Rose Update

I love roses, but with no growing experience at all.  

Last year I dedicated one  corner of my flower bed to be "Rose Corner", and planted six roses there.  Four of them are those bare root roses sold at Costco every spring.  One is 'Double Delight' on Fortuniana rootstalk, and another one is "First Prize".  Along with another two roses in other area of my garden, I had total eight hybrid tea roses in my garden one year ago.  For those experienced Florida gardeners, you may  already see the problem when you read to this point.  

Yes, tea roses usually do not agree with hot humid weather of Florida, especially Central and South Florida.  In this environment, they develop black spots so easily, and are subject to nematodes in the soil.  Only hybrid rose could survive in this weather are those that grafted on Fortuniana rootstalk.  So, out of eight roses, I really only had one that meet this criteria.

Before the weather got really hot, all my roses grew beautifully, and bloomed one by one.  Here was a collage I made with all those rose excitement last year.

From top left clockwise: First Prize, Paradise, Double Delight, Queen Elizabeth,
'Burgundy Surprise', Perfume Delight and Peace (Click to enlarge to see detail)

Now one year later, I lost three out of four bare-root roses.   Their leaves lost and eventually died.  I am still not very sure what exactly caused their death. The one bare-root rose left is "Peace", but only has one branch green, and I have the feeling that it won't last long either.

The  remaining four are: 'Double Delight', "First Prize","Queen Elizabeth", and "Perfume Delight".  They continue producing the flowers sporadically through out the year, but never have more than three flowers opening at the same time. 

I have learned from other Florida Gardeners that some Old Garden Roses or Antique Roses can thrive in Florida very well.  

Here is one Antique Rose called "Josephine Land" sold by one Nelsons' Florida Roses retailer locally. It was recommended by the owner for its fragrance. For me,  the fragrance is nice, but since the bush is still low and the flowers are not prolific yet, I need to be close to enjoy the scent.

I love how delicate looking of the flowers.  They start simple and small...

gradually reveal their beauties...

After fully opened, they only last two to three days before their pedals fall off themselves.

Since I could not find much information about Josephine's Land over the Internet, I don't know how well it will react to Florida's summer yet.  We shall see. Anybody grows this same rose, please share your experience with me.

Here is the other rose that lots of Florida gardeners are raving about:  Belinda's Dream.  I have been searching for this rose for quite a while, above Josephine's land was discovered by accident when I went for Belinda's Dream.  Finally, recently I found it from Bah's Nursery, my favorite nursery.  I guess "Dream" does come true!

The flower has the look of Tea roses, and quite fragrant and big.

I heard it is a prolific bloomer.  Looking forward to it...

Just lovely!

I have not put it into the ground yet.  One candidate spot I am considering for it got the full sun, almost from sunrise to sundown, which means 12+ hours in Summer.  Will it be too much for it?  I know Roses love full sun, just don't know if it also loves South Florida summer's blazing full sun.

While I am enjoying my new roses, here are some old roses recently flowered.  They look so pretty with rain drops.

Hybrid tea rose 'Perfume Delight'

'Double Delight'

'Double Delight'

I love roses, and wish can gain some experience to be successful growing roses in South Florida.  Next on my wish list is: Louis Phillipe, or Florida's Cracker Rose.  Can not wait the day I find it!

Its Name Is Paradise!

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you may remember that I got one surprise rose at my rose corner that I don't know the name of.

Thanks for many of you who tried to identify this rose for me, especially Titania at "Yesterday, today and tomorrow in my garden" and Gippslandgardener at "A Year in a Gippsland Garden", who checked their rose books for me to see any match.  The possible matches are: "Angel Face" and  "Love Potion".

Unfortunately, after I compared my mystery rose with the pictures and descriptions of these two roses, I think they might not match.  Although their color do match, but the pedals of both "Angel Face" and "Love Potion" are "ruffled", and mine is not.

However, when doing the search, I came across one rose named "Paradise", and I think they look very close to the one I have.

Here is the description of "Paradise" (Synonym: Burning Sky, Passion ): 1978, USA.  Lilac mauve center with magenta/dark pink edges.  Parentage - 'Swarthmore' x 'Angel Face' seedling, 30 pedals.

Here is a picture of 'Paradise' from the web.  Since 'Angel Face' is one of its parents, it does show some resemblances, doesn't it?

Paradise Hybrid Tea Rose
(Source: San Joaquin Valley Rose Society at  http://www.rainforest2548.org/)

Here are some pictures of my mystery rose on different stages (not the same flower, but all from the same bush).   Do you agree that this could be the 'Paradise'?

