I'm sorry to say that most of my roses are afflicted with something (thrips, perhaps?) which causes the buds to look brown (see Aloha) but since I garden organically (and am also not able to do much due to fibromyalgia) I just let nature take its course and accept my plants, warts and all. I'm happy just to have roses in a very demanding environment and enjoy taking pictures because it's fast and takes very little effort. I'm afraid this may get boring for some of you since I have only 43 roses (which will hopefully soon be 44 when I receive 'Eyes For You' from Burling Leong's nursery).



One of my favorite roses, La France, showing off its first bloom in a wire cage to escape rabbit predation. I lost my original La France to canker some years ago and am very happy to have another one. It seems to do well in my heat-drenched garden.




Aloha, with the aforementioned brown bud, which unfortunately does compromise the beauty of the blooms.




Cole's Settlement, one of the Texas Pioneer Roses from the Antique Rose Emporium. I'm hoping it will perform well in the heat; time will tell since I received it December 2017 so it's still a baby, although a sturdy one,



Gruss an Aachen




Potter and Moore, one of the early Austins that is no longer carried by that firm. It does fairly well in the heat.




A bush shot of Potter and Moore. It stays small, unlike some of his roses that become giants in California.

Ingrid, I moved your thread from the Welcome Forum to the Rose Forum.

Lovely pictures, and I don't foresee ever getting bored with them. In fact, I feel happy just seeing your avatar.

Potter and Moore is such a wonderful rose. It's heartbreaking that the older Austins are getting harder to find, and sometimes there's no apparent reason that they were dropped from commerce. One of my favorite Austins is English Elegance, but it's very rare in commerce now despite the fact that it's a good grower and has canes strong enough to keep the blooms from "nodding."

Thank you for the move, Sue, stay tuned for more blunders.

Yes, zuzu, many of us can't understand and regret some of the decisions of the Austin firm, which some see as a ploy to sell the new patented roses over the old, unpatented ones. I'm glad that one of the cuttings I gave Lisa seems to have taken so that it has a home in another garden and hopefully is not lost altogether. Very few people still seem to grow it, but I like the fact that it stays small and doesn't faint in the heat.

ingrid_vc said:I'm sorry to say that most of my roses are afflicted with something (thrips, perhaps?) which causes the buds to look brown (see Aloha) but since I garden organically (and am also not able to do much due to fibromyalgia)

Beautiful photos Ingrid.
I found these helped to cut down on thrips:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VTH8TG/

Thank you, Margie, both for the compliment and the helpful tip.

Ingrid, I have a question I hope you can help with. Have you tried Lyrica or gabapentin? If so, did either of them help the fatigue? My final trip to pain management involved a new doctor telling me she didn't have my records handy to look at, but I was "too young to have any pain, so I'm taking you off this medicine" I'm 40, and this started in my late 20s... Instead of striking her, I got my reduced prescription, and did not go back. I looked her up and she runs a suboxone clinic. I think she expected me to be wanting her services. What she did not count on is I hate painkillers, and I'm used to suffering anyway. I'm the type that would pick death over servitude. I know I sound dramatic, but I have never hated anything as much as having to go in that place. It was a mix of people that are barely able to move, and should not be dragged in there so often to sit there for hours, and maybe 2 people that talked about how they were going to party. When you have something invisible, I think they assume you are in the party group, and it's not fair. Do these people really not understand it would be easier for me, and I wouldn't be there if my goal was getting high? My regular doctor said my mri and records show I'm in too bad of shape for him to legally treat the pain. (bulging/degenerative discs and my abdomen is numb all over from a surgery I had with phantom itches and pains I feel from skin that isn't there anymore), but he can give me a specific fibro med, which I'd be perfectly happy with, if I could get lucky enough to have work. Especially if it helped the fatigue! They just threw pain meds at me at the other place, and I can't help but think being able to move around without feeling like I'm dying might let me get enough exercise to not be so stiff when I wake up. I'm sorry for the wall of totally not rose related text, but I'd love to hear if anything has helped you at all, even if it was just a little.