struggling to post pics… geeze

Sunny Thats not a bad price at all! I don't know if its rose prices in general or just the local stores but last season the very small selection of not knockout ( which I don’t hate knockouts, I’m just not interested in them.) were like 50 bucks so I waited till the end of the season half off sale.

Yeah I laughed at myself a bit bringing Julia Child back with me but my sister offered her back, she was paring down her rose collection to make room for more daliahs. I couldn't say no. I also brought a few old rose cuttings who have rooted and were planted at the beginging of winter my field. Really looking forward to the blooms!

Seeingreen i love that both you and your sister collect roses. i just convinced my sister this pastfall to plant some julia childs along with the drifts and knock outs she already had. ihope this is the start of a fantastic collection. she has a lot of land and i do not. she has already told me that i can bring the roses from my new haul to her house if i cant find a place for them here haha. what an offer right?!

I also purchased daliahs this past september for the first time and willget them at some point this spring i think. i have no idea where to put them. maybe in pots for now. or maybe they will go to my sisters house too hehe.. do you and your sis live quite far away from each other?

Distant Drums and the newbies

This row of David Austin roses had me going gaga..

Diane, your Ebb Tide is beautiful! I passed this one up last year at the nursery - we were running late for something and I didn't have a chance to buy it. After seeing your pics, I'll definitely go back and get it!!

What a great haul! I hope you love Distant Drums as much as I have! And I fell in love with Diane's TZ, but mine is still not up to her standards...so I'll keep waiting.

I have driven to a nursery about an hour and 20 minutes away, and last summer I drove to Bakersfield to visit Burling Leong's nursery (I was driving from Northern Cal to Southern Cal, but it was out of my way, as I would normally take the 101 S, not the 99 - I guess it was about 3 hours out of the way). But I also made a pilgrimage to the David Austin nursery in Shropshire a few years ago -- took a train to Wolverhampton and got a B&B, then visited a church my grandmother's great grandfather was baptized in, and then took an uber out to the Austin gardens. Had tea and scones in their little tea room. I wish I could have bought roses to bring home! But I did buy other souvenirs. One year I walked about 5 miles to get to a nursery just outside Belfast, but it was May and I forgot that not everyone lives in my climate, so their roses were just barely in bud! Then I had to take a bus back to town. I was so tired and covered in blisters, and not a rose to show for my trouble!

These photos are from the David Austin Rose Gardens in Shropshire/Albrighton in England (June 2019, I believe?) I think the first *might* be the Generous Gardner on the pillar, and the second might be a Teasing Georgia on a pillar. Maybe.

This one is a cute little bumblebee in a Tottering By Gently rose (also at the Austin Rose Gardens)

Deborah, those are gorgeous photos, but where was the first photo taken (love the rose covered pillars)? I think the second photo must be at the Austin gardens. What is the rose in the third photo? Diane

My longest drive was about 5 miles to Home Depot. There are no rose growers near me where it wouldn't cost way more to drive than to have them shipped.

@Diane Brakefield - I edited the post to properly label them. All were taken at the Austin rose gardens, and the last one is Tottering-By-Gently. Two roses I thought were beautiful that were like TBG -- few petals, totally open (I'm sure there's a term for that, but I don't know it): the TBG and Fighting Temeraire. And a third, which you've seen me rabbit on about in this forum -- Jacqueline du Pre. I now have a JdP from Heirloom (one gallon) - got 3 blooms this year so far, but they all looked a little wonky. I'm hoping she grows into herself this year!

Thanks, Deborah. Tottering is a cute one (I am tottering currently, but am not cute). But if you want to try a pretty single, I'd recommend Morden Sunrise. Dainty Bess is gorgeous, but has an awkward growth habit. I'm really enjoying the photos of your garden, and must comment on the seasonal thread. Diane

Sunny Mississippi the new Distant Drums look lovely! …and adding JC to the drifts and KO’s will be beautiful! Building your sisters collection, lol shes getting pulled in good job!!! lol

I used to live close to my sister and once she purchased a house the gardening bug really bit her. shes always loved dahlias but now that she had somewhere to put them her hobby took off. In fact she took my position at the nursery I worked at when I moved out of state for some land. She currently works at a more local nursey now and loves it. Its great having her in the hobby I think all of my sisters have at least dipped their toes in. ones into airplants and ferns, another growing food and flowers for her kids and the youngest its a total house plant afficinato.

Deborah your pilgrimages sound amazing! I wish I could see all those places! we did used to make the 4 hour drive to Heirloom when it was open to the public. I miss being able to meet roses in person to see what they are really like. Unfortunately there are no such nurseries near me and there are no public rose gardens either I’m going to have to make my own.

Diane -- your quips always make me giggle! Thanks for the tip on Morden Sunrise. Looks lovely. I need more roses like holes in the head. I swore I'd never do pots, but I now have several in pots... Is Morden Sunrise related to Morden Blush?

Seeingreen - so great that you have sisters into gardening! So you must have lived in PNW to be able to go to Heirloom. I don't know why they're not open to the public -- even one weekend a month could be nice! I went to the Portland Int'l rose garden a few years ago -- so much to see! And it was a gorgeous day. I asked one of the volunteers what her favorite rose was (or maybe I asked for her favorite red?) - she said FIREFIGHTER. It was gorgeous and smelled amazing.

Deborah, if I couldn't make wisecracks, I'd go nuts in the current situation of the world and my physical decay. Years ago, when John Clements was alive and owned Heirloom Roses, we visited the nursery, and it was lovely. They had a test garden, and that was where I saw Jude the Obscure for the first time. It wasn't named, but I swore I'd get that rose when it became available to the public, and I did. Morden developed a number of roses in Canada which are supposed to be very cold hardy. I don't know if this entity is private or connected to a botanical garden, or the government. I'll check. Diane

I am coming into this conversation late, but…. I made a 2ish hour round trip to K&M Roses in Waynesboro the last two springs and came back with WAY too many roses. Sunny, I’d like to hear more about Pine Hills Nursery! I’m about 2 hours from Pass Christian. Is it worth the trip?

I dont live anywhere close to a good nursery, so im always driving an hour, hour a half to get stuff.