Great link - thanks Margie

I will be getting 7 or 8 roses from Hortico soon. I hope they don't arrive during my recovery week, when I won't be able to bend over or lift heavy objects (such as buckets of amended soil).

The reason the number is still up in the air is that they aren't sure they have the "real" William Morris. I ordered William Morris from Hortico once befoe and received Royal William instead. It bears no resemblance whatsoever to William Morris. They have assured me that I will get the "real" Cressida this time, in contrast to the Cressida imposters they sent me twice before.

So, if everything works out to my advantage, I'll be getting Cressida, William Morris, replacements for last year's Darcey Bussell and King's Macc, which failed to thrive, Chandos Beauty, and three roses I already own -- Crown Princess Margareta (chomped by gophers down to a nub), Waltz Time (currently growing badly on its own roots), and Royal Dane (just played out; perhaps from overly exuberant blooming ).

This is St. Nicholas Day. The Rose of the Day is St. Nicholas.

Well what do you know - I was unaware that there was a rose named for St. Nicholas Day although I must say I would have expected it to be a red rose.

St. Nicholas is very widely celebrated here. Many parents organise for St. Nikolaus or Samichlaus, as he is referred to here, and his helper Knecht Ruprecht to come and visit their homes. The children all learn versus to recite and the Samichlaus distributes praise and blame and, supposedly depending on the obedience of the children, gifts in the form of nuts, mandarins, chocolates and first Christmas cookies. Here is a picture from the early 90's of our DD listening to the Samichlaus reading up on her deeds over the last year - from the look on her face, they weren't all good.


Today, we even got a little bag of nuts and chocolates at the office this morning but there was no Samichlaus

There is also a village in Switzerland called St. Niklaus where they put up the biggest 'Samichlaus' ever in 2014. They decorated the church steeple.
I actually have fond memories of the village because we spent a week there during our honeymoon way back when....


Got a little OT - hope you don't mind

OT is good. This is a chat thread, after all. We can chat about anything. The photos are great, and I also would expect a St. Nicholas rose to be red.

When I was a child, I eagerly awaited the arrival of Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) at every Christmas party. The Russian holiday gift-bringer resembles St. Nicholas and Santa Claus but usually wears a blue cloak, although it can also be red or green, or even gray. He is usually accompanied by Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), his granddaughter. Here's a picture of Ded Moroz from Google images:

I like the horns!

They're wooly mammoth horns, according to legend.

Ah, so they are actually tusks!

Yes, tusks!

Rosemania has listed their offerings for this year, but I'm not recommending them anymore. All of the roses I bought from them last year are now one-cane wonders. They looked fine when they arrived, but they started dying back almost immediately. The same thing happened with a few roses I bought locally this January. I think all of them were Weeks roses.

http://rosemania.com/page12.ht...

Zuzu ...

If you remember my post about good crop years vs bad crop years, you can connect the dots easily. Rosemania has been purchasing product from growers in drought stricken southern California. The growers in SOCAL cannot produce good roses during an extended drought.

Don't blame the nursery. It's not Rosemania's fault that the drought has lasted so long.

Yes, I did remember your post about the drought's effects on crops, including the rose crop, Lyn. I'm going to avoid Weeks roses until we've had a few good years of rain. I'll stick with Canadian roses for now.

Zuzu ...

You should wait at least two years after the drought conditions are over before you order from a nursery that carries roses from California growers. The nurseries are required to order their roses two years in advance.

The roses that Rosemania is carrying this year, were budded in the fields two years ago. You know what the drought conditions were back then. The same kind of timing will be true going forward. So, even if the drought conditions were over this year, and that won't happen, you would be wise to wait another two seasons before ordering roses from these nurseries.

Not all of Weeks roses are being grown in SOCAL, but the odds are high that any nursery in California would receive inventory from SOCAL growers.

I usually wait until after midnight to post the Rose of the Day, but my surgery is scheduled for very early tomorrow morning and I hope to catch a few hours of sleep before I have to get ready for it.

December 7th is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. The Rose of the Day is Pearl Harbor.

I hope all goes smoothly for you. Thanks for another beautiful "day" rose.

Zuzu, wishing you a successful surgery and speedy recovery!

3 of the 4 I got from Rosemania last year performed fairly well, and the 4th (Teasing Georgia) grew beautifully. 3 of them are Austin roses, Mustead Wood, Mary Rose, and Teasing Georgia, and the other is Edith's Darling; I see they're not offering any Austins this year and are no longer offering Edith's Darling either.

Sharlene, when budding onto a rootstock, do you find it best to use a small seedling for the rootstock? I'm curious if a more mature plant with a large root system is acceptible to bud onto. I've wondered if the rootstock is too large or vigourous if it promotes sucker growth.

Zuzu, I'm hoping for great results for you.
Neal, the roses I ordered from Rosemania grew well with the exception of Edith's Darling, which is pretty puny. The leaves on it are tiny, like a micro-mini.
My Palatine roses are almost all safely tucked into the ground. Ascot is still bagged up in my cool garage because I have not dug out the peony that is in its assigned space. I wanted to divide and replant the peony, but I think it is too late for that. Temps will be in the teens the next few nights, but back up to normal next week. Should I pot Ascot and grow it in the garage over the winter?

The results are great so far. I can already see clearly for what seems like miles, and the colors of everything are much more vivid.

Oddly, my Edith's Darling is doing better than most of the other Rosemania roses. I guess I got the good one. Two of the roses actually died quite quickly -- Lady of Shalott and Watercolors Home Run. When I dug them up, I saw that the roots had turned to dust. I've never seen that before.

Whoop, whoop! Glad to hear the great report.

Wonderful news Zuzu!

December 8th is National Brownie Day. Brownie, a sweet russet rose, is the Rose of the Day.