Carol, I've seen those long, thick canes on some of my new plants too. Last year one of the first year plants produced canes that were 10-12' tall! I cut them back to about 7' because the wind was whipping them around like crazy. Some have 7-8' canes now and I'll leave them be till early spring unless the wind looks like it will damage them.

A lovely "last hurrah" Sharlene! Summer Lodge is particularly stunning! The season is over here too- temps got down in the upper 20s a couple of nights ago. It is sad to see all those remaining blooms and buds frozen

I had those same large single canes this year on some roses and I just cut them back when pruning the other growth. The result was the plants put out new leaves and new blooms, but I am in the south and it doesn't look like we will have much of a winter. I have better blooms now in November than I had back in the spring on some of my roses. Very strange year, again!

Looks like it will be a warm winter here too. My cats haven't grown much of a winter coat.

Good news on the eye front. The glaucoma eye drops reduced the intraocular pressure by half (from 30 to 15) in just three days, so the cataract surgery is back on the table. Surgery on both eyes has been scheduled for December 7th. There's every indication that the replacement lens will allow me to see well without glasses, which I've been wearing since I was 10 years old. What an amazing prospect!

zuzu said:Looks like it will be a warm winter here too. My cats haven't grown much of a winter coat.

Good news on the eye front. The glaucoma eye drops reduced the intraocular pressure by half (from 30 to 15) in just three days, so the cataract surgery is back on the table. Surgery on both eyes has been scheduled for December 7th. There's every indication that the replacement lens will allow me to see well without glasses, which I've been wearing since I was 10 years old. What an amazing prospect!

Wow! What a dramatic turnaround.That's great news!

Yay on the surgery!!!

Great news Zuzu! It will be like having bionic eyes!

Zuzu, will be thinking about you on the 7th then, hoping for a successful op and a quick recovery. Bet its going to feel weird not wearing glasses - actually I rather envy you

Thank you, everyone, for sharing my happiness and excitement.

Today is National Button Day. The Rose of the Day is Yellow Buttons.

@csandt Carol I deal with those long canes during the summer months the same way Larry does. All of the roses you mentioned are HT's and can take hard pruning. With winter approaching a prune back just enough so that snow and wind don't cause any damage, like Neal does, and then in spring I prune down to about four eyes. Some people don't prune as hard - just depends on what you prefer and how you want your roses to develop.

Changing the topic here:

Most of you are probably familiar with the German ADR award (Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprüfung).
I thought you all might be interested to hear that they have just published the names of the roses which have received the award this year. So far there are now pictures on the ADR page and they have only updated their German page with a list, the English page and pictures should follow soon.

13 Varieties received the award this year:

Sommergold® (2012)-Noack-Climber-Bright yellow -Very full
http://www.noack-rosen.de/neu/...
Candela® (2014)-Tantau-Shrub-Mid yellow -filled
http://www.rosen-tantau.com/en...
Romina® (2015)-Tantau-Hybrid tea-Strong pink -Very full
http://www.rosen-tantau.com/en...
Syra® (2014)-Tantau-Shrub-Strong pink-Semi double
(not on website yet)
Florentina® (2011)-Kordes-Climber-Mid red-Very full
http://www.kordes-rosen.com/ga...
Orangerie® (2016)-Kordes-Floribunda-Orange-Very full
http://www.kordes-rosen.com/ga...

Hotline®-Kordes-Shrub-Carmine pink-Semi double
(not on website yet)
Amaretto®-Kordes-Floribunda-Apricot-Very full
(not on website yet)
Cremosa®-Kordes-Floribunda-Apricot-Very full
(not on website yet)
Feurio®-Kordes-Floribunda-Orange-full
(not on website yet)

Three unnamed roses – I would really be interested to find out more about the yellow Delbard Shrub
No name-Delbard-Floribunda-White with pink edge-Single
No name-Delbard-Shrub-Yellow-Full
No name-Noack-Shrub-Yellow -Double

Thank you so much for this highly informative post, Sharlene, with all of the useful links. Luckily, Florentina, the one that appeals to me the most, is one that I already have.

My wife just had her second eye done today. I hope everything goes as well for you as it did for her!

Thanks, Larry. That's great to hear!

There are some constraints during the recovery period (no bending over, no heavy lifting). I guess I'll have to stay inside for a week because I can't imagine going outside without automatically bending over to pick something up or pull a weed or seeing something heavy that has to be picked up. I'll also have to start practicing pliés now, so I'll be able to feed the cats without bending over. I hope I have some muscle memory left over from my ballet days.

Yes, going outside and not bending over to pull weeds would be almost impossible once the habit is ingrained in you. Better to stay in for a week! My wife found that very easy, no weed pulling in her DNA.

Today is the Great American Smokeout, the day smokers are encouraged to quit or at least make a plan to quit. I will not be participating, but the day does give me a chance to name Smoky, one of my favorite roses, the Rose of the Day.

Smoky starts out in these colors: a bright orange center, surrounded by brick-red petals, becoming progressively more purple at the edges.



The outer petals gradually fade to a silver-mauve, but the center remains bright orange.



I first bought Smoky in 1970, and it had grown into a tall and sturdy rose bush two years later, when I lost it in a contentious divorce. Smoky was a popular rose in 1970, but it almost disappeared from commerce after that. It was an oddball and couldn't compete with the best-selling roses of that time, which were mostly solid pink, red, or white. I never grew it again in the 1970s or 1980s, but I always remembered how beautiful it was and wished I could find it.

In the mid-1990s I discovered that a local nursery, Vintage Gardens, was selling it. With great excitement, I bought it. It was a spindly own-root rose that never grew much beyond 12 inches tall, and it was a fake! The blooms were a solid orange and never showed any trace of russet red or smoky purple. I bought a second one from Vintage, assuming they had sent me a mislabeled rose. The second one was no better than the first. The blooms were solid orange again. Other nurseries soon began to carry Smoky. I bought one from The Uncommon Rose, but it was also solid orange.

Sequoia Nursery sent me the "real" Smoky, but it was weak and tiny because it demanded grafting to grow well. I finally was able to buy a grafted Smoky from Burlington Nursery 7 or 8 years ago. It's every bit as wonderful as I remembered.

It is an unusual rose. I also enjoyed the narrative of your determined search. Rose of the day with a back story!

Could that orangey shot in the database be that imposter Zuzu?

Yes, it probably is, Sue. I'd hesitate to remove the photo, though, because that's the rose people can expect when they order it from anyone but Burling.

The sun's shining today, but it's cold out there: 62 degrees right now and the forecast says it will be 37 degrees tonight. I'm trying to take out a lot of privet that sneaks over here from next door, but it's hard to muster up the energy to go out when it's this cold.

Does everyone here know about the Photo Contest? Some of our members who consistently post lovely rose photos haven't entered the contest. You have only one more week to enter.

http://garden.org/apps/photoco...

This is Occult Day. The Rose of the Day is Voodoo.



Voodoo can be a great long-term investment. I bought two of them 30 years ago and they're still growing happily in my garden.

Excellent choice for the day.

She is a rather intriguing color - at least as seen on my screen. Does it fade?