Alpine Sunset is one of my favourite roses although I have put the poor thing in a place where it seems to be struggling! With a little more care, mulch and some food it is getting better. It is in a place where the soil is often quite dry, it might do better in better soil where it gets more moisture but those places are already taken! Cutting it back hard each spring is probably the best thing to do to encourage new growth, this year I cut it back to about 6" from the ground and it responded a little better than it had previously done. I planted it in 2006, it was hot that year and it was a young plant but the following two years in the UK were very cold summers so it shivered along with the rest of us! I decided it was too pretty to let it wither so this year got around to giving it a mulch of compost and some organic rose food. The whole of the year 2011 where I live in the UK was lacking rainfall more than I can remember, but the plant responded a little to my well-intended care. I will have to keep pampering it, and I am sure it will slowly improve. It has never suffered from black spot. My garden and soil are more suited to shrub and floribunda roses, but with care I think I am winning with the hybrid teas!

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