Everything's Coming Up Roses –2

Another rose with odd-but-endearing coloration is Cinqo de Mayo, a 2009 AARS winner. It's a Floribunda with a lovely bloom, but you need to be careful what you put it near to avoid color clashes. I happened to have an empty spot next to my Sambucus Black Lace, whose dark leaves provide a perfect foil for it.



Pink Promise is another 2009 AARS winner. A Hybrid Tea Rose, its pale fragrant pink flowers sit atop long stems with dark green leaves (which makes it harder to photograph properly). A percentage of each sale goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. It's flowers start opening about three to four weeks later than many of my other roses (Double Knockout, Mardis Gras, Bantry Bay, Home Run, Oklahoma, and my unlabeled creamy white rose), so it's a great filler until the next wave of bloom takes place.



Among the climbers, Coral Dawn is just finishing up and buds are starting to show on Joseph's Coat.

I'd have to say that these are all easy care roses, since I'm always running so far behind that, other than spring pruning and deadheading as needed, they get little more than admiring looks and abundant sniffs. We were very careful to give them wide and deep holes, as well as plenty of compost mixed in when we planted them, however. I've been meaning to get some fertilizer on them, but there are those snakes wriggling around under there……

More next time…..

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