dosnt this make you soo exited for spring.. i cant take it..

I already have lots with buds and a couple that have a bloom or two although they don't look very good with the cold weather. But it's something!

we wont be getting anything for at least another month

Sue: Let me go back and check. I may have clicked on the wrong photo for Mary Rose. Hold on.

Yep; here's MR, just as you thought. Thank you for calling me on this.

Evey, I just saw on a list of fragrant roses that Angel Face is a fragrant one. Yeehaa!

Oh, and Sue, Lyda Rose did so well for me last year that I'd have to name her as my #6 fav.

Angie, the scent for Angel Face is divine. When you put a bouquet on your table, the entire room smells great! The blooms are long-lasting too.

Yep, Lyda Rose, shown below, would have been on my list of best performers if I still had it! It has an excellent home now!

OK, so now you need to edit that shot and tell who that dark rose beauty really is!

Ok, another great one for me is Modern Magic. I planted it in partial shade, it doesn't get sun until late afternoon. It doesn't bloom as prolific as my Mom's in full sun but it does repeat pretty fast and the foliage is just great, dark green, healthy. A no fuss rose!

Have done, Sue, and thanks again for catching my mistake. I had clicked on another shot of The Dark Lady. I like Modern Magic, too, as I have a good bit of shade along my back fence. Fragrant?

I don't recall fragrance on that one, but when I have a good performer, any fragrance is a bonus to me.

Another that's done very well for me is Wild Blue Yonder. I actually bought 2 and planted them next to each other and that's rare given my small space. I just wanted a fuller mass of color from those blooms. They look fabulous in a vase with all my yellows, apricots and orange roses too!

I bought a scrawny Hot Cocoa bush VERY inexpensively online at the end of fall last year and it is now a healthy looking thing in a pot in my dining room.

In my garden Black Cherry is the floribunda that withstands all rose enemies best.

Chrysler Imperial has one of the most heavenly scents. I am waiting to see if the beautiful Pope John Paul will return this year along with his neighbor Bella Roma.

My visitors always think that about face is so breathtaking.

oh i love that pic!!

That About Face bloom is beautiful, and that's great news about the Hot Cocoa reviving. It takes special talent to overwinter potted roses in the house.

Zuzu, I don't have any special talent when it comes to roses. The fact that it is difficult is beginning to make me nervous and I keep going back to look at it and mist it and etc. I probably will kill it with too much attention.

No photos-- but here in Chicago, my best performers are: Clair Matin (blooms cycle after cycle); Pearl Drift (foliage like gardenia foliage!); Lyda Rose; the Knock Outs; and my twice-a-summer John Davis (careful to feed & water him well). What may soon replace one of the 5: Laguna (vigorous, generous with blooms, strong scent). Best for dramatic effect: Constance Spry when she's on her spree.

A favorite at the moment as she is the first to bloom after our worse than average winter is Home Run a Weeks rose. Sorry, I don't have a picture.

Zuzu

At the Philadelphia Flower Show I dropped in for the American Rose Society seminar and asked what I would do with a Mr. Lincoln rose that was going for $5.75 at Walmarts. It was budding and I knew that I couldn't dig it into my frozen ground so I would pot it (it had some soil around the roots and was wrapped in plastic). After that, my question was: "Do I leave it in a cool garage even though it is showing definite signs of coming out of dormancy, or should I bring it in and have it continue to go forward. The answer didn't help me "Roses cannot be grown inside". Since I know that they can, I still didn't have the answer to proceed with the Mr. Lincoln rose that I was thinking of buying. I didn't feel comfortable telling them that I have several rose bushes growing inside during the seminar.

Do you have an opinion. Could it be that sometimes a rose can find (for whatever reason) and indoor spot that is similar to where they have been kept before?

Yes, I have an opinion of that dogmatic man, but I'll keep it to myself.

There are many spots indoors that would be comparable to a greenhouse or even to a growing field in a warmer climate. Maybe he lived in a house with the drapes always tightly shut. If they get enough light and are out of the freezing cold, why wouldn't they be happy? There's always the danger of spider mites infesting house plants, but we'll cross that bridge if you come to it.

I have so many plants growing inside at this time of the year. Sometimes I just give them all a spray of water containing a little dish detergent. Sometimes I spray them with water containing just a smidge of medicinal hydrogen peroxide, sometimes I put them in the shower and really douse them if I can't get rid of pests. So far, they put up with all my "grandmothering".

That's so great. You're doing all the right things. Why would you listen to that man?

Occasionally, you might have to change the soil. A heavy infestation tends to recur because the mites invade the soil in the container, but it sounds as if you never give them a chance to live long enough to do that.

My favorite roses are Evelyn and Double Delight. Here is a photo of my Evelyn. I like the fragrance and fullness of the petals. Double Delight smells great too and bloomed all summer. I hope to add Cinco de Mayo, Easy Does It, and Sunny Knockout to my list of roses next year.

After seeing the photos...I'm going to see if I can find Hot Cocoa. I started to buy it last week and put it back down. I always do that!