I've been going through the garden looking at roses that have lasted through the summer. There are those that died because I moved them (Tuscan Sun), roses that died because I stepped on them one time (Celine Forestier), and roses that died because they were puny when I planted them (Ovid and Tropical Amazone .. several more from that supplier).
One rose is nearly dead because I did not engineer and properly maintain a conical water-collection pit (Barbara Streisand). One died because it just did (Orange Crush). One died from weeds obscuring it. Several died from not being watered regularly. Two died simply because they were stripped of leaves for shipping, and never leafed out again (Gloire de Lyon and L'Oreal Trophy.)
Only one of the RVR roses died - cause unknown. This puts RVR in the lead for summer performance of its new roses for this season with the lowest percentage of dead plants at the end of the season. Will see how things go this winter. Will I have any roses at all next spring? Stay tuned.
