Hello rosarians

Just thought I'd introduce myself as a fellow rose tragic. I have a largish suburban garden that has all sorts of things but I love my roses and am determined to grow them better than I have the last few years. My garden, which I started from scratch many years ago, has changed over time (haven't we all?) with trees casting shade here and there. But there are still many sunny areas, which my dogs follow round as the day progresses, if they are not nosing around me when I'm working outside. I also have a lovely aviary full of budgies that cheep and chirp happily through the day.
I'm hoping I can pick up lots of good advice from everyone here and look forward to chatting with you.

Hi silkyfizz , welcome , welcome , your garden sounds lovely , everyone is very helpfull here and we love photos , looking forward to chatting with you too ...

Welcome to the forum silkyfizz. Please enjoy your stay and there are many helpful people on here. Can you let us know what type of roses you have growng.........

Thank you for the welcome Maree and Neptune. This seems like a very suppoortive and friendly forum.
I have mainly HT's with perfume a high priority. I like flowing lines and a natural effect in my garden so I have colours blending and mixed borders. Whites: Margaret Merril merges into Apricot: several Just Joeys, Apricot Nectar, Perle d'Or, tumbling and cascading Crepescule. Red: Kardinal, unknown dark reds grown from cuttings from dad's garden. Mauve: Blue Moon, Dioressence, Chartreuse du Palme. Pink: Duet, Cecile Brunner, Seduction. Underneath the jacarandah I have my yellows: Friesia, Gold Bunny, Gold Celebration. Nearby I am just extending the bed to include new purchases Ebb Tide, Munstead Wood, Barbra Streisand. Come spring the perfume should be wonderful!

welcome to rosetalk silkyfizz

Hello and welcome silkyfizz, perfume is my highest priority, too, but I cannot comment on any of my roses as yet, because I just started a new garden. In my old garden Jude the Obscure was the star of fragrance, and the only rose I replaced.

Can you comment on Margaret Merril’s fragrance? I’ve had my eye on one for a while, and there’s still a couple available locally; should I get one or two?
Cheers, Jackie

Hi Jac2. I would recommend MM. It has a wonderful perfume and always seems to be in flower, although the blooms open up quite quickly. Hardy and doesn't fuss much when it gets overlooked for TLC, which is par for the course in my garden I'm afraid. Bit like iceberg but perfumed. I have a couple near the front path and they always welcome me home.

Welcome to the forum Silkyfizz (what a great name)
I do hope you enjoy it here

Jac2, MM is not healthy enough for inclusion in my garden here in Sydney and a less attractive proposition higher up the coast towards Brisbane. However modern PBR roses that pass my health check are quite uncommon. There's a hell of a lot of duds, 17 passes out of 130 HT's listed means a lot of unhappy rose growers.

Welcome silkyfizz!

Welcome Silkyfizz, and yes, the name is delicious (bartenders everywhere, listen up). Tell me, how do you like your Chartreuse de P? There was soooo much chatter about this one a few years ago, then radio silence. I've wondered how this one fared a few years on from earliest enthusiasms.

Ozeboy, that lean list of 17: care to share

Hi Silkyfizz - always great to have another rose tragic about the place.

betsyw, somewhere on the forum I have two lists of desireable healthy HT's starting around the 1900's through to 2000. As previously mentioned the SA Trial Garden is too low down in the continent to reflect what is healthy enough for coastal Sydney to Brisbane.
There are so many excellent roses that are no longer in catalogues.
When the patent expires (20 years) they are no longer financially viable due to everyone propagating them at bargain prices. They have to have a stream of new PBR roses coming through healthy or not.
These roses are then given a catchy name like Atomic Blonde, Casinova or whatever. Then they are described as a must useing all the magic words to make you want one. Their Brochures appeal to the Armchair come computer gardener who is lazy and relies on this information to make a selection. However there is little written about health on the colourful description tie tag. Lack of description suggests they will grow well from the top of Mt Kosiosko to Cairns.
I'm always on the lookout for a good healthy rose and visit my local stockist of PBR roses, check them at least 3 times in the growing season for fungus, how the blooms are in summer and all the other desireables. Really good all round healthy roses are very hard to find.
If a rose is pink,very thorny and has no fragrance then there is a fair chance it will be healthy. When a breeder adds characteristics like fragrance, depth of colour usually health suffers though breeders are making progress in these areas. Warren from Deniliquin is the resident breeding expert on the forum.
Better go and do some work.

