This is like a delightful sorbet - perfect, judi! I especially love the bush habit since so many roses produce beautiful blooms here and there but the bush is awkward. There's nothing like a round, lush bush covered in bloom. What an accomplishment on this plant!

It really does have a beautiful bush shape., Artist. Here’s a close up of a bloom.

And now I’d love to hear to hear from you: which rose in your garden has surprised you with the most improvement?

Judi - Oh my sweet heavens!!! What a fabulous rose bush, and the blooms are exquisite!! :) :) SWOON!!!

Artist - amazing roses!! I'm in awe.

Judi, now that is my kind of rose! What a glorious color!

Artist! Wow and wow! I can see why you chose 3, they are all spectacular! Go Pinkie, no stopping her now.

You really can't beat the "found" roses like your Old Town Novato, Judi. There's a reason why they've lasted so long - tough and very beautiful. I have no "improved" roses; in my case it's who can stay alive and growing the longest, and so far Plum Perfect is the only one that has produced a few buds and blooms that haven't vanished overnight. Oh, I lied, Cole's Settlement also, although its single blooms aren't as noticeable.

@Ingrid_vc zone 9b, San Diego Co. inland

I am curious, is there any reason why you are not having the success you hoped for? Is Sam Diego a good area for roses?

That does indeed look dreamy, Judi! It’s wonderful when everything just seems to come together and you feel you have a mature, productive and beautiful garden to be pround of.

It’s too early for me to say this year, but I was approaching that feeling last year that things were finally coming together. I‘m struggling to single one out as the most improved, but I was finally at peace with Harlow Carr and felt it deserved a place in my garden after all..

I was also really happy with the improvement of my Ghislaine de Feligond weeping tree rose, which looked delightful in Spring. Unfortunately it then got very badly burnt in summer and I had to cut off a lot of charcoaled canes. It’s now a sad, straggly echo of this:

Artist - Ingrid is having problems with ground squirrels eating her rose blooms. She's having some limited success which is encouraging. :)

Nollie - oh my goodness!!!! Your rose standard is glorious!!! I think that's the prettiest standard I've ever seen. What a shame that it doesn't like heat. Your HC is dreamy!!! That's what I want mine to look like. Mine was new last year and had only 2 blooms (I think.). It already has a few buds, so I'm happy about that. If mine could ever look like yours, I'd be through the moon happy.

Judi, what an absolutely gorgeous plant! Just amazing!

Artist, your blooms are stunning and I love tour DPKO. I have 11 or 12 Red DKO and have never understood the shade people throw at them. yours is a show stopper!!

All of my plants are 3 years old or less, so they all have been improving pretty significantly over time as a whole. But I would say that my Moonlight in Paris did not give me many attractive blooms last year, and this year I had two rounds of very beautiful blooms.

@NollieSpainZ9

But that stone wall...ah, how I miss those European heavy stone walls!

Harlow's soft color against that wall is a vision.

@Echo_Texas_zone9a

I've had my eyes on this rose for a while and I suspect I will get it eventually. I heard it has a glowy quality to it. It is very photogenic in all pictures.

Artist, thank you, and yes, I would definitely say it has that quality

@Echo_Texas_zone9a

I am curious: after you cut those roses for the bouquet, did you have many left on the bush? If I cut that many, I would not have anything left on the bush, so I usually don't have much for bouquets, especially all of one color. :(

Echo - those are exquisite...they remind me of Jude the Obscure blooms!!!

Artist - me too.

Artist & Carol, yall are too kind. This was every bloom on the shrub and I think maybe one (or possibly two) from the day before. usually the heat gets my blooms where they look great in the morning when they are just opening and then if I don’t clip them they get loose and kind of bleached out. Some do better on the shrub than others. the last two years I was so excited for every single bloom, I cut them immediately. I’m learning to cut a few and then let them bloom and fade out on the shrub now and enjoy them ”in the garden.” I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but I was working on a personal project where I take a bouquet of each of kind I grow and take a picture. The first garden is in my yard and the second ”garden” is on my phone.

