Mid-Atlantic Gardening: September Blooms, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Roses---

Speaking of Roses.....:o)---I have7. All of them old and suffering.....My best one is "Sweet Surrender"---
an old, amazing, fragrant Rose....

The others are:
1--A yellow one--"Golden gate"
2--a very small, struggling, "First Prize"--has the most amazing bloom--but only one stem
and one or two blooms after 4 years.
3--An "Orange Passion" Rose--developed by Jackson Perkins just for Home Depot...
NOT the most hardy soul--but brilliantly orange!!
4--A "Proud Land" Rose---amazing red blooms on long stems...
5--A "Tropicana" that keeps hanging on in my "YUK" bed....How it survives there--I do not know!
It literally grows amid 2" roots from my Maple Tree.
6--And--Ta-Dah! My "Sweet Surrender" Rose--the hardiest of all! It smells just like Granny's perfume.
It has so many petals in each bloom--that it has double whorls!
7--And my Climbing Rose--"Autumn Sunset". Beautiful, multi- color stages--from reddish-orange
to yellow to pale yellow. Seldom blooms after the Spring flush.

NOW! I could post the most beautiful pictures of each of these--but all these just dazzle me in the Spring--
with their first flushes....from there--it all goes downhill.
The leaves get Black Spot in June and July and drop off.....With bare stems--they loose their vigor....
Also--Japanese beetles do a lot of damage--even though I have barely seen any for the last 2 years

IF I spray with Lime Sulphur in late Winter--it helps a bit---but I don't always get to it...Like this past year.

This time of year--they are trying to bloom a bit--but the blooms are minute--compared the Spring ones...

YES! I am a bit (???) negligent with all the spraying and feeding--so--I am to blame some....Or--a lot!

I almost want to dig them all up and start fresh--with more disease resistant varieties....but it ain't gonna happen....

Most of these Roses have been here for many years....Some of them with their roots, forever, entwined with those of my large Silver Maple.
Roses take too much care to be "dazzling".....I do not have the time or the energy to do all that has to be done...
SO--!
Perhaps i should buy my Roses from a more reputable Nursery than Wall Mart--Home depot--etc...
One of them I bought from "Valley View farms"--a La-Dee-Dah Nursery here--but they only give you a 30 day return policy. HD has a full year--on any landscape plants and Houseplants...WITH a receipt! NOT annuals!
People try to bring them back in october--b/c they are dead....Welll! DAH! They ARE annuals!!!

My newest one--a Knock-Out Rose--is by my shed. Bought it last year. Yes! At HD--
Not to worry about this one....It survives along all the roads and Malls and highways....

Oh, Well.......Gita

Here is my "First prize bloom---The best Rose picture i have ever taken.....