The first of the roses are starting their show! Madame Alfred Carriere has several sweetly perfumed blooms going. She'll soon be tall enough to begin to train up the trellis on the wall. This lovely came from The Antique Rose Emporeum in Texas. She's on her own root and was relatively trouble free last season (summer of 2006 - aka the dark summer of black spot). Every rose got at least a touch of the BS, but only a touch for the Madame.
My Darlow's Enigma arrived looking great from Ashdown Roses. She's adapting swiftly and is the first rose in the shadier back yard. Everybody else is on the sunny side of the house.
Ashdown is a great choice for me as the shipping distance isn't much. But both Ashdown and Rose Emporium sent me marvelous specimens! Last year both my Pat Austins purchased from another mail order company were disappointing. One started showing symptoms of Rose Rossette Disease by mid-summer. I should have taken photos, but once I realized what it was it was yanked, bagged and gone instantly! The weird super succulent, massively thorny red growth presented by the mite-borne illness is truly alien looking.
The second Pat Austin was mailed separately (originally omitted from my shipment, a mistake quickly remedied by the company) and shows no signs of the disease despite a relitively close position. I'm just not sure what it is though. I don't think its a Pat - it has too many petals giving it a fuller shape and the color is not quite right either. She's pretty, this mystery lady (shown above).
No comments:
Post a Comment