Ekstase And Firefighter

Hi Everyone,

I have been a little busy and have not posted a new thread for a while. I remembered someone chatting about Ekstase a while back so I thought I would show you all mine. The photo does not do the height justice. Although it is smaller than some of the other bare rooted roses I planted this year, it is still growing steadily and very healthily! No aphids or black spot, and it is an amazing colour and has a wonderful perfume! Lots and lots of buds forming too. The lack of height may be because it is in part shade for some of the day. The others are in full sun all day.

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Also, my Firefighter is almost as tall as me and I am almost 6ft tall! Beautiful plant this one. Also planted bare rooted the same time as Ekstase (around August this year I think)

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Hi Rosy , think it was me , i have been going to plant Ekstase for ages , just haven't found a spot for it yet , what sort of red is it Silky , a light or dark red ? Thanks

It's in between sort of. More bright than dark though

LOL Firefighter! Just like mine. Every morning I swear the basic bushes have sent up another six-foot stem, like the bush has telescoping fireman's ladders.

Ekstase sounds and looks brilliant. What sort of perfume would you it has, Teesh?

Your roses sure are healthy. I love the look of your Ekstase Rosy. Perfume too! It's good to know you are happy with it, now I can consider adding it to my list of reds. Firefighter is one that is a definite.

Ekstase is very sweet. I am not sure what I can compare it to sorry I am not good with scents - LOL

Silky - I would get Ekstase over Firefighter. I don't really like the black edges on Firefighter

RosyTeesh wrote:Silky - I would get Ekstase over Firefighter. I don't really like the black edges on Firefighter

I have two different bushes from two different growers of Firefighter and they don't have black edges....do you have photos of a young flower and a blown one?......

Not at the moment, no. It's not black black but it's enough for it to not be a 'clean' colour. Bit dark around the edges. It's sort of like this (picture taken off the HMF site). It may even just be sunburn and not the flower itself but something most of my other reds don't get.

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No black edges in FF here but will look at the next flush. My one and only
FF had 9 blooms on the one water shoot stem but broke off during our last windy period. Not very happy I didn't have time to stake it.

My list is sooo long , Ekstase is on it , how do i decide ? Gonna put em in pots for 12 months i think , then just plant the best ones , or pull out some of the oldies ( maybe ) ...

That's what I am doing now Maree Only problem is that some have done SO well I had to re pot them in massive pots haha! Good thing they sell them at the reject shop for $12

Big pots for $12.00 , better have a look Rosy !!!

Look, these $12 pots from the Reject Shop are really useful, don't you think? The ones in my RS are about 16" diameter, I think. Okay, they're not stunning, but they aren't plastic-bucket looking, either. I bought a few of the phoney terracotta ones (bit orange, but, oh well) and when filled right to the top with potting mix they look okay.

I sunk the Daybreaker into one as a pot-within-a-pot, with the rose protected in a big black plastic horticultural planting bag, then filled in the outer sides between the black rose bag and the plastic pot with more potting mix and plonked in an outer circle of Cambridge Blue lobelia. So far, so good. It's a trial thing and temporary, but so far so good.

I thought the same thing Betsy! LOL! They aren't super duper pretty but they are SO useful and they don't look that bad. I am buying 2 a week (because it will cost a bit to transfer all of them including soil etc..)

I also put red red wood chips on the top of the soil (from Bunnings called red cyprus) and it acts as a really good mulch to keep the water in, and it also adds to the prettiness I think

Exactly, Teesh. And because we're all friends here - or we're cyber pals, so you won't come over to my house and point and laugh and sneer when I tell you that I've also bought a Reject Shop pair of tall, squared $10 white trash bins. Drilled and filled, they look like ceramic pots, not bad with artemisia and cascading white ivy geraniums stuffed into 'em.

You'll have to post some photos!

Back on the subject of Firefighter .. This is the black I get around mine. Have a feeling it is sunburn.

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Yes, back to FF. I have had black edges on any number of my heavily perfumed roses - maybe it;'s the extra oil exuded or something - but FF doesn't routinely crisp any more than my other roses in the red spectrum. But what I HAVE noticed most of all is that all my roses benefit from some afternoon shade in the Oz summer. In fact, four hours of sun from 9am to around 1pm seems to really suit them. I know they shoudl need more, but they just grow and bloom better with afternoon shade in my area.

Agreed Betsy! I think this is why my Ekstase does much better, it only gets half a days worth of sun

Betsy, I noticed you mentioned you had Daybreaker. I like the look of this rose. HMF says it only grows to 75cm, which is small for a HT. Not too much info that I have found, but it would suit front of a bed or maybe a pot? What do you think? Have have you found it? How about perfume quality? Thanks

Silky, so far I am enamoured of Daybreaker as a perfect rose for a container - it's short, round, fat with leaves. It would be excellent for a frontliner rose, if not really an edging plant.

The leaves are medium-sized, smaller than a Kordes rose, larger than some DA floribundas. Goldilocks leaves = just right ;-) No bare knees here or octopus arms - the foliage and stems/canes are uncannily well distributed

Blooms - it produces one flush after another, with only maybe three weeks between flushes, and each flush lasts a long time on the bush. Cuts well, too, if you need an instant bouquet. The colours are charming to start with, but they do lose some of their cherry shadings over time and in the heat, and so present as more golden than a multicoloured sunrise.

Scent - don't count on each flower to fill a room with perfume, because it won't. The fragrance is mild and pleasant tea. Still, there are so many flowers that the fragrance can build to a moderate halo of scent around the plant.

Health - so far so good. I have seen some bs on it here and there around the lower leaves, so it isn't bullet proof. Overall, though, it continues to look full and round, with excellent new growth that is uniform, so that lovely rounded shaped seems to be a reliable constant. Mine is about 32cm tall, and it's still young, but I don't think it's going to a monster.

Thanks Betsy, great review. Wish you were on the payroll writing those swingtags instead of the ridiculous OTT descriptions we often get. Lol
You've made me really want Daybreaker , short, fat, rounded, no bare knees and some fragrance - WOW. Going on my must have list.
Thanks Betsy

My dear Silky , you are so welcome, of course, but I should add a caveat. I've owned this plant for , what, a month? It could turn into a disappointing spiky bs wretch by the end of the season; as we all are too aware, roses have a funny way of looking great when they come out of the coddling nursery, but appalling after a year out in the real world (esp for us non-sprayers and erratic rose mothers).

I would say to anyone who is considering Daybreaker: if you can, buy a plant in full leaf from your local nursery, rather than brave a potluck bareoot. I suspect this one is like choosing a Christmas tree: choose the best lookin', bushiest one in the line-up, one whose full rounded habit is already proven. ;-))

I will take your advice on board Betsy and if I see a good one I'll risk it to put in a pot. Yes I know just what you mean with the dazzling debutantes at the start of the season who look like worn out hags by the end, gaunt, bedraggled and lacking clothing. All the mystique and romance gone with their virtue. Lol

Inconsequential post, really, but thought I'd amend Daybreaker infop for silky. I said bush was 32cm. Soooo wrong. The bush was 32 inches when I acquired it. Just measured it again, and it's now 37 inches - five fat full inches growth all around the thing.