Some pics from today (mostly)

Lots out at the moment but not a lot looking real good.

This is the first rose I ever grew from seed. It's from an open pollinated hip of 'Black Velvet' and is pretty ugly... but smells really nice. It's about 8 years old now and this is its first flower since I've got it back after a prolonged absence. I'm hoping it will improve as it settles in... still ugly but special because it was the first one.

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This is 'Black Velvet'. It's a nicer rose than my seedling but is a terrible plant here. My seedling is stronger than 'Black Velvet' with comparible fragrance but inferior flowers. This one will be going come winter so if anyone wants it let me know.

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Suntan. A mini with native bee

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Sundust: one of my best minis. Nearly lost it last year when I bought it from the throw out bin badly infested with spider mite. It's come back nicely this year and is looking good.

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Red Intuition. Still puts on a nice display though I'm a little over it as far as a garden plant goes. I'll probably be giving this one away... not sure yet.

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Red Cascade: One of my favourite minis. This is a climbing mini though I am using it as a ground cover.

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Paul Cezanne: A delbard that is not bad but gets BS pretty bad. Produces lots of flowers to hide it though

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Mutabilis: I love how this rose can have so many different coloured flowers on the same plant. This is still a very young plant that I think is virused. Keeping it till I can make a heat chamber to kill the virus.

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Heritage: On my THIRD try I've actually found a good clone of Heritage and this one is really performing beautifully.

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Green Ice: A pic from earlier this season. It's covered in flowers now but it's hard to get a good photo of it because the flowers spot easily with little pink fungus spots. The foliage is good but the flowers are so so.

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Christopher Marlowe: It's becoming clear that I haven't left enough room around this one

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Antique Rose: A mini that I've used a fair bit to breed with this year. It forms hips easily but produces next to no pollen. I love it for it's old rose look in a mini.

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Tooks lots of other photos but they didn't turn out very well...

A nice selection Simon. I love Paul Cezanne, the pastel colour combo is deightful to me.
Why are you over Red Intuition? Pls explain!!
Christopher Marlowe is on my wishlist, but at the moment I'm wondering if I have any more room. The garden's looking pretty full now.
Val

I'm a bit over Red Intuition because I have switched to no spray and it doesn't like it much. It is heavily mulched and under-planted and it still grows well and flowers but then defoliates and produces small flowers in smaller clusters and makes a tall gaunt plant. I just don't want roses anymore that need babying and I refuse to spray. If I let it grow unpruned so that its foliage gets up off the ground then it has quite ugly form; tall, straight, prone to wind damage, non-branching, with flowers only at the top, so it gets deadheaded and reduced in height and the new foliage is softer and more dense and more prone to fungal infections and you get locked into a vicious cycle which I don't want anymore. I started thinking that I would grow a low climber up through it and still might do this and just see what happens over the next few years but right now I'm a little underwhelmed It's fine for people who are happy to fiddle with their roses.. it's just not me. I'm so busy I barely have time to scratch and if I need to intervene every few days to make sure it's happy... well... it can find somewhere else to live

I am very impressed with RedCascade ane Antique Rose. They would both be very nice roses to have.
And I love Christopher Marlowe! What a gorgeous flower. I have a tiny little bud on my CM that y ou sent me and I am watching him every day.
I feel the same about poor performers Tas. I am doing a big cull this winter of roses that are taking space that a better rose could fill. I'll post a list later.

Lots of yummy ones there Simon , your black velvet looks very much like one I cannot ID

BD... Red Cascade is a special rose to me. I was given two cuttings some 11 years ago by my Lab Assistant at the time... she was a wonderful lady with a heart of pure gold. They both took and grew happily in Moree for a while and then moved with me to near Newcastle for a few years and when I went OS to teach I gave them to Mum and have only recently been reunited with it. The plant above is one of the original cutting some 11 years old and it is still as healthy as ever. I'll put a few cuttings in for you and send them through. It has a reputation to mildew but mine don't seem to be affected because it is in an area that get's belted by the wind... so air circulation is good In fact... I have two plants of it (the second of teh original cuttings mentioned above). If you'd like that one I'll dig it and send it this winter. In my new (old) book; An Australian Guide to Miniature Roses, it states that Red Cascade will grow to more than 2.5metres if trained up over an arch or pillar. Mine has spread to more than a square metre so far in it's first year in the ground here and has been in flower continuously since mid-spring. That spray is just one of many on it right now. It's not as vigorous as it was when I lived near Newcastle where it grew long less densely foliaged canes. Down here it seems to be growing more compact and leafy and not quite so rampant so I don't know if it would be suitable for arches down here...

