Double your pleasure, double your fun (Doublemint gum)

vs.

double disappoint

If the one you grew in the past was own-root, a grafted one would be worth seeking out.

The past Neptunes were grafted.

In 2007, the HMF rose reviewer John Moody (from Missouri) posted this:

Well, I originally said I was so disappointed with my Neptune h/t rose that I wouldn't replace it after shovel pruning it for poor performance. However, in placing an order later on I found myself needing another rose to fill the order and out of the blue I just decided to give this cultivar another chance as I liked the photos here on HMF so well. I planted a budded maiden of this rose in Spring of 2007 and this one has been night and day different from the first Neptune bush I had. This version of Neptune I am currently growing is a flower producing vigorous bush growing machine that is really putting out. The flowers are large and very fragrant and an excellent color and seem to be repeating quickly between flushes. So far I am glad that I decided to give this one a second chance. I only hope that the winter of 2007/2008 will be kind enough to it so that it continues to perform well come Spring 2008 as well as it is now.

Do you think budded is same as grafted? Or budded as in fortuiana?

Just grow Love Song, a much better rose, from the same hybridizer. Diane

I think Neptune is a decently strong grower, you should give him another try since you already like the bloom. It is the most impressive single bloom among the lavenders, huge , thick petaled,, nicely formed , and strongly fragrant. It’s my favorite lavender HT. Unless its coming from a specific seller like K&M, I doubt it’s on fortuniana rootstock.

I'll concede to you on scent, Ben, but I'll put up my Love Song blooms against any Neptune blooms-- They are meh on HMF. Maybe yours are better. Diane

It was always my impression that it meant grafted Grafted Is same as budded.

I have two grafted (on Dr. Huey) Neptunes and they're very vigorous. They bloom like crazy, are extremely fragrant and gorgeous, and no diseases. Love Song is a beautiful rose, but to me, Neptune wins hands down. I wouldn't necessarily judge a rose only by pics on HMF if you've never seen it in person.

I got 4 from Weatherspoon last spring. Strong growers with beautiful blooms that smell great. Nice cutting stems with thick foliage. I put 1 in a 5 gal. pot to see if I could grow it like they do in India. The other 3 are in the garden. Good and winter hardy (so far). Even the one in the pot looks good with no winter protection. And yes, it got cold here a couple of weeks ago (9 degrees) with temps not above freezing for 72 hrs. Give it a shot and see what happens.

Ken, India grows roses in pots more than here in the States? I did not know that.

Shelia---Oh my yes!. They grow HUGE bush's covered in blooms in 5, 7 1/2 and 10 gal. pots. The bushes are so huge and covered in blooms, they use 2x4's to prop up the bushes to keep them from tipping over. Over there, bush shape, size and profusion of bloom is the big thing.

Why don't they plant in the ground, Ken?

My Neptune was on Fortuniana . It grew long thorny stiff octopus canes , with big lavender blooms on top . I hated the plant so I S/P it .

Most of the people in India don't have any "ground" to plant any plants in. Wall to wall houses. Elbow to elbow people. They grow everything on their roof's. India is the most densely populated country in the world. They passed China just recently. The people on farms are too busy growing food to feed everyone. The VERY rich have homes and lots where they grow all sorts of plants in the ground. But like I said, the big thing for exhibiting roses over there is pot culture. Growing huge bush's covered in blooms in small pots.

Thank you, Ken. I feared that was the reason.