Carol, here is my Jude. It’s the only one I have two of. One is grafted and one is own root. Everyone tells me I will come around when I know better since I am a newbie - but I significantly prefer grafted.

So beautiful, echo. What's the first rose bouquet photo, the reddish one?

Caroline, that one is called Autumn Rouge and I bought it on Etsy. Thank you so much :)

@judijunebugarizonazn8, I love how you expressed the sense of wonder and delight in your garden! I think this feeling is what every gardener hopes for in their own creations.

@Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA, Your Climbing Pinkie is a scintillating spectacle! Utterly enviable!!!

@NollieSpainZ9, Gosh I’ve never given Harlow Carr a thought until seeing this pic of yours! So pretty, all those ruffled petals! And the GdF tree is so cheerful, especially with all those buds! Sorry that it got seared. :(

@Echo_Texas_zone9a, LOVE the posey wallpaper! You have a lovely collection of rose varieties. And totally hear you about rescuing blooms from the hot sun. We’re in solar flare season here in SoCal!

@Echo_Texas_zone9a

Amazing photos with that project! You get a clear idea of each rose's potential. Very beautiful!

Speaking of DPKO ... I hate to say it but yes, it is indeed a show stopper and by far the best performer of ANYTHING I have. The photo doesn't do it justice.

I also have three babies to the other side of the driveway that I planted last fall and did not even protect from terrible frost this past winter, and they still thrived and bloomed their heads off.

The big one at the mailbox bloomed like crazy this season, I have to go deadhead with a small bucket to get all the spent heads, and it still has tons left on it. Hundreds basically.

When taken care of just like all other roses, it outperforms everyone by many miles and it does become a show stopper with the bush coverage and color.

I can see how some may find the form too common but if I have to pick between coaxing a couple of blooms out of the most exquisite rose and getting loads from a mainstream one, I will always go with the latter. I also found DPKO had more of a globular shape this season, it almost reminded me of Pomponella.

The truth is DPKO can be an unmatched performing beast when treated well (which includes no condescension lol).

Echo - what a great idea to post bouquets of each rose variety you have. Sensory overload from such beauty!! :) :) Seeing all of the roses together like that, it really showed me that I much prefer the color pink vs. yellow, red, etc. Although it's better to have lots of colors, I think. Oh, Holy Hannah!!! Your Jude blooms are exceptional!!! They would make a breathtaking bridal bouquet!! How long have you had the own roots? I got own root roses last year, and I wasn't thinking much of them. But, this year, they're starting to grow...it's really early in the season here, but I have hope for them. :)

Artist - my roses have to have fragrance, otherwise I'd be with you wholeheartedly. :) Having a rose in full bloom is very inspiring. It doesn't happen to my roses very often.

@Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA and @Echo_Texas_zone9a:

I have a friend in Tulsa who just got a DPKO and I've been sharing your comments about it with her. She's a very experienced rose grower and gardener, but sort of abandoned roses due to RRD a number of years ago. Anyway, she was curious how DPKO does in terms of black spot for you guys in TX and GA, since she's in another high-BS pressure area (OK)? Thanks for any info I can share with her on BS with DPKO. (Or anyone else as well!)

@susan9santabarbara

She is the best I have in terms of black spot too. I have not noticed any issues. If it gets any in late summer it is nothing noticeable. It is literally a workhorse.

The only issues some may have with it is strictly aestehtics since the form may be perceived as "too common" / "you see it everywhere" and maybe some do not like the strong, neon coloring. For the landscape, I do.

However, in terms of RRD, I hear it is just as susceptible, if not more, since it is often placed away from the house where the winds may transport the mite more easily. I am not sure - but I have seen the RRD in mu subdivision and I am terrified it will get my DPKO-s too. I wrote a note to those neighbors and alerted them to the issue but the matter is out of my hands now.

Then again, RRD can get any rose.

Artist - it was a good idea to write them a note. Now you can only hope they listened. :)

Those flowers in the bouquet of Jude the Obscure are indeed wonderful! but,@rosecanadian,have you ever read the Thomas Hardy book by that name? It's a beautiful book, but so extremely tragic-tragedy about love and marriage and children...so, no, I would definitely NOT advise anyone to use the roses named for the main character of this book as a wedding bouquet, lol!!!!!!!

