That is so funny and right on in so many ways!

Highly entertaining, Artist! Well done.

From right to left, Cl Pinkie in the background on the rails.

Olivia, EDI, South Africa, Beverly, Belinda's Dream, Munstead Wood.

EDI

ORA

SA and EDI hanging out

Munstead Wood

Lady of Shallot on the other side of the deck.

Artist - that was impressive and fun!! I don't think I can do justice to the topic like you did. Your ORA is an incredible rose...WOWZA!!

Wow, incredible!! I especially love the first pic!! I wish my roses did that well. :) :)

Artist, you definitely think outside the box! I like it!

Evelyn - is definitely an executive woman, perhaps a corporate president. She always wears an understated but refined dress to below her knees, no power pant suits, and is the picture of goodness and graciousness.

Quietness - is a seriously contemplative man or woman, who valiantly survived a horrendous catastrophe.

Apricot Candy - is a lovable, good time, party girl with more beauty than brains.

Pope John Paul II - is pristine, flawless serenity personified.

True Bloom True Passion - is an over achiever, sadly, never meeting its large bloom goal. It tries with all its might to produce 5+" blooms, but always comes short of its goal, getting only to 3" blooms. However, while trying so hard, it skyrockets in height over width, producing 3" flowers (never bigger), abundantly. Their orange-red, neon bloom color is almost hurtful to look at, it is so intense. True Bloom True Passions conclusion seems to be, "Well, if I cannot attain my 5+" flower goal, I will at least produce 3" blooms that have show popping neon orange/red colored flowers abundantly, on a lofty bush. That ought to please the public!".

Moses.

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6

That is some perfect profiling right there. I could not have described Evelyn better! I see the same with Apricot Candy, a bit similar to Easy Does It. Colorful and out for fun.

And your description of certain bright reds as overachievers is on the nose.

Right now I am having a bit of a psychological struggle with my Coral Drifts. Don't get me wrong, they are e excellent, reliable performers but I wonder if there really should be five of them in a row, plus some red/pink around.

Lots of red out there.

I definitely need to reduce my color palette in the front yard since they monopolize all of the attention and they need only white or cream around them.

They ARE overachievers, for sure.

Right now, bless me, I have some yellow pansies in that area too left from early spring, AND ..blue salvia too this is a total no, no. Way too much party going on.

I will eliminate the yellow soon and will try to get the area sort of 'patriotic' for 4th of July... although bright coral is not exactly american red. Or French ...for Bastille Day and democracy? lol. Um, no.

Basically, my Coral Drifts are a bit narcissistic or something, not sure.

I will remove anything yellow in the area (my Good as Gold in the back needs to go somewhere else, and no more yellow pansies; but they look so healthy right now I hate to yank them out just bc they clash. :( The heat will get them soon enough.

But I wonder what I could place in that container to tame down the Corals. Something white or off white, ethereal or grassy. The corals are a choir of noise - but they perform like the overachiever that they are.

Guirlande d Amour (sp?) would look lovely with your home. I think more draping flowing would be beautiful.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR

Just to specify, the house you see behind the corals is not mine. It is the neighbors'. But I agree I need some white in that area. Problem is I cannot plant much in the ground there behind the corals because of that tree, never mind wires.

I would not have a place for Guirlande D'Amour there.

Lots of beaten, clay soil and tree roots. You can see an Eden in the back leaning on that fence but it is not growing much probably bc of the tree root competition.

But I want to find something drapy, grassy and white for the container in the middle. I had the fairy there for a while but I began suspecting RRD and I took it out. It wasn't doing that well in the container anyway.

The yellow pansies must go for sure, since they turn the whole area a bit garish. (Or a lot) :)

I must limit the color palette to red and blue (from salvias) and white/neutral the third color (but no more).

GdA is lovely indeed and eventually I will find a place for it on the property as I plan to set up a new bed in the backyard.

I wonder what could grow tall enough in that container and then allowed to drape on the sides...Hm.

Also do you know if GdA can also be grown as a tall bush? (not a climber)

I grow my GdA as a bush. A drapey graceful bush.

