Hi all! I already have a thread to plan tall bearded irises in my garden. Because I already grow roses for the second year I thought it would be a good idea to share my short term experiences with them.

I got the first idea to grow roses a year after my beloved grandpa died. My mother - his daughter passed away a few years earlier and also a few years earlier my grandmother. What they left was a big house and mainly emotional pain to lost them all so early. Because I already lived away from home I thought about what could I take with me when we sell the property. A rose! Especially my grandmother was a big lover of them, so I picked the biggest one, which I did know that was colored white and smelled beautifully. One thing went to another and after a year I bought about a dozen more. I had before zero experience in gardening but wanted a mini rose garden to have a beautiful memorial of my ancestors.

So my first presented rose is my grandmothers I didn't know what cultivar it is, but from searching the web I think it's Rose (Rosa 'Iceberg'). It's a really quick growing and blooming rose. The blooms smell sweet, fresh, very gentle. It's way smaller than it was when I replanted it, but silly me had zero experience so I didn't water it enough in the first weeks so it was quite damaged last year. Still, it fully bloomed the same season!
This is her second season on the new property and it's the first bloomer. If I remember correct it's a very very old rose so I'm really happy that she is doing so well

Photos a year before (her first year on the new property):


The second rose that I bought in the same season was Rose (Rosa 'Sunsprite')
This is her second year and it grows like crazy! On the first photo, where I photographed my grandmothers rose, you can see it in the left upper corner. Her leaves are quite big and very disease resistant. The blooms are shortlived but that's not a problem because it blooms constantly in the summer. She has a nice, stronger smell that is a little soapy. It already, like grandmother's has cca. 10 buds and we even had a big frost problem a few weeks ago.


Photos of year before (her first year):


My third rose that I also bought the same season was Rose (Rosa 'Caroline Victoria')
This one smells delightful and remembers me on lemons and raspberries. She has a very elegant bloom form. I see that she has here and there a little problem with blackspot.

Photos of year before (her first year):


More to come...

This past autumn I bought more roses on myroses.de

Let me start with the one that is the most rapid grower that I saw between roses:
Rose (Rosa 'Honey Dijon')
Sorry for the bad photo, but this is how it looked like one month ago. Other new roses were at this time half it's size or even smaller.

Now she will start to bloom soon:


The white thing on the leaves is a yoghurt/milk solution that I sprayed to prevent blackspot. I'm sure Honey Dijon is not suspectible for it, but I like prevention more than curation. Caroline Victoria already has a few leaves with it and we had many rainy days in the past days and in the days to come, that's why I sprayed them all.

Tammy, welcome to the rose forum. It sounds as if you are well on the way to a full blown rose addiction. You are in good company here.

Thank you porkpal! I feel really welcome here

From the strongest to the weakest one: Rose (Rosa 'Marilyn Monroe')
This one had start up problems. It spreaded horizontally, but not vertically.. Now it's seems that it goes in the height too, finally I planted it on the more sunny side of my mini garden, because I read that it tolerates the heat pretty well.


Then is there also Rose (Rosa 'Belle Epoque')
I can't wait to see the bloom of this one. Unfortunately it started to grow very poorly. Then I found out that an invasion of caterpillars made her weak. After I removed them it started to grow and now, despite the small size, I expect a bloom from her


I'm also quite curious about the bloom of Floribunda Rose (Rosa 'Cafe')
This one was also a slow starter, but now it grows a little faster. For it's size it made many fat buds already.

This one is Rose (Rosa 'Spiced Coffee')
I'm curious if it will be a good one. There are many critics that it is suspectible for diseases. Mine looks pretty well though and has many buds for it's size. It started as a really really fast grower, but slowed down now. It forms very soft purple/reddish leaves that stay quite a while like that until they become a more firm touch to it. The buds look quite fuzzy - interesting. I planted it on the sunny side of my garden, because I read that the blooms are more pergament looking when the plant is planted on a sunny spot (when not they are more cool toned/pinkish)


This one formed firstly a strong foliage: Floribunda Rose (Rosa 'Sheila's Perfume')
The other roses all made buds pretty quickly but this one diceded that foliage is more important I belive that this one will be a really strong one. Like sunsprite, she's planted in a more shady spot, but still grows really fast and the foliage looks really healthy. One bud is also already started to show up.


I also got myself Rose (Rosa 'Just Joey')
When I search for photos of the blooms I'm unsure if this is a rose or apricot/peach ice cream
This one also started pretty slow, but now it looks better. I read that the blooms bloom out pretty quickly, especially in sun, that's why I gave her a more shady spot in my garden. It formed a one and only bud that's not very big, but already reached quite a height. I can't wait to see and smell the open bloom

The last two are:

Rose (Rosa 'Ann Henderson')
Ann Henderson is also a more slow growing rose. Still it seems to catch up a bit. I'm really curious about the bloom.


Floribunda Rose (Rosa 'Singin' in the Rain')
This one has a little swirled/twisted buds. It's foliage is very healthy. The leaves are round and small but there are plenty of them. It's one of the fastest growing, but it slowed down when it got it's first buds.


When I get open blooms I will post more pictures

These are wonderful photos, Tammy!

They do look good. Such beautiful colors you chose!!

Your roses look very healthy Tamara. Just curious about where you are located - you mentioned that you placed an order with myroses.de so I am presuming Germany?

Thank you all!

Sunnyvalley - I'm a little further down - from a small country called Slovenia Oh I see you are from Switzerland we have a very kind retired couple from there as our neighbours (husband is Swiss, wife is Slovene). I smalltalk with him in german for which he is very grateful because he still has problems with our language (which I totally understand, because it's quite complex) - he said that it's more difficult for him than speaking French

Tamara, give your neighbour a hearty 'Gruezi' from Switzerland!

Maybe you could update your profile with your location then we won't have to ask again

Sharlene I will! about my location - I just added it, thanks

Honey Dijon, again

That looks promising Tamara. I planted mine last November but and it hasn't taken off as well as some of the other newly planted roses but it does have a couple of buds. Hoping to see the same honey mustard colour!

Thanks Sharlene! I'm pretty sure yours will also grow to a decent one

New photos:
Singin' in the Rain Cafe Honey Dijon

I nearly ordered Singin' in the Rain last year but then read that it was susceptible to black spot so declined. How long have you had yours and how is it health-wise?

I recieved it last year in autumn and planted it this spring to this final location, so my experience with it is pretty short. Two others already show blackspot - Iceberg and Caroline Victoria, but Singin in the Rain on the other hand at this time looks perfectly healthy If I see some changes I will let you know

Do you mind me asking who you ordered from?

Of course I ordered almost all my roses (Singin' in the Rain too) from myroses.de. It's a shop located in Germany. They sell bare rooted roses in spring and ship them for about 20€ to other EU countries. They had even more too choose from when I ordered from them in spring. I'm not sure if they ship to Switzerland.. maybe you should send them an email and ask?

I thought it was from them! I have ordered from them the last three years! Just love his collection!! I normally place my orders in Sept/October for autumn planting. I think the rose do much better planted in November - the roots have time to establish before the rose actually starts growing.