Well, now that we've had some VERY warm days, most of the snow in my front yard has melted & I've been able to wander around & check out the snow/cold damages from this winter. I don't think we'll have any more extremely cold (lower than 0) days, but I *am* expecting a couple of nasty wet sloppy snow storms, probably gonna dump (hopefully) 2-4 feet of wet sloppy snow. That's what I'm hoping.

So, as I'm meandering through the front yard (the back yard is still an iceberg), I'm pulling back a little on all the mulch to see if the rose is still a little green. And, I'm happy to say that I believe that over 90% of my roses made it! Yay! This has been one of the coldest winter on record for the D-metro area (technically, the 7th coldest on record) and one of the driest as well. But, because it *was* so darned cold, couldn't winter water. ugh.

One of my potentially favorite roses is Ebb Tide. I love the smokey purple color, the intense smell, ah it's a magnificent rose! The Ebb Tide I bought last year, however, never did well. In fact, it actually lost all its leaves at one point and, only because of pampering with lots of Age Old Kelp did it actually produce SOME leaves. It never flowered for me, however. I was just happy to have some leaves on it, so I wasn't going to push the poor thing.

However, when I pulled back it's mulch pile, I didn't see any green. I think I have a gonner with it. :(

The whole purpose of this thread, though, is to ask: anyone else grow Ebb Tide? Is it that delicate of a rose that it won't withstand the abuse of extreme temps like that? I can replace it with a Neptune.. I have a color pattern in the front row of roses with a purple (Ebb Tide), yellow (Arlene Francis), orange (Arizona), yellow (Strike it Rich), & purple (Lagerfeld) (although those two are actually backwards).

What does everyone think? I realize that everyone here pretty much lives in Rose Heaven and I concede to the fact that I have NO experience, so that's why I want to learn from y'all.

I have an Ebb Tide that is entering its third year, but it's too early for me to know how well it made it through this particularly cold winter. I'll let you know in a few weeks.

Toni, I don't think Neptune would be a good replacement for Ebb Tide. It's at least twice as tall and it's a completely different color.

Here's Ebb Tide:

Here's Neptune:

If you do have to find a substitute for Ebb Tide, I think Midnight Blue would be the obvious choice. It's the same size and it's the same shade of purple.

Here's Midnight Blue:

Yea, but what I was looking at was the fact that Neptune would be a lot closer to my Lagerfeld that I have across the way.

*sigh* Beautiful. I am SO tired of winter! Here's my Lagerfeld w/Strike it Rich

Yes, Toni, then it would work. Neptune and Lagerfeld are almost twins, in color and in habit.

reallY? I haven't had ANY luck with Neptune (tried 3 Neptunes and they all croaked) and I have 2 Lagerfelds that I got from Home Depot for like $6 and they're blooming machines! In fact, one of them was so pathetic.. it was practically a dead stick on top but it had lots of green leaves on the bottom that I took it home, gave it a buzz cut and plopped it in.. and it's been going ever since! Maybe I won't need to put in a Neptune and go through the heartbreak of losing yet ANOTHER one and just put in another Lagerfeld. There's no law stating that I can't have more than 1 rose of the same type, is there? 'Cuz, if that's the case, I'm breaking that law 'cuz I have 2 Charismas & 2 Intrigues.

Good idea! Put in another Lagerfeld. If you find a rose that grows well, have multiples of it. I have so many duplicates of my favorite roses. I used to buy two routinely, so that I'd have a spare in case the gophers got one.

Zuzu - just how *many* roses do you have? I just wanna know so I can cry my eyes out & eat my liver in envy.

I have 1,327 varieties listed on HMF, but I have a lot of mystery roses that can't be listed and I have multiples of at least 50, so I probably have a little over 1,500.

HOLY GUACAMOLE.

cripes

No where in the D-metro ANYWHERE (including nurseries, the Botanical Gardens, etc) has CLOSE to that.

*drool*

yikes. That'd be worse than a full-time job! Actually, with my approx. 200 (after I get in all my roses in the spring), I'll actually have the largest rose plot in my city of Parker, which is pretty pathetic.

damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm not envious any more. That's more work than I can comprehend!

Well, if it makes you feel better, Toni, I have to assure you that growing roses doesn't take much work here. I have perfect weather and perfect soil for roses.

yea, you do. Lucky. I was just telling my DH that you have it made in the shade. I was just outside doing some stuff (of course, doing stuff @ 10:30 at night) and thinking that I need a jacket. So I come inside & check the weather, it's 32.3 degrees right now. Plus I have to pull out all the existing soil in the back as we have the wonderful Colorado Red Clay for soil here.

I'm so jealous. I wanna live where I can GROW things other than weeds. I had a couple of tumbleweeds that grew in a spot that I didn't notice in the back yard (behind the shed in the corner) until they were actually wrapping around the shed. Darned things were almost 8' tall & 4' across! :( :(

*cries* now I'm all depressed. :( :(

oh well, I can always dream, huh.

Well, I *do* have a picture of my first rose! This is Mardi Gras that I planted in '08. This is how I got started on my roses. Look at the wonderful grass below the rose. The beautiful green grass above the rose is my neighbors, who's land actually is higher up than mine. Mine sits geologically lower than theirs by almost 3' in some spots and their sprinklers are ALWAYS flooding parts of my yard. The reason why you see the dead grass on MY side of the mulch (below the mulch level in the picture) is I found out that I have a turf mold & grubs. In order to get rid of the mold, I'd have to grade the whole yard out at least 2', replace it with topsoil, and resod it. The people who owned the house before me did this three times.. and each time, this was the result.

When we came to look at the house in July 05, this was the back yard. This is the reason why we were able to get the house so cheap.

I admire your enthusiasm more than you know. If I had to start out with a garden like yours, complete with turf mold, I think I would have a large container garden and nothing else.

Zuzu - actually, my two different chiropractors admire my enthusiasm as well. LOL!

Found another magnificent rose last night.. I want!!

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

Molineux

Looks SOO beautiful in it's orange/yellow phase...

I love ebb tide and midnight blue, but haven't grown either. Ebb Tide is high on my wish list, right behind gruss en achen. Austin has a couple dark red roses, not as purple as ebb tide : the prince, transcendent, will shakespeare 2000.

I grew Molineux. I got it own root at Walmart of all places! It was beautiful, even the thorns, but it didn't like the winters here. The Austin site recommends Molineux for warm climates. The Austin site/book calls Charlotte "one of the most beautiful of the yellow English roses, and also, for those with particularly cold winters, one of the hardiest." A yellow rose on my wish list is Julia Child. I have also been looking at Jude the Obscure.

http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/aus...

I think your garden should get an award for "most improvement." Anyone can grow roses in "rose heaven", it takes skill and determination to grow them in Detroit!

Who's in Detroit?

Sorry, I was reading the thread and listening to my friend from Michigan complain on the phone at the same time. Well, politely half listening and biting my tongue. Although Denver would also be a difficult place to garden, both cold and dry.