Do you keep a journal? Sometimes its not necessarily the rose but the location. Over the years, I’ve noticed in my yard certain locations that roses just don’t thrive or other areas of increasing their chances they will survive. Good luck, figuring it out is part of the fun!

I can't wait to see your garden with its glowing white roses!! It'll be exceptional!!

It is going to be stunning ! What state did you move to ?

Good report. My roses are looking like they will have an unprecedented cane survival rate. We had a really mild winter. The only one that has noticeable die back right now is Lady in Red. We don't do any winter protection and haven't really had any plant failures due to winter but I do get really tired of complete cane die back when spring comes and we have to cut out so much dead cane. This year, at least so far, looks to have very little to cut out.

Great to hear most of them made it! The once-bloomers are made for our climates so those aren't surprises. One insight I've had that you might try again for roses like Moonlight Romantica is to try growing it in a pot for a month or so with access to all the water it wants before planting. I've seen a dramatic increase in winter survival of roses I thought I couldn't grow from doing that simple change. They go into the ground much more robust and instead of 25% failure to survive winters I probably now have only 3-4% questionable survival, some of which will likely survive.

April Moon and Gentle Persuasion are worth trying again as I find them pretty hardy once established. Moonlight Romantica is one of the iffy ones this year even with preferential treatment, but I had a robust one before RRD-maggedon, so it's worth another look if your heart is set on it.

Cynthia

I should do that with my own root roses...pot them in smaller pots instead of plopping them immediately in the huge ones.

Vaporvac, I think the problem with the roses that failed, including Moonlight Romantica, is that temperatures here fluctuate so widely and so quickly that it is difficult for plants to maintain dormancy. Probably it would have been fine if I had been willing to take more active measures than piling the mulch deeper. But the truth is that I have been spoiled by 30 years gardening in zone 9, and I simply don't want to work that hard. I had expected that my previous gardening life in Pennsylvania zone 6 would prepare me better for another cold winter climate, but it is not quite the same here. It is windier and drier, and definitely more erratic. But it is also sunnier, and that makes up for a lot. It is almost as sunny as California, which brightens the spirits.

Well, they do say that continuing to learn new things keeps the brain sharp, and I am all in favor of that.

Nippstress, I took another look at Gentle Persuasion yesterday and it looks like there is an inch of green down at the base of one of the canes. We'll see what happens there. We can still get frost up to the middle of May, so I won't make any decisions until then. We only got one hard frost in the entire time we lived in California!

Kristine, I am in Colorado now. I am not being more specific because, well, the internet.

As for the not-roses parts of the garden: Right now I am collecting plants for an small herb garden (in pots) and a small succulent bed (sempervivums and sedums in the ground). I have seeds for mounding nasturiums to plant in my 8 window boxes, though that will have to wait until after the frost is done. I love nasturtiums. I once read something about a child calling them "nasty urchins" and was tickled pink. I always call them that now to myself, and it makes me smile. There is also to be a small native plant area which will need very little care once established. Currently it is planted with weigela, ornamntal grasses, and euonymus, plants I do not espcially like..

All of these (except the window boxes) are versions of the garden areas I had at our previous house, only reduced in size. I decided to skip fruit trees altogether. There is no realistic way to include them. Except for a lemon tree, which cannot be grown outside here anyway, I am content with that. I have changed from 3 acres on a hillside to a quarter acre city lot. I did this in part to have a more manageable garden, so I am not complaining.

A follow up as we move into May. Today is May 1. When I was a little girl we danced the maypole and made flower baskets at school on this date. How things have changed!

All three of the Buck roses are now alive. The two that looked dead sent up shoots from the roots. The only one that is all-the-way dead is poor Moonlight Romantica.

I have ordered two more so that I will increase the abundance of bloom when the once bloomers shut down for the summer, Top Cream and Champagne Wishes. They are not-Austins but roses in the romantic Austin style, fragrant, repeat-blooming, and voluptuous.. I'm thinking of adding Winchester Cathedral as well, that is if I succeed in tracking down a supplier. That should be as many as my little back garden can fit with all the perennials and shrubs it holds as well.

I particularly enjoyed this line:

“All three of the Buck roses are now alive”

Well, a little farther west in SW Idaho, I've never lost a rose to cold, never winter protect, and as usual, all roses came through fine. No cane loss or dieback. All but two are grafted. Diane

I'm twenty miles from here. This was in April.

Thanks for the report on Moonlight Romantica. It is one that I have considered for a couple of years because of how much I like the blooms. I need to add a yellow but don't want to add something that isn't cane hardy. Don't think we are going to make any changes this year but I enjoy contemplating the possibility. :-)

Glad the Buck roses pulled through (LOL Rifls). They are liable to be more cane hardy as they get older.

If you're looking for another hardy light cream-yellow that still has relatively fluffy blooms, the following are possibilities: Easy Going (if grafted), Madame Anisette (laughs off the cold, tends toward apricot-cream), Prairie Harvest or Prairie Star (y or wh Bucks), Oh Happy Day (Kordes, tends to apricot), MIchaelangelo (y, if grafted), Princess Buttercup (love the name, Heirloom sells it), Cream Flower Circus (tough as nails Kordes, stays short), Desdemona (wh Austin), Reminiscent Crema (stays small), Winter Sun (Kordes HT).

I bought my Winchester Cathedral last year at High Country Roses and you can probably put in a wish list request if it's sold out this year

Cynthia

Nippstress’ recommended Cream Flower Circus is also known as Cream Veranda. I believe it was her recommendation of this rose, several years ago, that first prompted me to get one.

I now have 2, which says a lot, given my relatively limited space. No rose here (a far cry from zone 5b) is more productive seasonlong.

Mmmm12COzone5, Vaporvac posted that Moonlight Romantica does very well in Chicago, so it may be just me. It might be worth gathering more evidence before you cross it off your list.

Nippstress, thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely keep them in mind. At this point I'm worrying that I have wandered just a bit too far from my white rose commitment. After all, about 10% of my perennials are yellow (and another 10% are blue.) I'm going to keep an eye on Gentle Persuasion and April Moon, as they may turn out to be bit too much yellow for the vision I have in mind, I am also hoping that Goldbusch fades nicely to rich cream in the high elevation sun. I added two more white-ish roses to my orders, Top Cream and Champagne Wishes. I am a sucker for voluptuous and fragrant repeat bloomers, and so far there is a scarcity of those in this garden. I just need a few, but I do need some.