I was going to put all kinds of expletives in the title, but I figured I'd be nice to innocent eyes.

Last Wednesday, got an email from EuroDesert about their grandifloras being up for sale, so I asked Cliff if his Silver Star & Shreveport were still available as he only had one of each. He said that they were, so I ordered them from him. I knew that from what Zuzu had been getting I should be getting some pretty rose bushes.

Holy crap.

Got home from work last night & found this on my door step.


Opened the box & was greeted with this:


Inside the black bag was wet papers that were still wet. There was yet another bag inside. Here's Silver Star. This bush took up the ENTIRE box.


And Shreveport.


I went to the west side of my house & planted them there. I had lost a few roses there from the winter (Sir John Betjeman, Portlandia, Shocking Blue), so I need to put things in their spots. I'm going to see if I can find another Shocking Blue to replace the one I lost, but just not from RU. They just can't survive my winters. *cries*

wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got all of Zuzu's empty flattened boxes for suppressing the weeds in the back part of my lot, they were all huge!
Yeah, you got the right Shreverport this time!!

Aren't his roses amazing? Toni, don't prune off any canes that look dead. A lot are so old that they've lost all of their greenish color, but they will produce buds and sprouts. I didn't prune my roses from Cliff before planting simply because I was getting so many all at once that I didn't have time. Later I was amazed at the new growth emerging from canes I might have removed if I'd had the time.

Zuzu - I just plopped them into the ground. The normal holes I did weren't big enough.. the one needed a hole like 2' across and I buried them well under the surface line so they hopefully will be protected from winter. I'll make sure I put extra mulch on them as well. I'm so excited!!! They were so beautiful... scarily beautiful.

After you've seen these, it's positively ludicrous to learn that some places are now charging more for their puny little bands.

You all will be spoiled!

UPDATE: They've been in the ground now for a breath over 2 weeks and both of them are starting to put out new growth. I need to feed them again.. the soil in that area is very poor & sandy, plus they don't get as much sun as I think they should. Silver Star has a lot more leaves on it than Shreveport, probably due to Silver Star being in a lot more sun than Shreveport.

Here's Silver Star


And Shreveport

Need to take pictures of them now.. they actually look like rose bushes rather than bodybag canes! Yay!

Got the email with the Focus on Floribundas starting with the letter S last night.. pounced & was awarded the Shocking Blue. YAY!! Mine from RU had not made it through the winter, so I'm super psyched to get that one! I know I'm gonna be ecstatic when I get it!