colleendly's ideas

Reply to: Thanks, Judi. I think Select Seeds has both Orlaya and Dara. I order from them regularly. These plants, annuals, self seed, and produce lots more seed for you to gather. You should have to buy only once with few exceptions. Kitty, Renee's Garden Seeds has Lauren's Dark Grape for sale, 1900 seeds, or .5 gram for $3.59. They have an enormous selection, especially of annuals. I highly recommend them. It's where I got my first grape poppy seed. Diane

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Reply to: Stunning, all of them!!! I hardly have taken any since losing all my pics for the past 5 years, but Ill see what I can rustle up.

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Reply to: @prairiemoon2 z6b MA, I wouldnt go through hthe trouble of cuting to the 5leaf for NewDAwn and whesshes so vigorous. Just lop off the dead ones and cut back the laterals.

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Reply to: Olivia , mother of pearl , the generous gardener , Claire austin , Darcey , tranquility , the poets wife , belindas dream , queen of sweeden just to name a few ... blaze improved is a horrible blackspot when you stop spraying im changing her to lady in red next fall .

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Reply to: Gosh....seeing this thread revived makes me realize how much I still miss Lynette. Sorry to be a downer, but we lost so much knowledge, and such a great friend, when we lost her.

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Reply to: Oh wow I really like that! this was The one that was impossible to get right? How’d you lay hands on it?

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Reply to: *Fig, decorating that tree is quite the labor of love! Wow! Ingrid, love your cute tree with animals, birds and angels. *Carol, get better soon and thanks for starting this new thread. Love your poem. *Jim, wising you the best on Dec 27. *Seaside, what a find, Wild Eric!!! *Kristine, Azalea looks so cute in her little red outfit. *Diane, love the village decorations. *Straw, what a find for those sweet handmade ornaments. Its always nice to upcycle. *Intwilight, your mention of StarTrek ornaments made me smile. Our tree has an abundance of JPL ornaments that DH gets each year since he works at NASA/JPL. Here’s one from a couple years ago.

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Reply to: Sheila, I'm so silly, I got teary-eyed just now seeing your magnificent bush of Jesse. Thank you for that pleasure. I don't know if anyone remembers my kitty, Jason. He is still with us, sharing out lives and giving us much happiness. He's also older now and slowing down, although he still does zoomies sometimes.

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Reply to: This is my favorite, built of rebar, no welding required. I built one for my mom, but tripled the depth of the one in the diagram below. This isn't mine, photo credit goes to FamilyHandyman. Check out his photos of the finished arbor. The instructions are here at FamilyHandyman Arbor. His photo shows two unconnected arches installed close to each other, but not touching. It uses two sizes of rebar, and copper wire. You'll need a good hacksaw, and a conduit bender. I tripled the depth from a single arch of 12", to a connected single unit totaling 3 feet by making two arbors per the instructions and connecting them with yet another set of rebar circles between them, making the arbor about 36" deep. So if you choose to do that, you'll need enough of each size rebar to make another arbor per the instructions, plus another section of 3/8" rebar for the extra circles. Theoretically, you could make the arbor as deep as you wanted by adding more sections. You'd just need to make sure to reinforce across all the sections with straight horizontal pieces of rebar the total length of the arbor (read below). I did the final assembly where I wanted to place the arbor, and it's a good thing I did: once it was assembled, it wanted to flex quite a bit...it's also HEAVY. So on both sides I added long straight pieces of rebar horizontally below the lowest circles, and again at the height of the bend where the arch begins (head high), as reinforcement. Once I did that, and sank the feet into the ground, it's strong enough I think it would support anything but the worst of house-eating ramblers. It's VERY sturdy. I'd use the thickest copper wire you can find (or can afford! lol) as it ages to a lovely blue green verdigris. Also, take care to be neat about wrapping/winding it (Family Handyman was kind of messy with his, lol), as it WILL show until the roses have grown over the arbor. But I consider that a feature, not a bug. That's why I suggest the thicker wire, as it will be more decorative. Mom's arbor is now three years old, has two maturing Edens on it, and was a sight to behold this Spring, even though the roses only reached about halfway up ( a stray cane or two reached higher). I'm hoping this coming year they reach the top. I'll take pix if they do, lol. EDIT: I forgot to mention that when I connected the two arches, I placed those middle-row rebar circles in alternating positions with the ones in the pre-made arches, so that they don't make straight horizontal rows across the sides of the arbor. In other words, the circles make a zig-zag across the sides of the arbor, one up-one down-one up. I used one more circle in the connecting row since I started one position lower, so the center row comes closer to the ground. I'm not sure I described that coherently, but feel free to ask for clarification if you're interested, lol. EDIT 2: I installed Mom's arbor in April, when the ground was soaking wet. I just pushed the feet into the soil, pushing each side of the arbor in by just a couple of inches, moving to the other side, repeating until they were all sufficiently deep. It would have been LOTS easier with more than one person. If you were to install one in dry or hard ground, I'd pre-punch the holes go by driving a spare piece of rebar into the ground where the feet will go. You'd have to be careful to make the holes vertical, and close to where the arbor is assembled, so you don't have to move the dang heavy thing very far. Be sure the hole-punching rebar is long enough for you to have enough to grab and pull it back out!