Artist, I have a feeling if you posted your second photo of DPKO, described its floriforous nature and disease resistance, and made up a new name for it, people would chomp at the bit to order it - before you revealed what it really was. I drive a mini van and I cant tell you how many people have told me they would never own such a tacky vehicle, but there I go, opening the whole thing with my key fob, doors opening and shutting and laying the third row down for a plant haul, taking out the middle seat to make an aisle, scooting the middle row forward and backward… they cant believe how helpful it is, but would never drive it. some people are too stuck in other people’s opinions to have their own. My Red DKO have never had a lick on blackspot in Texas.

Trying to find photos with softer light but this is my DRKO hedge

Carol, you are the nicest person on the internet, I swear!! thank you so much! Yes the photo project has also helped me steer toward colors I do not have to try to keep balance to the collection and not over represent one color way, and also help me see what i’m really enjoying the most. I really like the vision board nature to see it all together. My Jude is often kind of a soft yellow, but the picture I posted is my favorite version of it. Carol, all of my own roots are 1-2 years, so I know they are younger than their grafted counterparts and that they will take time to mature. I recognize its a long game and that what it is like right now is not necessarily what it will be like later. Its just nice to have some of them (grafted) that form huge shrubs with true to form blooms straight away. most of my own roots are small twiggy, rangey, runts. That would be my OR Jude, Abe Darby, Lady Gardener, April Love.. most of my Heirloom plants. Most of them are potted or bands. They trim them for shipping and then they often get cane dieback on some canes after planting. Then you have to play the cut the dieback off game and see who wins- the black cane or the shears. Then they take years to take off for me. a lot of front end effort. everyone is different but it’s nice to just get a huge bareroot that grows like crazy and puts out nice blooms without all the wait and toil. just my newbie experience

@Echo_Texas_zone9a, OMG! Your Double Red KO roses are stunning!!! And you have a hedge of them??! What an amazing show!

Bart Bart, I agree with you about Jude the Obscure-the-book. Hardy was never a happy camper. Tess of the D’Urbervilles led a difficult life— and when I grew the rose, I found it a cheery, bubbly dark red. Go figure.
Gabriel Oak was a nice guy; Nicholas Wildeve, not so much. As for Bathsheba, she needed medication and therapy.
David Austin must have been quite the Thomas Hardy fan, as he named so many roses after his characters.

My favorite Victorian author is George Eliot, and some of her characters have terrific names. How about a rose called Featherstone? Cadwallader? Ladislaw? And of course, Deronda?

Artist & Echo, thanks so much for your comments about BS with your DPKOs and DRKOs... I have shared them with my friend in OK, and she's encouraged! She's still on guard for RRD (always).

Bart - no, lol, I've never read the book. Good to know. :) :)

Echo - my goodness!! What a great rose!! My only problem with KOs is that there's no fragrance, and that's why I grow roses. But, otherwise, you've sold me on them!!! Wow!! Awwww...that's so nice of you to say. :) :) I comment so much because I'm so moved by the beauty that people share. Yes, I need to be patient with my own root roses. I have a mix of own root and grafted. I went own root to get some varieties I couldn't find around here. They're very new. I wasn't so sure last year about the own roots, but they seem to be growing and doing well. :) LOL, most of my own roots are small, twiggy runts too. They'll get there. :) Oh, man, do I ever get what you're saying. The black cane-pruners dance.

Sylvia - Cadwallader...that's tough to say.

@susan9santabarbara

I have some DRKO that were already here and I assume are very old. They are in a tough area, under massive trees (limbed up, so they get plenty of Texas sunlight, but probably not enough water or nutrients because of root competition). I don’t think they were ever cared for (guilty myself of that).

Last year, in the fall, all my roses got blackspot, including the DRKO and the single KO I have. Not as bad as others, but everything got it. I am in a very wooded area, which I was told makes it worse, I garden organically, and I am completely no spray.

I forgot to say, I am in the Houston area, so very humid.

