Pope John Paul II has turned out to be one of the stars in my garden this year. I had been concerned with lots of brown edges on the petals of an otherwise vigorous plant, but it took the assistance of a neighbor who's a master rosarian to point out that I had thrip. After two weekly sprays of Conserve, the blooms were completely gorgeous. I harvested two dozen blooms yesterday! While the plant has very few thorns, the stems aren't the most robust. The scent is lovely, too.

Saw some more of these for sale in a nursery today (Melbourne, Australia), in very small pots (8 inch, I think). Their growth for such young plants and in such small pots, was extraordinary. I lifted up the pots to see how thick the canes were, under the foliage and they were not thick at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they were only one and a half (or so) year old plants (it's near the end of autumn here), yet they were by far the most bushy and vigorous growing roses in the nursery. Incredibly dense foliage. The red and green colour of the leaves looked terrific, too.
Looking forward to seeing some of these fully grown more than ever now. They're still very expensive though ($35 each), even though they've basically finished flowering for the season and are in very small pots.