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Reply to: That’s it! Fantin Latour. Checked out the pictures on Google and everything matched. Colour, bloom colour, habit and the associated comments! Ingrid, you are a genius! i remember taking home a bunch of OGR cuttings from a fellow rose society member 25 years ago. But the Fantin Latour in that batch did not survive. i must have taken another cutting from it and simply forgot about it.

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Reply to: I'm still at the relative beginning of my rose journey,  both in knowledge and experience,  but so far, my healthiest roses are Mrs. BR Cant, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sunsprite, and Dick Clark. Dick Clark gets significant chili thrip damage, plus some BS and still pulls through to bloom it's head off after some TLC. Here's a link to an article with info on a rose trial in FL that might be of interest: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/lifestyle/home-garden/2019/02/15/garden-help-right-roses-will-brighten-your-landscape/5965247007/ Also, here is the list of recommended roses that used to be available to all visitors on the Central Florida Rose Society website, which doesn't seem to be in existence anymore.

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Reply to: Brown rice's heavy metals (lead and arsenic) are easily rinsed off. I always rinse off my brown rice at least 4 times. I grew up eating white rice and the constipation was awful .. sister got hemorrhoid's at young age due to lack of fiber in eating white rice. White rice is also responsible for the high rate of diabetes in Asian countries. White rice also have arsenic and lead, but less than brown rice. Brown rice is high in magnesium & fiber & vitamins. Its arsenic & lead are easily removed by this method: "According to an experiment that aired this week on the BBC show Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, soaking rice overnight and cooking it with extra water can reduce levels of the carcinogen by up to 82%. Experts say this cooking method is a simple way to limit exposure to arsenic.Meharg and host Michael Mosley found that when they cooked one part rice with five parts water, only 43% of the arsenic originally detected in the rice remained. And when they soaked the rice overnight and then used the 1:5 cooking method, only 18% remained. Then, cook until tender—making sure the rice doesn’t boil dry—and rinse one last time with hot water before serving." *** The above method of soaking rice overnight, rinse off rice a few times, then cook with 1 part rice to 5 part water, then rinse the rice before serving gets rid of 90% of arsenic and lead. Another method is the quick-soak in high heat, see below link "The PBA method involves parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining and refreshing the water, then cooking it on a lower heat to absorb all the water. Brown rice contains more arsenic than white rice (milled). This milling process removes arsenic from white rice but also removes 75-90% of its nutrients." https://phys.org/news/2020-11-cooking-rice-arsenic-retains-mineral.html *** White rice loses 90% of nutrients & vitamins through the milling process compared to brown rice. So eating white rice is just empty calories like white flour & white sugar. Most of my 8 older sisters are on diabetes-meds or pre-diabetes, only 2 of us (including me) don't have diabetes .. I have been eating brown rice since I was 25, now at 59, so far no problems with lead or arsenic poisoning. From Dr. Axe: "A 2010 study out of Harvard School of Public Health revealed that if you consume a little over two servings of white rice (about 12 ounces) per week, making the switch to brown rice could decrease type 2 diabetes risk by an estimated 16 percent." I'm gluten-intolerant so I eat 2 servings of brown rice per day, or 14 servings per week, making the decrease in diabetes to be 96%.

