Hortico burned me by sending really pathetic little starts that had some disease I had never seen. A black crusty stem. Nahema survived whatever it was, but Auguste Renoir didn't even grow a leaf, just DOA. The 2 Austins I ordered from them did grow well. It's just that Auguste was the 1 I really wanted, and was the only reason I even put in the order.
My two orders from A Reverence For Roses, on the other hand, are tremendous. The price and the shipping were half what Hortico charged, and the plants were twice as big to start with, but in same 4" pots. Just a world of difference.
In the next month, I'll need to dig 19 big holes for the Palatine roses. I'm slowly bringing home bags of compost to add to each plant. Lifting those heavy wet bags is a chore, so I only do a few at a time!
We've had 2 mornings now with low temps of 37 degrees, and daytime temps in 80s, so the roses have vibrant saturated color. The scents even seem more complex.
Our biggest cottonwood tree died from a lightning strike, and my husband removed it yesterday, roots and all. It opened up a huge sunny area!
If I drink enough coffee tomorrow morning, I may move some plants around, dig some out entirely, and eliminate some screeching color clashes.

I was hesitant to place the Hortico order after our experiences last year, but you and I probably got the dregs, Cindi, because we ordered our roses so late in the season. I'm certain that the roses will be nicer now that I've ordered them well before the shipping season even starts.

I think you're confused about the 4" pots. Hortico sends bare-root roses and A Reverence for Roses sends us roses in deep bands.

Cindi, I also ordered from a vendor once and got roses that had black stems which somebody on another forum referred to as 'the black finger of death' which I found quite appropriate. Three out of twenty didn't make it but I ordered late for delivery in March. I think Zuzu is right - sometimes when you order late, the roses are not the greatest and have been in cold storage since the harvest. Now I only order for autumn delivery. I also think autumn planting is better than spring for bare-root roses - they have a bit of time to start rooting before the winter comes and, in most cases, get established much quicker.

Yesterday I removed the air-layered canes that were prepared and grafted earlier this year. I did 9 of them and all but one had nice roots. They are all potted up now with most of the foliage cut back to reduce moisture loss and will spend their first winter in the storeroom.



Also, thinking ahead for the new hybridizing season, I collected some pollen to freeze. I tried frozen pollen for the first time this year and it seems to have worked. We had frost once last week but as long as the weather holds I would like to put off harvesting the hips until the end of October. There are other more pressing tasks right now. Like getting the rest of my holes dug for the new roses - 6 to go!

Sharlene, am I understanding correctly that you had already budded/grafted onto those canes before layering them?

Yes Neal, all the new growth on the top of the canes is from grafts. The really bushy one is the experiment with approx. 10 grafts up the stem. It is the mauve florist rose that I mentioned before. I have actually had a couple of blooms from the early grafts already - one is sitting in a vase in the kitchen right now.

Ooooh! I get it now! Never seen that done before!

Thanks for asking that question, Neal!

Is it preferable to graft first and then layer later? I had thought the opposite would be the case, although I'm not sure why I thought that.

Today is National Liqueur Day. We have no pictures of my favorites, Drambuie and Cointreau, but we do have Madame Anisette, which is quite a lovely Rose of the Day.

Prost, Cheers and Bottoms up! but I agree Cointreau over Anisette any day.
I hope I can get some better pictures next year. So far the blooms have been nothing like the ones on the Kordes page. Though I can confirm that the scent is very strong and one that I do not particularly like. This is a rose that I will not be cutting for the house!

@gemini_sage Neal, I have done all variations. Layered first and grafted the next year and the opposite way around. This year was the first time that I layered and grafted simultaneously. Seems to work just fine and you win a year.
I also grafted on first year canes this year but only in September when the canes had matured a bit. One bud-eye has already broken through the budding tape. I haven't layered these yet and will have to protect the grafts over winter.
So you see - still experimenting and learning along the way

Really impressive, Sharlene!

Impressive indeed! And it seems a much more realistic endeavor for the home gardener than I had imagined.

I think Madame Anisette is quite lovely - even if she does look better than she tastes or smells.

The days are getting shorter and cooler but the trees are only just starting to drop their leaves. Another two weeks and we will be changing the clocks back to winter time. That is usually when the raking starts in earnest.

We haven't had much rain lately but the heavy dew overnight and foggy days haven't been ideal for the rose blooms. Nevertheless, there are still a few pretties in the garden that I thought would be nice to share.

Carina - One of my seedlings from this year - NOID Kordana mini


Deborah (Playrose) - Lavender Ice - Sonnenkind (Sun Baby)


Rosengarten Zweibrücken - Heinz Winkler

Very, very pretty, especially the Kordana mini with the asters behind it.

the orange against that purple is gorgeous! And Lavender Ice is wonderful, love seeing all those petals and old rose form in a lavender

Your seedling looks very promising too! That buff-apricot color has been really appealing to me lately, and with those touches of red on the tips its particularly yummy looking.

Weather has been similar here, dryer with heavy dew and fog in the mornings. I'm seeing a few really nice, quality blooms on some of the roses now. As Cindi mentioned above, I'm also noticing very nice fragrances among them too.

I'm with Neal. That seedling is very appealing - she needs a name!

We have been having a return of summer for the past two weeks: back in the low 90s with humidity to match. However there is usually some wind and the roses are pleased at the rain we got on Friday, so they are putting on a spotty fall flush.

I just wanted to say Hi and share a few pic's of seedlings I'm playing with, most are babies from this year, some are mine and a few are gifts from another hybridiser

Rebekah,

Hi Rebekah! Those babies all look like keepers to me.

They are lovely, Rebekah. Welcome to NGA.