I'll put a few Antique Rose cuttings in too. I'll have to go and check HMF but its leaves actually look quite china-ish which would explain it's health.

BD... what do you think of Heritage Bit better than the last one hey

Simon, I used to fiddle with roses, spraying, pruning to shape and dead heading regularly but with my farming background just have them in rows under planted with Ki Kuri, Paspalum and Pattersons Curse.
Surprising enough they are very black spot free until my wife wants the roses sitting in bed of triple sifted sterile soil. Then along comes all the fungus problems. Thats my excuse for having all those great native grasses. There is a 3 generation rose propagator up the road who likes them well underplanted with weeds. He maintains the roses do well like this as they are deeper rooted than the weeds. Is it mulch or weeds or both we need in 95% humidity Sydney.

If you have a rose with black spot down there it would die up here in one season. I have been looking at your weather and really can't see you getting much joy from Tea roses in your climate .

By the way how do we add pix to the posts, can't seem to work it out due to my below par computer skills.

I'll do up a tutorial and add it to the gallery forum for eveyone to use.

Yeah... Bruce I once read somewhere a long time ago that the majority of the black spot problems in roses was caused by having bare earth under them because when it rained mud and crud will splash up under the leaves and take with it all manner of fungal spores. So I try to underplant with something or at least mulch it with something that will absorb the impact of rain/watering (I don't care when I water either... they get a drink when i have the time to give one... if that's in the evening when I get home from work then that's when they get it) and prevent splashing. Works in pots too I've found though I prefer to mulch a pot rather than underplant it.

Bruce, did you see those really nice pics Dave put up on RE from his trip to Tasmania? One was a most beautiful looking plant of Lady Hillingdon... I think it was at Susan Irvine's place at Elizabeth Town (about 30min from here). So I'll give them a go to see what goes well and what doesn't as I think there is a bit of variation in climate tolerance among them. Duchesse de Brabant hasn't taken off quickly but it still looks good and from what Cree has said and from what others have said a lot of Teas don't grow real quick anyway... I get the impression they are more gradual in their growth. Chinas do well here as do the Noisettes so I am hoping the Teas will be OK. It's certainly worth a shot though I think Deirdre might struggle a bit down her way with them. It's much colder down there than here. We are actually rated the same climate as Sydney in this spot and our day length is much longer during the spring/summer so I'm hoping this will counter act the shorter growing season.

Nice photos Simon !
If you ever want a home for Red Intuition I will give it one. I lost my one as I planted my French roses over my gravel pit where there was not much soil . All the roses did well there bar 2 together, R I being one of them. I couldn't understand why they kept dying back, but this latest dry period you could see a line of very dead grass and this went straight through these two roses which had died too. So this is now a walkway between the French roses.
I have Black Velvet still I think. I will check tomorrow.

I have 2 Red I

I have to wait a little while ith Red I... because I was happy with it last year... and this year it's been OK... I need to make sure I didn't do something stupid to make it like this and see if it comes good... so won't be too rash just yet...

Tas I would love to have Red Cascade even though it is a mini that grows 2.5 metres!! That is one giant mini!
And, waddya know, I strolled into Big W garden dept today to look for delphinium seedlings, of which there were none, and I walked out with Antique Rose. $8. I certainly had no intention of buying a rose bush today, but how could I go home without it? I ask you!!
And Tas, full marks for perservering with Heritage. Is that really the third bush you have bought?? It does look good.
And furthermore Tas, you are right about it being colder here in South Tas, and wetter too but I can't be shot for trying to grow Teas. I'm gonna have a go.

Just wanted to correct something said above. I did not say or did not mean to imply that tea roses do not grow fast.
My experience is they grow very fast. Without knowing the context of the conversation I could guess I might have said that own root tea roses are said to take a bit longer to get going, however I have not found that to be true personally. There are some teas that seem to take a bit of time, like Devoniensis bush is a bit slow for me and never gets that big even when mature. I may have also said that in colder climates with shorter seasons they may not grow as fast or as big.

My winters are -7C, rest of year very warm to hot. My seasons are shorter than Sydney. My roses really take off in early November and they stop around late June. The teas try to bloom in mid winter, but it is too cold and wet, so the buds usually do not open.
Here are some heights of teas planted Aug 2007, so they are coming up 2 years in the ground.
Rosette Delizy 7 ft tall 5 ft wide, own root.
Comtesse Riza du Parc 5 ft tall 5 ft wide own root
B R Cant 5 ft high 6ft wide own root, planted on side of hill so not the best spot.
Devoniensis 2.5 tall and as wide, budded.
Souv D'Un Ami 7ft tall 5 ft wide, budded.

