I had trouble with Belinda's Dream also. I wanted the rose because it was a descendant of Tiffany (my favorite hybrid tea and the name of my beloved late Westie). It was own root from Chamblees. I thought an earth kind rose would be easy to grow - not. Last year, I dug it up, noticed it had three rooted cuttings growing together, so I separated them and replanted them. Two of the three cuttings are growing better and blooming.
I would probably have given up on growing roses it I didn't happen on the pretty AUSbonny fresh off the truck at Walmart. The bf got it for me because it was "my kind of color" a warm pastel. Imagine, a very healthy, beautiful, own root Austin Wildeve at Walmart the day I was doing my shopping. When I googled AUSbonny, I found the plantfiles at Dave's garden. I joined soon thereafter and found the rose forum. Of course, I followed zuzu and California Sue to cubits! Here I am, still growing roses! I didn't know that roses could become so big and healthy in our region,. As a child, I only saw puny grafted roses from mail order companies in several gardens. Most people didn't plant or protect them as they should. I am really surprises that more people, even Austin rose people, don't grow Wildeve. Maybe that was why it was at Walmart!
My biggest challenge- I don't want to say disappointment - is the Meilland groundcover rose Fire Meilland. A friend gave me 2. They are bigger than I expected, sending out 6' long, pencil thick canes which root where they touch the ground, especially if you put a rock on top of the to keep them near the ground. They are also disease free in a no spray garden by my strawberries. They would be lovely cascading down a slope. In my future dream garden, I would plant weeping forsythia at the crest of a slope and have Fire Meilland cascading over the slope. They could easily be grown as climbers. In the meantime, I have forsythia rooting and Meiland's thorns protecting my strawberries from the neighbors. I have a couple of other groundcover roses that are getting bigger than expected - a pleasant surprise for someone who thought she couldn't grow roses!
Another pleasant surprise is Carefree Celebration - from a friend. It is related to the knock outs, but is a pretty coral color. It blooms all season, even in the hot, humid weather that makes some of the fussier roses sulk. I am glad that Radner has some new varieties of easy care roses. I think they are good choices for people in this area who want to grow roses, but are afraid to try. Perhaps they will be encouraged to try other varieties if they have success with knockouts.
