Neptune, Stainless Steel and Love Potion

Three roses carjacked my trolley at the Heritage nursery today.

I just went to buy some potash and a mandevilla , and suddenly there were all these pushy mauves, rolling toward the checkout..

SS will go to a friend who has it on her wish list. Love Potion is for me, because I always wanted to try it, and Neptune I will trial and may keep also, if it lives up to the good reputation touted by its esteemed namesake on this board.

All three are in amazingly good shape, considering the heat, the wind and the sudden heavy rainburst.

I'm curious to see how the Three Fat Ladies - Soul Mate/Julia Child, Love Potion and Daybreaker - stack up against each other.

I'm interested to see how you go with these three too Betsy !!!

maree, without betting the house on the outcome, I think it'd going to be a two-way tie between DB and LP (unless LP turns into a spotty horror).

I'm going to tentatively come out in solid support of Soul Mate/Julia Child as a must have in the Fat Lady category - by which I mean in the standard version. I think that this rose was almost custom-made for you and your back garden. If Swane's green-lights it for 2013, I'd say that you should put it near the top of your list. Will need a bit of patience to reach full potential (ack! patience!), but it already has all the hallmarks of a really exciting addition to the yellows.

Unless it's doing ghastly things in the trial fields, I'm thinking that Swane's could have a really marketable rose for town as well as country, with no super-hype necessary to sell it.

Roseman should weigh in on this rose soon. He's the expert and the man with the long view of things.

Thanks Betsy , i'm going to trial it this year , and if its good in our climate here in Melb , i'll be asking Swanes for a standard in 2014 , fingers crossed !!!! Got the spot picked out, right where that useless Chartreusse de Parme is lol ....

betsyw wrote:
Roseman should weigh in on this rose soon. He's the expert and the man with the long view of things.

I am not the expert, just a person with points of view or opinions. As for the rose under discussion, Soul Mate/Julia Child, the one I am trialing is a good rose in the conditions we have had so far this season, other conditions(rain). It will be in my opinion a compact bush. If you are thinking of ordering it I would talk direct to the person you order from and ask if at all possible place a third bud on it, standards have two, by adding a third the plant will bush out quicker.

Thanks Roseman , will have to ask Finbaar !!

Stainless Steel LOVES the heat. Mine is massive. No BS, die back and no bugs! Love Potion loves the sun too. Both of my LP's get a lot of black spot/die back but they love a good cut back. And make sure there's no mulch too close to the base they don't like that. Fussy roses LOL.

Blackspot. Die back. Fussy. :blerg:

Jeez, what have I signed on for with this one? It looks so happy, so leafy, so bud-iforous...

The one in the pot is doing better than the one in the garden. Part shade I think works well in summer in QLD. One in the garden shot up once I dug around it and gave it some space. And it loves a cut back. The flowers are amazing, the scent is beautiful so you will love it

RosyTeesh wrote:Stainless Steel LOVES the heat. Mine is massive. No BS, die back and no bugs! Love Potion loves the sun too. Both of my LP's get a lot of black spot/die back but they love a good cut back. And make sure there's no mulch too close to the base they don't like that. Fussy roses LOL.

This bit highlighted Rosy, why no mulch

Just didn't like it. Not close to the base anyway. As soon as I removed some mulch away from the base it shot up half a ft. Can't explain why just did

What sort of mulch?

Sugar cane

good luck with these roses betsy