I started my annual Rose Hunt this weekend officially. Well, I've been hunting unofficially now for about 2 weeks since the weather's been SO wonderful, but I finally managed to get some roses. 2 weeks ago, I picked up a Midnight Blue at a LGS because mine had croaked before (it got fried.. it definitely cannot take the hot afternoon sun we have here). It's very happy where I put it. I also had picked up a Ruby Voodoo, but no blooms on it yet (should have checked to see if I have any buds on it).

Friday, I went to Home Depot as they get their plants in on Thursdays, and, lo & behold! they finally have roses! Yay!! I ended up picking up a 3gal Memorial Day, a 3gal Cabana (http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...), and 3gal "Purple Passion". I also picked up a 2gal Sundowner. I put the Sundowner, Cabana, & Memorial Day in the ground & had dug the hole for the Purple Passion when I saw the 2nd tag on it. The bucket was labeled "Purple Passion", but it had a Weeks' name ribbon of "Memorial Day". So, since I already had a Memorial Day, I took it back to HD. The only roses that most of the HD had were Sundowner, Red Masterpiece, Gold Medal, Peace, & Pink Peace, none of which I wanted. This evening, I had to go to Walmart to pick up some cattreats (and of course look at their plants). They had roses there for $7.98 and I picked up 2 Blue Girls (gee, big surprise there), and a Perfume Delight.

This upcoming Saturday will be the first time that Paulino's will be selling their 3gal peatpot field-grown roses (first Saturday of May http://paulinogardens.com/nurs...). I will also be attacking various HDs throughout town (each sometimes gets in a different selection), plus 2 other nurseries (Silver Sage Gardens (http://www.silversageco.com/) and Timberline Gardens (http://www.timberlinegardens.c...). I'll be checking them out because I have Groupons for both of them. :)

And the hunt continues!

Good Luck.

I'll probably go out to seek something to replace two ailing MAAB picked up on a whim at Lowe's last year. But it has to be after I plant the roses from VG and RVR arriving late next week.

I stopped in at Lowes today to see what they got in, and they had a whole rack full of nice looking 3 gallon roses all labeled 'Kimberlina'. Half of them had small white blossoms and half had 5 petaled pink blossoms. No Kimberlinas anywhere. The next rack was another name that was totally wrong. They had picture tags and the blooming roses looked nothing like the tag, and in fact, there were several different roses but all had the same tag. Surely even non-rose people would notice this mistake! Really I've never seen mistakes on this large a scale. Or maybe for $8 a rose, people don't care what the name is? Just as long as it blooms?
They did have some beautiful tree roses for $24 or so. Sunsprite and Belinda's Dream. I grow both those roses, and Belinda's Dream is pretty tender here, dying back to the ground most years. Can't imagine trying to winter her over as a tree rose. It took all my willpower to walk away from the Sunsprite.
several years ago, our HD had a rack of old garden roses, or highly scented roses. Really good ones. I would list what I got but I would butcher the French this late at night. Anyway, Toni, if you see that particular collection, sound the alarm!

Steve - What is MAAB?

Cindi - Belinda's Dream & Sunsprite? Sunsprite should be easy enough to find. Not sure about Belinda's dream. I'll keep my eyeballs posted.

go to bed, Toni! I said I found Belinda's Dream and Sunsprite, I don't need them. They were the tree roses at Lowes.
I'm guessing MAAB is Miss All American Beauty.

You're right, it *was* my bed time. I hate going to bed early, but I hate getting up early too, so I need sleep in order to function at at-least 1/2 power. LOL! Hope those storms didn't bother your lab too badly! Who were you looking for so I can sound the alarm if I find 'em?

climbing Coral Dawn. I ordered it from Pickering and it didn't make it. Can't seem to find it listed with anyone else.
Let it be a challenge to you...

toughy. That name doesn't ring too many bells. I've heard of it, but I can't place if I've seen it or not. But now I know who to look for, I can probably find it. I know that I've seen it online & HMF shows that Vintage, Rogue Valley, & Heirloom have it.

Cindi,
HMFsays that Coral Dawn can be found at RVR, Heirloom, and VG.

Right you are about MAAB. Given perfect conditions it can wow: Fragrant blooms in a delicious warm color, and lots of them. Judging from the look of it now that's far from what I'm going to be able to provide.

Thank you Steve and Toni. There's another one that I used to grow that I would like to grow again. Chamblees found a pink sport of Sea Foam and sold it for a few years as Pink Sea Foam. They say they no longer carry it in a 1 gallon size, and only have the larger size left, and they don't ship the larger size. When those are gone, they're gone. ("discontinued") I bought one for a client and hers is beautiful and healthy, so I might see about getting a cutting from her.
On the other hand, while the hunt is fun, I do have enough to take care of, with almost 400 rosebushes, and too-many-to count daylilies, iris and hosta. I plowed up another 10' x 80' bed last week, and that space is already spoken for.