Hmmmm.... I think it was on GD that you mentioned it... I'll go ckeck and see... good chance I got it wrong too... it was a good while ago... I have a feeling it was when I got Duchesse de Brabant (Comtesse de Labarthe) and you did mention it would be smaller than where it was warmer and mentioned something about needing patience... need to go and check...

Rosette Delizy 7 ft tall 5 ft wide in just 2 years!
that is amazing Cree!
I will be glad if I can get some Tea roses to grow at half that pace in my climate.
Where I live south of Hobart winters top temperatures average 8-10degrees during the day, rising to around 14degrees in early spring. A frosty night will cause the temperature to drop to 0 or -1 degree and the worst.
Summer highs sit in the low to mid 20's with the odd day peaking in the mid 30's
My first rose flowering starts in late October and goes through to late December for the later varieties. Generally I get three cycles of flowerings before winter takes over.
Would this qualify as Tea rose country to you experienced Tea rose gardeners?

Billndee,
I really do not know the answer to your question.
In spring here, I get fog. The morning stay very cool until later in the afternoon. I just checked the temps for Oct. the first 2 weeks it was about 15-22 highs and -1 to 6 at night, the teas were growing, full of buds but not blooming. I have in my notes the first tea bloomed the last week of Oct and the temps were 24-30 and 0-13 nights. I would say that is right, here they seem to need the warmer days to bloom, the colder nights do not seem to bother them as long as it heats up in the day. November the fog stops and the days warm up quicker in the morning and they really start to take off, the temps averaged 22-31 days and around 10 nights.
I do know there are a lot of European roses that grow beautifully in Tas that really have a hard time here. In spring it gets too hot too quick and often the blooms are ruined. Veilchenbeu this year was good the first day it started to open, then it crisped. I have a moss that 1 year in 3-4 will have good blooms, usually they crisps. Rugosas look good for the first bloom usually, the rest of year they crisp, even the leaves look bad by mid summer. HM look good for the spring flush if it does not get too hot, then crisp the rest of the summer and I might get a few good blooms again in autumn. It was not until someone suggested tea roses that I had the garden I dreamed of.

What I am trying to say is there is a difference in the climates. It is not only hotter but also drier here. For my climate and most of Australia I think they are a very very good choice and I am so appreciate how they love the heat. I think they will do well in Tas, but needing a heat tolerant roses is not likely as big an issue for you as it is for me, so you may not find them as enjoyable as I do when you have other roses that do very well there.

Billndee, I want to say I went to your photo albumn to look at your Sally Holmes, which by the way is absolutely beautiful in your photo and I am looking forward to my ownroot ( which Jenny gave me ) hopefully looking like yours. You garden and roses are stunning and I really enjoyed looking through your garden. Only problem is I couldn't move down the page to see more.
The blooms were so beautiful and huge. I loved your Mary Rose. The photo of Abraham Darby has so much colour in it.

I have been head ,does anyone on this forum have direct contact with the Tea Ladies or even an email address to one of them and simply ask their opinion or expertise on tea's. They could suggest some that might do better in Tasmania.

Ha, ha! Roseman I like that! Tea Ladies! Hmmm, Tas is fast becoming an expert on Tea roses, you can't call him a Tea Lady. What can you call a male Tea Lady?
Thanks for your response on climate Cree. I can see that a Southern Tassie spring is much slower to warm up than yours in NSW. Maybe that could cause of Teas in Tassie taking longer to grow buds and flowers with the result that they will flower much later??
So, picking up on Roseman's suggestion, maybe Tea varieties that flower earlier than the rest of the type could be the best to grow down here? Are there some Teas that flower first?
Rosemeadow thank you for your kind words.

No.... I am not an expert on Tea roses... not by a long shot or any stretch of the imagination. I am only just starting to learn about them and will refer any queries to Cree if they arrive at my doorstep.

I like 'Tea Ladies' much better than 'Tea Bags' LOL

Tea roses when grown in a frost free warm winter areas bloom all year. They do this in the warmer areas of Sydney and Brisbane. I was up in Brissy this past winter and saw a private garden of about 5 acres of warm climate roses and were in full bloom. So I am not sure any bloom "early" like you might say about a cold climate rose that comes out of dormancy. It seems they bloom when it is warm enough (including year round), at least to me.
I would sugest you contact the heritage rose group in your area and discuss it with them, I am sure some of their members would grow some tea roses.

Billndee, have thought of Simon's plight, in the world of political correctness he would have to be called a "Tea Person" or "TP" for short.

TasV wrote:No.... I am not an expert on Tea roses... not by a long shot or any stretch of the imagination. I am only just starting to learn about them and will refer any queries to Cree if they arrive at my doorstep.

I like 'Tea Ladies' much better than 'Tea Bags' LOL