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Reply to: Yes...healthy stuff into baking is good (what they don't know...LOL)...I always put spaghetti squash in so many things. Yes, Yorkshire puddings are really easy to make. Get 3 clear glasses and add as many eggs as you want to make into the first cup. I usually do 6 eggs...then there's enough for leftovers. Line up all 3 glasses and fill one up with milk to the level of the eggs. Then add flour (lol I spelled it flower the first time) to the same level in the last glass. Mix them all together with a whisk. Let them get to room temperature. Put about a thumbnail's worth of crisco lard in each muffin space (no muffin papers) and heat in the oven at about 420F. When it's really hot, take it out and fill with the room temperature batter. The batter should sizzle. Bake until browned on top and no liquid remains. Try to avoid opening the oven door until the end. Dump upside down and the "puddings" should pop out. If they don't, let them cool a bit more and try again. GRAVY!!!! :)

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Reply to: Here's a modified pumpkin-cheese coffee cake, the quick-bread recipe I made at least 6 times for family (I reduced sugar). The yeast dough recipe: I use ann_t's recipe, but replace 1/2 cup sour cream with a BIG can of pumpkin & reduce water & up flour by 1/2 c. PUMPKIN AND CREAM CHEESE COFFEE CAKE (choose quick-dough or yeast dough) FILLING: 2 packs of cream cheese & 3/4 c. sugar & 1 beaten egg & 1 t. vanilla. QUICK DOUGH: 4 cups flour & 1 cup sugar 4 teas baking powder & 4 teas cinnamon & 4 teas. pumpkin spice 4 eggs & 2 2/3 cups or 2 small cans of pumpkin & 2/3 cup olive oil (I use 1/3 c. butter and 1/3 c. sour cream) & 1 TBS. vanilla YEAST DOUGH: check to see yeast is active by dissolving in 2 packages dry yeast (4 ½ teas.) in ¼ cup of warm water. If it doesn’t foam up, then use fresh yeast. Over low heat melt ½ cup butter with ½ cup sugar & 1 TBS. cinnamon & 1 TBS pumpkin spice. Add 2 small cans or 1 large can of pumpkin, add yeast-water, add 2 beaten eggs, then 4 1/2 cups flour. Mixture should be wet & sticky (no-knead method). Let rise overnight or in fridge for 2 to 4 hrs. Stir down raised batter in about 25 strokes. Spread dough about 1/2 inch. thick in several non-stick pans. Spread filling on top, roll up thee sides. Let rise THE SECOND TIME for 1/2 hour. Bake for 375 for 20 min in middle rack. Press roast pecans into cream cheese topping, then sugar glaze last. GLAZE: 1 ½ cup confectioners sugar & ¼ cup milk & 1 teas. vanilla & toasted pecans. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease silicon baking pans FILLING: Beat 2 packs cream cheese until soft. Add 1 egg, 1 tea. vanilla and 1 c. sugar. Beat until smooth. Set aside. QUICK DOUGH: Mix 4 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 4 teas. baking powder, cinnamon & pumpkin spice. Add 4 eggs, 2 small cans pumpkin, 2/3 c. olive oil (or 1/3 c. butter and 1/3 c. sour cream) and vanilla. Fill pan with dough until they're about 1/2 full. Top with cream-cheese filling. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 min. Top with pecans and drizzle glaze.