Since I know that I will never be able to be sure of the name of my mystery rose, I will settle for this closest match for now... 

So, 'Paradise' it is!  One less nameless rose in my garden :) 

More Unexpected at the Rose Corner

In my previous post,  I talked about the unexpected mix-up of one of the roses in my rose corner.  The expected "bright clear yellow" "New Day" hybrid tea rose turned out to be a burgundy color of tea rose, which I will temporarily refer as my "Burgundy Surprise" (Thanks for the suggestion, Deborah!).  

Since there were two roses in the original "New Day" rose package, I assumed the other one was also "Burgundy Surprise" even it had not bloomed at the time I wrote the previous post.  It did have a couple of buds already developed, and the bud color looked similar to the one from Burgundy Surprise.

Well, today when I came back home from work, I found those buds opened, and guess what?  It is not the same as "Burgundy Surprise", definitely another kind!

What do you think of this one?  Isn't it a delightful color?  It also has mild scent when you get close.   For me, I don't mind this mix-up any more.  I just got two more varieties I did not expect, and they ARE beautiful, and different from other roses that I already had.

It is kind of midium-sized pink lavender color (has the shade variation on the same pedal) rose.  Anybody knows the name??  (I have to say not knowing the name is the only annoying part of this whole mix-up thing...)

Oh, when taking the pictures, I noticed every one of my rose bushes had some leaves looked like this.

Did I have some uninvited visitors in the garden who love to nibble my rose leaves?  Who could the visitors be?

Oh, this rose corner sure is giving me lots of surprises!  At the same time, it is a beautiful garden corner I am in love with!

Rose Corner Update with Unexpected Mix-up

If you have been following my blog for a while, you might have known that I have been trying to establish a rose corner in my garden.

There are six roses in my rose corner including two "New Day", two "Peace", one "Double Delight", and one pink tea rose (lost the name tag). 

"New Day" and "Peace" are those dormant rose bushes I bought from Costco.  I put them in the ground in early March, and now they are growing so well with shiny healthy leaves. Each one of them has four to six buds, and some are opening their first blooms today. 

I have been patiently waiting for them all blooms, so that I can share their beauties with you all.  And, today is the day (perfect for Easter)!

I lost the name tag for this one.  This rose has nice subtle scent, and about 5 inch across when it fully opens (Anybody happens to know the name?).

Pink Tea Rose

I have been crazy about this "Double Delight" since its first bloom.  Don't you just love this bi-color blossom? Here is a post that shows how it changes color when it unfurls.

Double Delight

This "Peace" is definitely becoming my another favorite!   Look the three stages of this flower.  It has soft, clear yellow flower with touch of pink on the edge when fully opens.

Peace ( stage 1)

Peace (Stage 2)

Peace (Stage 3) 

 Now here comes the "unexpected"!  The only kind I have not shown you so far is the "New Day".  Here is the description on the original box: "Bright , clear yellow roses of good form and spicy fragrance that bloom continuously through the season. medium-sized bush. Everblooming Hybrid Tea Rose."  I bought it for yellow is missing from my rose collection (well, now I think actually Peace is almost yellow), and the spicy fragrance will be something real nice...

Here are three pictures I took for the plants that I thought were "New Day" roses from bud to full bloom.  Do you see anything that matches the above description?!  Where is that "bright, clear yellow"?

The only explanation will be they were put in the wrong package from the beginning, or some Costco customer misplaced them into this box for whatever reasons... 

What should I call this color?  Maroon, Violet Red, or Deep Pink?  The flower is about 4 to 5 inch across, and if I dive my nose into it, it has nice fragrance (not very strong). 

Anybody could give a good guess of its name?  Despite of the mix-up fact, this is a very LOVELY rose, and I don't mind having them in my garden at all.  The only downside is now I have another two nameless roses! 

I know it might be very hard to identify this rose just by the picture, but I would greatly appreciate it if anybody recognizes this one and let me know its name, so I don't have to refer it to "fake New Day Rose" every time I mention it :)

UPDATE:

For the first pink rose, Noelle at http://www.azplantlady.com/ recognized it as "First Prize", and I checked the picture of "First Prize" on the internet, and seems they match my pink rose very closely.  So, I guess I got one less "Nameless" rose!  "First Prize" it is!  Thanks, Noelle!

For the mix-up roses, since nobody identifies the name yet, and Deborah at http://deborahsgarden.blogspot.com suggested call it as "Burgundy Surprise".  I love it!  So, before I can confirm its real name, I will refer this rose in my rose corner as "Burgundy Surprise".   Thanks, Deborah, very nice name indeed!