Thanks for the welcome guys! Bartenders alert.....lol

Betsy, re Chartreuse de P. I really love the colour(and variations acc to season) and the perfume but must say it has been a bit disappointing in its growth and frequency of blooms. It doesn't seem to be a strong grower, but I just thought it was my lack of skill in getting it to do better. It would be interesting to hear from others here what their experiences are with this rose.
Ozeboy, thank you for your comments, made for very interesting reading. I'm afraid that I'm one of your classic 'lazy' gardeners, though my visions of lush profusion keep me going in my efforts. I will try to find your lists of recommendations. Reading through comments on this forum has given me so much information and inspiration already, I'm blown away by the expertise here. I'm just a pretty average gardener who potters away as best I can so please excuse my future questions if they seem a bit....basic.

Silkyfizz, I am sorry on 2 counts.
1. I neglected to welcome you are great forum, sometimes we digress, other times we stay on the subject, most times(ha ha ha ha)

2. We haven't touched the surface, ask away, we will(try to) answer the questions. On here we just help each other.

Thanks for that precise and informative CdP assessment, silkyfizz (and see, you thought you were signing on here to get answers. Ha! ) Pretty much in accord with the :meh: opinions I've seen sparsely scattered around the rose web.

You'll find a fair few fragrance hounds here, like me, who will want to pick every neuron in your brain for your scent-sational favourites. Me, I think that a rose with no scent may be vigorous, beautiful and armour-plated, but it's just the gorgeous dinner party guest who's a crashing bore. Still, I am also a True Believer that the advent of an evolution revolution of disease-free, floriforous and fragrant roses is nigh (slouching towards Kordes to be born, maybe).

I really look forward to your report on Munstead Wood, too.

By gosh Betsy , whoever comes up with that magical disease free rose , will make a fortune !!!!!!!!

Thank you, Silkyfizz and Ozeboy for your appraisals of Margaret Merril.
Cheers, Jackie

maree, there are a lot of people trying, but to quote a member now retired from the forum. "While the breeders continue to recycle all those unhealthy genes little progress can be made."

Ozeboy , i have to ask , why oh why ? As a lover of roses and although i am not a wealthy person , just your average battling Aussie , i would pay my weeks wages for a beautiful , fragrant , disease free rose . Maybe its up the rosarians and rose growers on this page , if we can't trust big growers , but then i don't understand the politics behind growing roses ...

maree, it's always good to hear there are a few true blue Aussies left.
How much room do you have for a rather large climber about 2 1/2 meters high and 3 to 4 meters wide when fully grown ? I'm suggesting 'Lorraine Lee Climbing'. Look it up on Help me find roses.com
The blooms are quite open(Not the usual tight high centered blooms) and the fragrance is just fantastic, quite overpowering on a still night when in full bloom. It's a Tea rose which likes heat, is evergreen so does not go dormant in winter. Health wise it's just about bomb proof.

There are a few amoungst the HT's though not as healthy as the above.
You could try 'Lady Sylvia' (Sylvia) Pink.
'Oklahoma' deep red,slightly open or Mr Lincoln tighter blooms
'Mme Isaac Pereire'.deeper pink than 'Sylvia'

I would suggest you put Lorraine Lee on a trellis at the back with a garden seat under and the others arranged to your artistic talents in front. 6 of each of the last 3 would make a great show.

The three or four mentioned just above will not be 100% healthy but just about as good as most. There are a few very healthy HT's but not many have the fragrance of these.

Probably should have mentioned 'Oklahoma' is my choice, more disease resistant than Mr Lincoln which can get some blackspot here.
Go with Oklahoma it has just about everything a good red, fragrant HT should have. Firefighter is another good fragrant red you might want to trial one in your climate.

What about 'Papa M'. That will make the brothers three. Mr. L. Ok. PM.

Hello Silkyfizz ! Your garden sounds lovely ! I love gardening with my dogs about the garden with me.

Thanks Ozeboy !!!