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Reply to: thornless rose? (houzz.com) From above link: drasaid posted: Softee Alfred Colomb (Hybrid Perpetual, Lacharme, 1865) Archiduchesse Elizabeth d'Autriche Banksiae Alba Banksiae Banksiae Banksiae Lutea Banksian Yellow Bapollu Berries 'n' Cream Berries 'n' Cream, Cl. Calypso (Climber, Poulsen, 1998) Carousel (Kordes) Cécile Brunner Champion of the World Charles Bonnet (Bourbon, Bizot, 1868) Charles Lefèbvre Climbing Berries 'n' Cream Cologne (Grandiflora, McGredy, 1998) Constellation (Miniature, Saville, 1999) Cornelia (Hybrid Musk, Pemberton, 1925) Doris Bennett Dream (Hybrid Tea, Kordes, 1979) Dupuis Jamain Ecstasy (Hybrid Tea, Kordes, 1994) Ekstase Evergreen Multiflora Fair Jewel First Gold Fortuné Besson George Arends Gloire Lyonnaise Heritage I.X.L. Impératrice Élisabeth d'Autriche Iobelle Iowa Belle Jacaranda Jackaranda Jambo Kathleen Harrop La Reine Lady Banks Rose Lady Banks White Lady Banks Yellow Lady Banks' Rose Limelight (Hybrid Tea, Strickland, 1996) Linda Campbell Little Pinkie Madame Brosse (Hybrid Perpetual, Lacharme, 1865) Madame Cécile Brunner Madame de Graw Madame Jeanne Balandreau Madame Victor Verdier Madame Victor Verdier Mademoiselle Cécile Brünner Mademoiselle Cécile Brunner Maltese Rose Marguerite Bressac (Hybrid Perp., Lacharme, 1861) Marguerite Guillard Marshall P. Wilder (syn. for 'Alfred Colomb') Memory (Hybrid Tea, Kordes) Mercedes® (Floribunda, Kordes, 1974) Merko Mignon Mme Jeanne Balandreau Mme. Brosse (Hybrid Perpetual, Lacharme, 1865) Mme. Cécile Brunner Mme. de Graw Monsieur Victor Verdier Moonlight (Hybrid Tea, Kordes) Mrs. de Graw Mrs. DeGraw Mrs. John Laing Naina® (Hybrid Tea, Kordes, 1998) Nancy Gardiner Neige d'Avril Patricia Lewis Paul Jamain Paul Néron Paul Neyron People's Princess Reine des Francais (synonym 'La Reine') Reine des Violettes Roberta (synonym for 'Heritage') Rose de la Reine (Hybrid Perp., Laffay, 1842) Rosier de Lady Banks Saint Patrick (Hybrid Tea, Strickland, 1996) Sandra '99 Scarlett O'Hara (HT, Christensen & Carruth, 1987) Silky Mist Smooth Prince Smooth Romance Snowdance (Interplant) Souv. de Madame Jeanne Balandreau Souv. de Mme Jeanne Balandreau Souvenir de Jeanne Balandreau Souvenir de Jeanne Balandreau Souvenir de Madame Jeanne Balandreau Souvenir de Mme Jeanne Balandreau Souvenir du Docteur Jamain Souvenir du Docteur Jamain Souvenir du Dr. Jamain St. Patrick Super Bowl Superb Tuscan Superb Tuscany Swan® Sweet Honey® Sweetheart Rose Tall Poppy The Autumnal Centifolia The Banksian Rose The Sweetheart Rose The Velvet Rose Thornless Purple Thornless Rose Tickled Pink (Hybrid Tea, Schuurman, 1995) Tuscany Superb Ulrich Brunner Ulrich Brunner Fils Vick's Caprice Victor Verdier (Hybrid Perpetual, Lacharme, 1859) and of course that wonderful mauve Zéphirine Drouhin This list was cut and pasted from HelpMeFind roses. **** From Straw: From above list, both La Reine and Cornelia poked me many times, but NOT Paul Neyron. Zeph Drouhin is 100% thornless, and Annie L. McDowell has a few tiny prickles under its leaves. Marie Pavie poked me badly with its "surprise" prickles. Mary Daly is smoother & less risk of being poked since it's a smaller bush. Saw Heritage at rose park, it has large thorns, but spaced wider apart.