Cindi - I understand. I'm over 300 roses myself (an unheard of number for Colorado) and bought just another 10 more. Had a successful Hunt yesterday.. wasn't even planning to Hunt at Home Depot as I know they get their shipments in on Thursday, but they had an extra shipment show up and got 4 stands of roses. Whomever is packing these stands should be drug out to the street & whipped with a nasty cane or two.. Anyways, they'd gotten a shipment of the 3gal Memorial Day, Hot Cocoa (should have picked one of those up), and 2gal Red Masterpiece (I don't have that one, but I need to replace a MrL that croaked), Sexy Rexy, Medallion, Charisma (BEAUTIFUL bushes), and.. da-da-da-DAAAAAA!! Sterling Silvers. I got a Medallion (mine had croaked), a GORGEOUS Charisma, and 8 Sterling Silvers. I winnowed through about 30 of them to find the best ones w/the healthiest bud unions.

You know, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I got a Medallion or an Ambassador. Dammit. I wonder if they had both. I need an Ambassador.. mine croaked too (planted way wrong).

Excuse the messy garage.

wow Toni I wish our HD had roses lke that

How are you arranging the 8 Sterling Silvers? I would love to see your layout--didn't you say you're on a city lot?
Just last year I started using multiples. I have 4 Julia Childs in one area, and a red bed with 3 4th of July and 4 Valentines day. Hmmm I may start a thread to see if other people do that too.

Here's a picture of the Charisma I picked up.


Yesterday saw that HD was having a sale on the 2gal roses for $8.88. Go figure. Oh well. So last night I went to yet a different HD to see what I could find. Picked up a gorgeous Red Masterpiece (I don't have that one) and a 3gal mismarked. The HD tag said Strike it Rich, but I noticed that the buds were way too dark, so I dug around the budunion & found the Weeks tag of "We Salute You". Don't have that one either, so snabbed it too.


Just waiting patiently (NOT! ) for Saturday. It's a day I plan 1 year in advance. I know exactly where I'm going to be when. Get up at 630/7am. Get breakfast at Golden Corral. Be at Paulinos (http://www.paulinogardens.com/) (27 miles away 1 way) by 845am. Be there for about an hour. Go west to Timberline (http://www.timberlinegardens.c..., 34 miles from home), find out what kind of trouble I can get myself into, then get some lunch. Mosey down south to Silver Sage Nursery (http://www.silversageco.com/ 17 miles from home), get myself into trouble there. I just don't know what I'm going to get due to not knowing what they'll have! And I had gotten Medallion.. need to find an Ambassador. Saturday's gonna be great!!

Sounds like great fun $$$ !

I've been saving my pennies for this Saturday. I have $100 set aside for Paulinos alone, plus 2 groupons (one each for Silver Sage & Timberline). So that's all I'm spending.

This Saturday is Herb Day at our extension office. All the gardening groups get together, and Master Gardeners run the show. I'll be splitting time working in 2 booths. The Rose Society booth opens at 7 a.m. and I always volunteer to work the early shift. It is crazy busy, with early birds coming at 6:15. We usually sell Earthkind roses or minis. This year we're adding some OGRs that have hips because the speakers are talking about rose hips, since the rose is the herb of the year. It's the big event of the year for local gardeners. Wish I had my act together enough to load up my potted iris and daylilies so I could make some money instead of just spending it. I have the tags made, just need to get photos printed.
Since I pointed out the load of mismarked roses at Lowes, they marked them all down to $6. They got a new shipment of Drift roses in so another one of those came home with me, only $12.88! Well worth it. It will go in a planter with calibrachoa.

OMG.

I just saw that the Denver Botanical Society will be having their semi annual sale next weekend. Holy guacamole.

http://www.botanicgardens.org/...

I'll have to see how finances are, but I may have to stop by.

The list of plants is amazing, Toni. Just about everything anyone would want, but I didn't see any prices.

The list of plants for my upcoming jail sale is much less impressive. They're mostly shrubs and trees from the Master Gardeners' drought-tolerant series, most of which don't appeal to me at all because they're boring.

Powell gardens, outside Kansas City, is having their big sale this weekend. Their list is 34 pages long. I usually try to head up there for the members only early start, but this year I can't. I would have to drive up and back on the same day, making it back late at night, only to be at the Rose Society booth to work at 6 a.m. Saturday...when I was younger I would have done that without a second thought.
They have a new baptisia that I want...Cherries jubilee. No one else has it yet. Guess I'll just wait until next year. Last year the line to pay was over an hour long. I kept shuffling along in the line, pushing my many boxes of plants, wishing I had thought to bring the red wagon. I was recovering from knee surgery and there wasn't much room between tables and at times there was gridlock. It wasn't as much fun as the planning stage was.
Maybe I should go through the list and make a fantasy shopping list, kind of like a fantasy football league. Then on Sunday, I can congratulate myself on how much money I saved.
I did go to an arboreteum sale last weekend, ended up there on the 2nd day instead of the members day. That worked out great. I spent way too much, came home with cooool new plants, and felt much better when they told me how people waited 2 hours to pay the first night. They said people were grabbing out of each others' boxes because it was so crowded you couldn't tell what was in a box for sale or in a box because someone picked it. They had no carts. you just filled a box, set it to the side, and hoped nobody picked from it. I lost several plants from people picking from my box.
oh well.. I have more than enough, and there's always next year.
I no longer wait at Best Buy on Black Friday either. Getting old, I guess. Thrill of the chase has waned.