I would also take your neighbors home color into your overall composition.

@Sheila Sheila

But I suppose that would be way too big for a container, right?

I guess it would be too large for a container.

Artist, I have had my eye on Coral Drift for some time. Its color really pulls me in. The Drifts I now have are: Sweet Drift and Apricot Drift.

I have tried Popcorn Drift because it does so well in my niece's garden, but it just sat frozen in time for a couple years, doing nothing remarkable here. Out they came. The White Drifts I had, which are sports of Sweet Drift, seemed weaker in constitution, getting powdery mildew, so they came out.

Every Drift has a different growth habit, flower form, some more, some less ground covering ability, and disease resistance. The only unifying thing about the Drift roses is their short height, small flower size, and the harmonizing Drift word in their names.

Your Coral Drifts look fantastic. "If its not broken, don't fix it!" is my advice.

Moses,

I have had Sweet Drift and Apricot Drift too - the Sweets I took out because I suspected RRD and they weren't impressive anyway. The Apricots I still have them , two in front of the house - they are OK.

I agree, each one has a different growth habit. I have seen the others too, the Snow Drift and Popcorn - but I think the Corals are by far the most vigorous and best performers of all Drifts.

Yes, they are prone to PM too but they push through it like no tomorrow. This year they only got a bit, not too bad.

However, I am aware some may find the color too much, not everyone can handle a mass of red in the landscape, especially this tropical kind. It definitely needs to be handled with care, in the sense of controlling the color palette. They probably work best with white around them and nothing else, although coral and blue can also have some panache.

I won't do anything to them, if I do anything, I'll do it to others. :)

I happen to have my Good as Gold right behind them (he was there first!) and I decided to cut the blooms to bring them inside as soon as they start opening so I will not have any yellow next to the corals, since together with the salvia blue they all make a lot of hullabaloo.

I am looking forward to the yellow pansies being done too.

In a nutshell: way too much strong color. :) Some would call that garish, but such is life. lol

Hahahahaha! Anthropomorphism at its finest! @Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA and @Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6 both your descriptions were hilariously accurate! Thanks for the laughs!

Moses - well done!! :) :)

Artist - to me, everything goes together perfectly...I think it's all so beautiful!! :) :) I especially love the climber on the trellis!

Brilliant, thanks for the hilarious read. Roses so do have personalities, although I couldn’t hope to match your brilliant character disections!

Lady of Shalott was dismissed early due to bullying. She was a mean girl who thought that her beauty would justify her hair pulling and clawing . She got a ticket to ride, right to the land of unrepentant meanies where she can have a good hard think about not clawing the hand that feeds you.

Our Anniversary is an appreciative beauty who treats me with kindness and respect( she probably heard what happens to trouble makers ). No pesky diseases for this girl just gorgeous big blooms and shiny leaves. She is kind of a suck up though but its ok. She gets gold stars every day for beauty and kindness.

Artist, great thread!

@Kristine,

I kind of thought LOS was the one who got bullied. lol

If she's Regina George who does she like to hang out with? :)

Spectacular color on Our Anniversary!

Kristine - those are good!! Better than I can do.

LOS was the worst rose to prune EVER. She once had me by my hair, back and arm. I was actually trapped for a time trying to figure out how to kill her with my one free hand.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw, Hahahaha! It’s terrible that you were in this sort of bind, but imagining the scene was humorously poetic, given the shared namesake of this rose and John William Waterhouse’s painting of the fair lady and her long tresses… You wouldn't happen to be a red head, would you? :)

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw

That is hilarious! I know some grow her as a climber but does she really get this big/tall? I have her in a large container and she seems tame and putting out tons of growth now. Then again, tis is her first legitinate season after spending the entire last year growing roots since voles destroyed her in Spring 2024. She was a trooper and came back.

Maybe she tends to have childhood trauma which may explain the meanness later. :) But she is not mean in my yard. She sounds more like misunderstood. :)

Based strictly on bloom I would describe her as introverted and luminous.

Kristine - hilarious description, but very apt. :) :)