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Reply to: Two 100% thornless roses that do fabulous in My SoCal garden is the climber Annie Laurie McDowell and the mini rose by Ralph Moore called Softee. Softee gets to be a 3 foot high mounding shrub covered in delightful sprays of pale yellow roses. Both are extremely floriferous in my hot dry climate. We are one week into a 2 week triple digit heat wave and Softee is just finishing a flush (I picked a beautiful spray of blooms this morning for the house) and ALMcD is just starting a flush. Another favorite of mine is Lemon Spice with very few thorns and those are primarily on the new basal growth from the bottom of the bush. The stems that continue to send up stalks with the blooms all summer are almost always smooth with an occasional exception. LS is classic Hybrid Tea shape about 3-4 feet high.

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Reply to: Life Vibes - I live in San Rafael. If that is not too far away from you, call me and you can come see my bushes, and if you like them you can take some cuttings. It is easy to root. 415-485-0156. Be sure to leave a message with your phone number if you don't get me. NO TEXTS - this phone is a land line, and does not do texts. Jackie

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Reply to: If anyone wants some rose eye candy, the Vogue website just posted a beautiful picture spread of Sarah Hyland’s (Modern Family actor) wedding. Lots of cut roses throughout. I don’t subscribe and I am able to view it.

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Reply to: I think it’s still a possibitlity that your plant is a real RR, noseo, just a rather young one. The color and form are close enough in my eyes and perhaps fragrance will develop as it estabishes.Could you maybe keep it in a pot for a while and see if it improves? I don’t think of RR as a deep red, so racecar red isn’t too far off. I think Firefighter has the stronger scent and blooms more, but RR has the most pure raspberry fruit in its scent. When it gets hot, they race to see which one can burn up first, but are otherwise both great varieities.

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Reply to: Click for clarity please , Cl. CLotilde Soupert, first bloom on Flamenco Rosita, growing Emma June, Brise Parfum , Cornelia spray, Dakota Redwing, Nahema bloom .

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Reply to: Austin’s with good disease resistance Meaning gets some blackspot but can be grown no spray if you don’t mind some foliage loss. They don’t completely defoliate. Teasing Georgia Olivia Austin Princess Anne Lichfield Angel Spirit of freedom Benjamin Britten Queen Sweden Less resistant but still decent. They defoliate but recover Q gardens Lady of Shalott Darcey Bussell Boscobel Mary rose Molineux Non Austin’s that do well no spray with almost zero blackspot besides Kordes all in full sun. With less sun more disease Flamenco rosita Darlow’s enigma Blossom time Mel’s heritage Awakening Peggy Martin Sweet drifts Raspberry cream twirl Guirlande D’Amour some long range shots of my garden in full spring sorry for the super picture spam. Everything looks so bad now it was nostalgic to post spring pictures. My garden can only look this good with regular antifungal spraying all season long. Even ADR winners like quicksilver get blackspot here with zero spray. I have however found those on my list to do well no spray enough they can recover and make new foliage so you don't have a naked stick in your yard after may.

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Reply to: Ha ha 4 years ago I was singing the praises of Savannah. It wasn't long after that , that it turned in to a beast. A beast with few flowers. Shorties for me are Our Anniversary, Rosematic fuschia, Bolero, Celestine and Bernstein. Fragrant? I have a terrible sense of smell so I dont know. Besides, they are too short for me to be able to bend over and smell. Soul Sister has stayed short as well.