I am now roughly in the middle of my first flush and Love Song has surprised me in earning the ’most improved’ label for this year, having been somewhat underwhelming in the past. It was also the most commented on and admired by recent visitors for it’s large lavender blooms. Not my favourite rose by any means, no scent for a start, but it works well in a mixed border:

Gorgeous, Nollie! I hope my Love Song follows suit. Mine was struggling so hard last year with blackish, gnarled canes that I cut it back almost to the ground early this spring. It is sending up some healthy canes and blooming nicely on those canes, but definitely not a nicely shaped bush at this point. Yours looks good with the Nepeta.

My most improved is definetely Moonlight In Paris. This year it has hundreds of blooms. It was a slow starter but kicked in to high gear this year. I guess that I better get a picture.

Next we need a ist on roses that went backwards

I had cane trouble with LS too, Judi. A number yellowed first, then blackened and died, plus it got bad black spot. It’s shaplier and seems much healthier this year, so hopefully yours will pull it’s socks up soon!

Exactly the way my LS behaved, Nollie. Must be a thing with that one.

Kristine, good idea to have a thread on Roses that Floundered this year. Not a happy subject, but realistic.

My LS is unhappy this year. The standard is all but gone and why, who knows? Even the bush form will need patience amd time since it got moved . It is blooming well but the bush is sickly.

CT - oh, that's a shame about your blackspot. Can you replace the really susceptible roses with roses known not to get BS as much? It would be a juggling game, but you may be happier in the long run.

Nollie - that's an INCREDIBLE Love Song bush!!! It's smothered in blooms...oh my!!

@rosecanadian

Thanks. But it’s ok.

The only roses I have that are established are the KO, particularly the DRKO. The fact they only got some blackspot in the fall, didn’t defoliate, with a complete lack of care and being under massive trees with our humidity is IMO a credit to them. If I’m being honest I wouldn’t have bought them, but they sort of grew on me. I gave them some alfalfa this year but I truly believe they were never fertilized before.

Most of my other roses are still babies, mostly bought as bands, so I’m waiting to see if they will grow out of it with age as Paul Zimmerman recommends.

But I am realistic about blackspot. I am not going to spray, and I live in the Houston area, so in the fall I just assume many roses will have it. I remember watching a video about a no spray organic garden (I wish I remembered where other that it was a public garden somewhere really cold, maybe Illinois or Wisconsin) and the lady responsible for it said, when asked about blackspot, “I call it falls’ early color”. We barely have winters here in comparison so that is even less of a concern.

When my roses are not babies any more I may find that some are particularly bad, but I don’t really worry too much now.

I did buy 3 earth kind roses, because they supposedly do well here. One died, and was the only band I ever lost. The other 2, seafoam and Belinda’s dream, were among my worst looking roses last fall, so I don’t really trust that a rose does well here unless I see it. Obviously they might grow out of it and be wonderful, but it was disappointing, I don’t think they would have been my first choices were it not for being on that list.

@NollieSpainZ9, Lovely Love Song! I just bought a bush that I’m excited to be putting in the ground this weekend! I hope it will be as bloomy as yours and those of other growers here!

@C_T, Belinda’s Dream is a great performer here, but as for being labeled an ”Earth-Kind” rose that performs with limited water… meh, not really. Maybe that reflects a difference between Texas and SoCal.

I totally agree that rose cultivation is empirical and seeing a variety’s performance in one’s own locale is a preferable litmus test to how it might do in one’s own yard. Ah… the tribulation and adventure of trialing roses that suit one’s own garden!

CT - stay true to your plan. :) You've got some good ideas. :)

CT, I’ve probably tossed more roses than I currently grow in the quest to find roses that can cope with my particular conditions. Only by trialling them do you really get to know if they are keepers or not, plus I really enjoy trying them all. Fortunately, roses are inexpensive in Europe, so I can wield the shovel with abandon.

I garden organically in hot and humid summers so black spot is just a fact of life, as is some winter dieback at my altitude. Love Song does get some black spot here, but not too badly. If a rose does well in other respects, it stays.

Nollie - oh, I so agree with you...I don't want to know how many roses I've gone through...I'm sure it would blow my mind.