I was thinking of getting a few more Brass Band, which I think would look good with Trumpeter; but sadly they have only the latter.

I saw the email yesterday.. was looking at their website. Their prices are too expensive for what I got 2 years ago, their website's a mess, you have to start all over from the beginning if you open a rose, and then go back to the list. That, plus they lost my original 2 orders & charged my credit card the day they got it rather than when they shipped the roses... I wasn't impressed.

I must confess that I totally LOATHE the website. It's far far far too much work. And it even fails at its premise - to be pretty - by using old print photos of roses that have been badly reproduced. And other stuff. I, too, was disappointed by the ordering system: I learned at point of shipment that about a third of the plants that were in stock when I ordered had somehow gone out of stock. They did ship plants that had not yet dried out.

Once, long ago I spent a few hours there taking photos of roses, and for a short period of time I can look at their website and enjoy that fond memory.

Steve, Rogue Valley offering Brass Band this year.
Arlene

I'm going to have to keep my eyeballs open for that Brass Band. WOW!

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

It's very difficult to find these days. Sue's been looking for a replacement for the one she left behind in San Jose, but I don't think she's had any luck.

I'm pretty sure my two plants came from Garden Valley Ranch two years ago. It's good to see the rose offered by RVR. I cannot bear to think of it dropping out of commerce completely. I'm still learning how to place it in the garden. Surprisingly, it doesn't look at all good with many yellows, but unsurprisingly, it looks good with reds and warm pinks. And to get a real impact, one needs a big bed of them, I think.

Six or eight plants at a park in NJ.

I was thinking matching those w/Heirlooms or Intrigues.

Sometimes purple and orange tones look really really good together. IMO, lilac and some soft mauves wouldn't look that great with Brass Band at its height of bloom. I think Intrigue might be dark enough to pull it off. In addition to bright reds like Trumpeter or Impatient, I think certain strong purples like Ebb Tide or Twilight Zone might work, too. Surprisingly, this rose works well with certain raspberry reds like the ones you might find on Baronne Prevost, too. (I neglected to mention that Brass Band can hang on to rose petals long after it should let them go, and the resulting 'flower' has a kind of dirty manilla envelope tan that might look okay with just the right faded mauve.) Of course, everyone's tastes are a little different: I would never have dared to paint my house quite so colorfully as you did yours, Toni, but I was agog with how striking it looked.

In any case, there are gazillions of great roses and many of them could be confused for some other rose. I doubt this will happen with Brass Band. A good rose for your garden, I think. I made the mistake of buying just two, I'm pretty sure I'd start with three or more next time. I think they have to be pruned to about 16 inches to bloom like the ones you see above.

My Brass Band is next to Rainbow Sorbet, Brilliant Pink Iceberg, and 2 Royal Bonicas. I like that combination. The other side of that bed has some orange-pink blends--Cinco de Mayo, pumpkin Patch, Disneyland, that sort. Pat Austin, hot Cocoa, Distant Drums, Koko Loko and Tamore are in that same bed and I think the colors blend.
Brass band really pops with purple Homestead verbena at its feet.

We cross posted, Steve. maybe what ties my bed together is the combination you mentioned--the orange of Brass Band with the dark purple of Homestead Verbena. (I have the verbena throughout that bed)
I don't know why I have such a high kill rate on purple roses. My purple Splash didn't make it through the summer. Ebb Tide looks like it's washed off into the sunset and Twilight Zone is the same size it was this spring.

My Ebb Tide has yet to bloom "proper".. it always blooms a pink. Today's the first time it's bloomed a darker pink, but its definitely still a pink. And this is a Weeks rose. Next year I'm going to find one in bloom & plant THAT one, to make sure I'm planting the right thing! And didn't see Twilight Zone anywhere locally. I ordered it from Edmunds, but didn't receive it.

I guess I've not really gotten very far with purple roses. I had a Stephen's Big Purple once that survived much longer than most HTs usually did in NJ. I have The Prince which is more maroon than purple. I have Falstaff which is reddish purple. On even numbered days I am agog at its ability to make really pretty flowers, but on odd numbered days its long list of minor deficiencies tempts me to dig it up and use the space for something else. I guess Paradise touches on purple and I've been surprised by how well it's doing in its first year in my garden - chest high and maybe a dozen blossoms.

Come to think of it, I guess I had Brass Band planted among purple salvia before I moved it. I ended up really regretting that I moved them, but I was not sure why. Thanks, Toni and Cindi for helping me with figure it out. Sadly, there's no going back because Boule de Niege - at four feet tall - is growing in that spot. It suddenly occurs to me that it might be a good idea to extend the salvia into an area where Grande Dame, Firefighter, Leanne Rimes, Paradise Found, and Rainbow Sorbet live. Yes, I'm liking this plan.

(Steve checks out homestead purple verbena) Wow! That's bright stuff. I can see how it would stand up to the brightest orange, red, and electric pink roses. Does it really bloom nonstop spring to frost? Cold hardy to zone 5? But it doesn't like heavy clay and wet feet in winter? I have been mulling over a plan to surround a small flat area on three sides with Don Juan trained on a fence, then plant california poppies in the sandy soil enclosed by the climbers. I wonder if Homestead Purple verbena might look good around the feet of the roses? Finally, would it look good with Julia Child? Or is the rose too pale?

I have Homestead verbena under Julia Child and I like that combination even better than the orange rose/homestead. Here, where some winters are wet and some are dry, it survives no matter what. The past winter was mild, and the verbena was pretty raggedy this spring. I cut it back and it sent out new stems and now it looks great.

I've tried verbena a number of times, always an annual for me. But I'm going to have to try & see if I can find this Homestead if it is good to zone 5.. Love that color! Right now, my NE Purple Asters are starting to put on their show. I need to move some of them & put in yellow mums so that I have the purple/yellow effect, but the only problem with that is that the asters get 3-3.5 ft tall & the mums never reach higher than 2.

Toni did you get some purple homestead verbena on the santa rosa gardens sale? When i looked this morning, they still had a lot left.A couple of years ago, I installed 10 flats of it for a client to use as groundcover (120 plants, @ 2.49 ea locally) and it was beautiful. A master gardener who worked hourly came in and cleaned up her yard for the fall and she pulled most of it up, insisting it is an annual. She fortunately missed a few, and they spread far and wide this summer, almost covering. My client wasn't quite as mad as I was. I wanted to wring her neck. The tags still say zone 7. I dont know about zone 5, but mine did survive the wicked winter 2 yrs ago when it was -17 for 2 nights with no protection.

Cindi - Yes, that's why I actually made the order. I posted what all I ordered. I only got 2.. gonna start small & see what comes of it all. -17 can be up to 2-3 weeks at a time here, but I'm going to be redoing a small section with mulch & that's where that's going. I got that, some Veronica (I know that does quite well here), some orange milkweed, false indigo (had 2, one croaked), & some blue phlox.