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Reply to: Champions in my Seattle garden this year: Icecap, Lynnie, Blanc Double de Coubert, Watercolors Home Run, Le Petit Prince, Dee-Lish, Marie Pavie, Perle d'Or, Bolero, Garden Delight, Lion's Fairy Tale, Lady of Shalott, Calypso, Cream Veranda, Jadis, Bliss, Olivia Rose Austin, Pretty Lady(SCRivo), Poseidon, Darlow's Enigma, Arctic Blue, Lyda, Baby Austin, Arctic Sunrise.

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Reply to: Very late to the party but Im www.dorset-hedgelayer.co.uk happy to help if I can

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Reply to: Last year, after loosing 70% rose blooms to Rose Midge infestation, I tried Alpine WSG (active ingredient Dinotefuran) on my most susceptible roses. I did soil drench in late march and it worked. No rose midges on these roses up until now and they are blooming beautifully (Oklahoma, Earth Angel, Jude, Teasing Georgia, Summer Romance, GC). Some roses in pots had RM damage and I treated them as well with drench of Imidacloprid and they are RM free now too. For some in ground roses (Golden Celebration, Oklahoma) I also used other remedies like cedar mulch, under planting of nepeta. So there is a hope to win this battle at least for this year.

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Reply to: Hard to pick a favourite of these latest entries. Love State of Grace, Gypsy Soul and the Impressionist, though! Falstaff is a toughy for sure and was tip hardy through two back to back -7F winters. I find it a very unusual colour with a strong tea scent. My Dakota Redwing is definitely super vigorous and wants to bloom. Ill be planting her out in a couple of weeks at this rate! Ive acquired a few more that Im loving, mainly Brise Parfumee, Blush Hip, Emma June and finally Perennial Blue. I got a few others, but they are still small. I also added a lovely vigorous lilac called Mme Abel Chatenay. Of the roses, Emma June excites me most! She has rock solid birht and shiny foliage here. The flowers ooze charm and retain their intense colour in full sun and heat. I expect good hardiness also as she was bred by the northern Ohio breeder Carl Schroeck from one of Paul Jerabeks most well known roses. I cant wait to see her grow up. Emma June https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.83363

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Reply to: Awakening is the double sport of New Dawn... very vigorous and lovely. RCT is also beautiful. There are so many choices depending on flower form and scent preferences. This is the dilemma and why I grow 60+ climbers. LOL! Mels Heritage and Malvern Hills are two others if you like smaller flowers. They seem to rebloom well for me even while young. I like blending the reds, but also think a paler colour would show up nicely in front of the deep evergreen backdrop.

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Reply to: Sharon, your seedlings are fantastic! Im truly amazed at how beautiful they are and am anxious to see their bush form in the future. Hope you were able to salvage something from those last gorgeous blooms.

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Reply to: I don't think you need to remove any new flower buds in the spring. It has no effect on root development. On this vigorous rose, you will have plenty of roots. Diane

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Reply to: I'd give it some mulch and some shade

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Reply to: Same here sheila. I'll try and post some pics of GDA mingling with Peggy martin. Here is a picture after tying up both roses. GDA was finishing her flush in this picture but is now gearing up again. She can definitely be a climber in this Zone she's putting out New Growth all the time. Please click to enlarge and see clearly.

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Reply to: How old are they? @mmmm12COzone5, the one against the window is probably 15 to 18 years old. The other about 10 to 12.

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Reply to: Ryan, You could get six Lemon Spice, they would look so soft and smell so good! Or 3 English Perfume and 3 Lemon Spice…lavender and white is such a pleasing combination. I have lots of ideas and am a terrible instigator/enabler! @Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b, Garden Crossings has the Proven Winners roses, I believe they are own root. Thanks for putting together a comprehensive list!

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Reply to: Another rose source: I got some bee/butterfly plants from Almost Eden the other day. I remembered that they also sell own root roses! Mostly they seem to be in stock in the spring. They have Peggy Martin and also some old garden roses etc. I am so happy with every plant I've ever got from them and the prices are very reasonable. The shipping is also reasonable. They do sell in smaller pots but they are full of roots and take off quickly. They do have different size pots that you can order as well. I have gotten 2 plants in a pot on a couple occasions. Here are the plants I recieved from Almost Eden the other day, for my bees/butterfies. I put a yard stick in there so you can see the sizes. Aloysia virgata aka Sweet Almond..it was flowering, could smell it as soon as I opened the box..like the sweetest candy. Kisses & Wishes Salvia (light pink flowers in the *Wish* salvia series) After I gave them a little drink in the bathroom lol. They are outside today and have perked up really nice.

