*cries* but if the bluing process was bred out, how are we going to get a blue rose?

For a yellow, depends on what kind of yellow. Henry Fonda, Midas touch, Sunsprite, sunny delite, summer sunshine, molineux, shockwave, st. Patrick's day, Julia child, cha-Ching, monkey business...

I have all of these other than monkey business & st. Pats. Some are better yellows, some are smellier, some shatter fast, some fade, some stay true..

I love the variety of the old roses, and the color changes are part of it.

All very good questions, which is your favorite?

Julia Child is a great rose, healthy and even has a nice soft fragrance. Floribunda Rose (Rosa 'Julia Child')
The only other one I have that Toni listed is Molineux Rose (Rosa 'Molineux')
A favorite of mine is Eureka, I love it's touches of peach with the yellow.
Rose (Rosa 'Eureka')

Oooo I am gonna look for that yellow for the wife but I want Eureka for me. That is a beauty. So when is the best time to purchase and plant new roses? I know some online venues no longer ship.

Cooler weather for your climate is best I think, if you can manage it. Not sure.. I usually have to wait til it warms up.

Like winter cool or our current 80s? By end of May we should see the 100s

If you buy the rose in a pot (as opposed to bare root) you can plant it any time. Just keep it watered.

80s. yuck
100s? *croak*

how on earth can y'all live in that heat??? if it gets above 90 here it's MISERABLE. Of course, 90 here is MUCH different than 90 at 3000 ft, which is WAY different than 90degs at, say, 300 ft.

As long as you mulch the soil around the planting to help dissipate the heat & water in the mornings/evenings, I think you should be OK. If I have to plant in deep hot summer, that's what I do. I've learned that bare dirt will cook the roots the hard way.

- and 90 with 90% humidity is another thing too.

I always try to add "Yes, but it's a DRY heat!" after I mention our hot temperatures here. And we're only at about 450 feet above sea level here at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. But we probably won't hit the 100's until June...

*pass out & die*

I lived like that for one summer back in '01. Lived in NNY and it was a freak August. We had the "triple H" (hot, hazy, & humid) and the humidity was so ridiculous it actually looked like fog, but it was just a HOT fog! It was MISERABLE. I wanted to DIE.. the altitude there was a whole whopping 65 ft above sea level, the average temperature for those three weeks was about 95 degs and it was 100% humidity every day (right next to Lake Ontario / the Black River ran across the street from my apartment). I would actually go out in the middle of the night, crank over the car, & sit in the car w/the AC on just so I could breathe (no one had AC at that time). Dry heat isn't half as bad. Much rather have dry heat than humidity. I felt like I was melting.. and that'd be a HUGE pile of tallow!!

Some pics from this morning.





Here is a question, I dont know if its really noticable on the photo of the pink bloom. On the leaves there is this white film i guess you could call it. It wipes away when I run my finger over it. What is this and is it bad?

Mildew, I think -- I was told it can appear on cool nights when it gets below 65 after 9pm... You can spray for it if it bothers you. But as soon as your nights get warmer it will go away. I always rub the spots I find between my fingers and forget about it, unless it gets bad and appears everywhere. Also, you can help by not watering late in the day while the nights are still cool.

The problem I have with humidity is that when it's really humid I feel like I can't quite breathe. It takes getting used to, but I realize you can. When my sis lived in Tampa and we would visit her in August I always felt that way for two or three days and then stopped noticing it.

Actually, you should keep those leaves watered. As counterintuitive as it sounds, powdery mildew won't grow on wet leaves.

In case you hadn't figured it out, Jake, those two ladies really know roses. You can always count on their advice. I certainly have!

I agree, you all have been wonderful and informative!

I didn't know that, Zuzu! Thanks! See, we're never too old to learn...

I was dumbfounded when I heard it, Betty, because it seemed to make no sense. Mildew and dampness go together in my mind, but that's not the case with powdery mildew on roses.

Come to think of it, the only time I saw powdery mildew in my garden was on Red Cascade when it was planted at the base of a cedar tree and the weather had been really dry for some time. I washed the mildew off, watered the rose, and that was the end of the story...

Er no. It occurred to me - as the rose was approaching its third or fourth birthday - that being planted six inches from a cedar and embedded in sod may not offer optimal growing conditions for Red Cascade and that this might explain why the rose - which was reputed to be a monster - had not made six canes and none was two feet long. So I moved it.