state of the rose trials

What began as an attempt to grow one fragrant white rose in my garden has turned into a rose trial garden. I've spent many hours researching roses, looking for one that is heat tolerant, fragrant, with a flower form I love (densely petalled and cupped are preferred), and with a bush form I like, and with disease tolerance (not much disease in my garden though). This quickly changed from white roses to ANY roses with these characteristics. I started getting desperate and began growing any rose that might work. Here are the results so far, listed mostly in order of introduction to my garden, and on a scale of one to five stars. Heat tolerance refers to bloom performance in the heat, and not to plant survival or appearance in the heat. Today, just the oldest plants in the garden.

Iceberg

Spring

Fall

Approximate seasons in the garden: 4
Color: **** white with pink in cooler weather
Bloom Form: **
Bloom quantity: ***
Bloom frequency: ****
Fragrance: ***** sweet, honey
Foliage: *
Bush form: ****
Vigor: ***
Disease resistance: ****
Heat tolerance:**
Wind tolerance: ***
Comments:
This stalwart of Southern California gardens was planted in my entry because of expected reliability, abundant blossoms and ease. It has turned out to be  quite a bit less than expected in my garden. First flush is wonderful and prolific, and blossoms are quite fragrant, more fragrant than I expected. In the heat, the flowers lose their shape. They continue to bloom, but blooms are few the rest of summer. More in fall, but not nearly as many or as beautiful. The leaves yellow rather strikingly, and get chlorotic looking, possibly due to lack of water. Blooms pink in the fall temperatures, and they do get damage in the heat as well as lose form. Beautiful in the spring, but a bit of an eyesore the rest of the year. Disappointing.

Overall rating: **

Bolero

Approximate seasons in the garden: 3
Color: ***** white with flushes of yellow or pink
Bloom Form: ****
Bloom quantity: *****
Bloom frequency: *****
Fragrance: *****
Foliage: *****
Bush form: *****
Vigor: ****
Disease resistance: *****
Heat tolerance: **
Wind tolerance: *
Comments:
You would think, given these numbers that this is a great rose. I CAN be. It gets high marks from many people on GardenWeb. When it is beautiful, it is very beautiful in that English Rose kind of way, and the flowers are deliciously fragrant. Some describe it as waterlily, and yes, there is that, and also marshmallow cream. It blooms often. Most often the flowers are damaged by wind and/or thrips and they shrink to an inch and a half in the heat with loss of form. It is rare to see an undamaged flower. The foliage is beautiful. Maybe in a different climate it would be great.

Overall rating: **

Old Blush

in the heat

in the heat

Approximate seasons in the garden: 4
Color: **
Bloom Form: *
Bloom quantity: ****
Bloom frequency: *****
Fragrance: *
Foliage: ****
Bush form: ****
Vigor: *****
Disease resistance: *****
Heat tolerance: *****
Wind tolerance: *****
Comments:
This plant was given to me by a friend, as was previously posted. It is vigorous, grows as if blessed. No disease in my garden. Flowers frequently and always has at least a couple of flowers even in the heat. The downside is that the flowers don't have much fragrance (fairly good when cut and indoors, but particularly lovely), the flower form is awful (particularly in the heat) and the color changes from a soft pink in the spring to a dark cerise in the heat. Although it blooms often, I wish it wouldn't in the heat, as the color is jarring. It's a good plant if you don't expect too much and can deal with the color.

Overall rating: ***

Madame Isaac Pereire

Looking pretty miserable this year.

Approximate seasons in the garden: 3
Color: ****
Bloom Form: *****
Bloom quantity: ***
Bloom frequency: *
Fragrance: *****
Foliage: *
Bush form: *
Vigor: *
Disease resistance: ****
Heat tolerance: **
Wind tolerance: ****
Comments:
I've posted about this plant many times. The first time I planted it, in my old house, the plant grew vigorously, and produced many flowers, which promptly fried in the heat within hours of opening. The plant was removed. Since then, I've tried several times to plant this since I love the form of the flowers, and the fragrance is particularly lovely.  I just can't seem to grow it like that first time and can't figure out why. In my current garden, it fails to grow next to Old Blush which grows like mad. I've tried fertilizing differently, alfalfa, horse manure, acidifying the soil, more water, less water. No change with any of that.

Overall rating: * (but still hoping that might change)

Knockout

Spring flush

Fall flush

Flower form: what flower form?

Approximate seasons in the garden: 16
Color: *
Bloom Form: *
Bloom quantity: *****
Bloom frequency: *****
Fragrance: ****
Foliage: *****
Bush form: **
Vigor: *****
Disease resistance: *****
Heat tolerance: **
Wind tolerance: **
Comments:
My Knockouts are not in my garden by my choice. They came with the house and I expect they have been here since the house was built in 2001. On the positive side, they are tough, and they are vigorous. The flowers have a sweet wafting fragrance. On the negative side, I hate the color, the bloom form is awful and worse in the summer in the heat, they are viciously thorny, and the bushes are just blobs in the landscape. The only thing saving them right now is, believe it or not, the fragrance.

Overall rating:  *

Marie Pavie

Ugly leaves!

Approximate seasons in the garden: 4
Color: **
Bloom Form: **
Bloom quantity: ***
Bloom frequency: *****
Fragrance: *****
Foliage: **
Bush form: **
Vigor: ***
Disease resistance: *
Heat tolerance: *****
Wind tolerance: *****
Comments:
Don't get me wrong, I love this rose. The thing is, I don't think I should. I planted this rose for many reasons. It's an Earthkind rose, so should be easy (Earthkind tests in Texas after all, and that is only a state away). It is said to be fragrant, with wafting musky fragrance, blooms often, shade tolerant, heat tolerant. It is all those things. The problem is that the flowers are not particularly lovely (cute but not striking), and a murky shade which is hard to place (it's not pink, it's not white). In our sun they look dirty white. The leaves always look diseased and chlorotic by the time the heat hits in the summer.  It might be due to over-watering. The plant also looks a bit sparsely foliated. I took cuttings and planted them in more shade and less water. They look much better, so Marie gets an extra point for that.

Overall rating: ****

Winchester Cathedral

At its best

newly opened

Last year

This year

Approximate seasons in the garden: 4 (7+ if you count my old garden).
Color: **
Bloom Form: ****
Bloom quantity: ***
Bloom frequency: ***
Fragrance: **
Foliage: ***
Bush form: ***
Vigor: *****
Disease resistance: ***
Heat tolerance: **
Wind tolerance: ***
Comments:
In searching for a white rose with fragrance and English rose form, Winchester Cathedral was one of the few options (Claire Austin didn't exist at the time). I saw and smelled one when the grocery store was surprisingly selling a few and instantly wanted one. In my old garden they languished in a pot, then in too much shade. I took cuttings for my new yard, and they grew vigorously. The problem with this rose is that the flowers open dirty pink, and are not a crisp white. Flower form is nice, but the fragrance varies from rich old rose to what I call "hints of latrine", which is the usual state. Plants grew nicely bushy, until this year, when one decided to put out octopus canes. This year, the spring flush completely failed and flower form completely falls apart in the heat, but I can't complain about that too much since all of them do.

Overall rating: ***


So as you can see, my first forays into rose growing have not been all that successful. More to come.