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Reply to: Carol: thank you for your kind words. You are the outstanding positive life force of this forum. seasiderooftop Re-post what I wrote years ago since you missed out: Langbeinite natural mineral with NPK 0-0-22, sold cheap on Amazon for $15 per 5 lb., it has 22% potassium, 10% magnesium, 22% sulfur, and only 3% chloride (chloride is the salty part and plants break out in rust when the chloride is high and potassium is low). Langbeinite is also listed on fertilizers as Sul-Po-Mag (Sulfur-Potassium-Magnesium). The salt index of sulfate of potash is 43, salt-index of Muriate of potash (potassium chloride) is 116, and salt-index of monopotassium phosphate is 8.4, data taken from University of IL. extension. Langbeinite is cheaper and lower in salt than SOLUBLE sulfate of potash, see below link: "Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) is usually manufactured by reacting the chloride with sulfuric acid. Sulfate potash magnesia (K2SO4 · MgSO4) is essentially a mixture of potassium sulfate and kieserite with 18% K and 11% Mg. This is a useful fertilizer to apply to nonchloride crops when there is a need for Mg." https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/potassium-fertilizers For sulfate of potash NPK 0-0-50 with 18% sulfur used on my HIGH MAGNESIUM CLAY. I used 2 TBS (diluted in water) to reverse blackspots on Golden Celebration. Jess in South Africa with acidic clay also duplicated my result of reserving blackspots with the same dose. To induce blooming using NPK 0-0-50 (potassium at 50), I use 2 TBS along with gypsum (calcium sulfate) . Here's the result of 40+ blooms on Frederic Mistral in spring flush. Even with 18% sulfur I had to use vinegar to dissolve it in my alkaline tap at pH 9. Sulfate of potash with 18% sulfur made leaves dark green and shiny. Monopotassium Phosphate NPK 0-52-34 has zero sulfur, so it was even harder to dissolve in tap-water, I had to use 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 TBS of fertilizer per 3-gallon bucket of water. It did make Sonia Rykiel break out in more blooms, so instead of one bloom per branch, I get 2 to 3 blooms per branch. The quality of blooms is better with monopotassium phosphate NPK 0-52-34, but afterwards THIS CHEMICAL HARDENED MY CLAY. Its high Phosphorus is even more INSOLUBLE than potassium, and this chemical has zero sulfur to soften my clay. I don't recommend this if someone has alkaline clay. Muriate of potash (potassium chloride) is 3 times more SOLUBLE than sulfate of potash, data taken from an on-line agricultural source. This also has NPK 0-0-50 but no acidic sulfur. It's also very salty at salt-index of 116. I tested it during heavy rain. I tested it as granules, along with gypsum and it worked great in making blooms larger, see below result. If one surpasses 2 TBS of this fast-dissolved chemical, one gets brown edges on light colored blooms. Below blooms were achieved with 2 TBS muriate of potash along with 1 TBS gypsum sprinkled around the bush, done once a month. Langbeinite has 22% potassium, 10% magnesium, 22% sulfur, and only 3% chloride. The 10% magnesium helps to retain potassium in the soil, rather than being flushed out. Magnesium is alkaline & hard to dissolve in tap water, thus best used with acidic rain. Since Langbeinite has 1/2 amount of potassium compared to sulfate of potash, 1 tablespoon might not be enough to induce blooming for stingy roses. Langbeinite's 10% magnesium, 22% potassium, and 22% sulfur (for growth and dark-green leaves) is comparable to my using sulfate of potash with 50% potassium in my high magnesium alkaline clay.

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