Well my goodness, it's been a long while since I checked in here. Probably because there's little to tell really. Mostly just watering and deadheading. Although it's time to stop deadheading too now. Most of the roses look fairly healthy with a few exceptions that look awfuly but there's always a few of those.

Some random thoughts on some of the newest ones:

Ruffled Cloud although not really wanted turned out to be a winner, lots of blooms, vigorous and for the most part healthy.

Brilliant Pink Iceberg, another one I didn't chose to own, was also lovely with a fast repeat and no health issues.

Fragrant Cloud and Touch of Class were both a disappointment. I only had a few blooms on each and none of those had good form and blew quickly.

Black Cherry bloomed more but the plant is very small and spindly. I hope it winters.

I'm very pleased with the minis and minifloras I got this year. Caliente is especially nice with lots of blooms that have wonderful form and last a long time. Miss Flippins and Heather Sproul were also good bloomers with good form. Too early to pass judgment on the minifloras beacuse I only got them in late July but they're all healthy and have bloomed.at least once so that's good.

Of the Buck roses I got this spring Quietness is my favorite. It's bloomed repeatedly and every bloom is gorgeous. Winter Sunset is pretty but blows too fast and Country Music wasn't impressive at all.

Disneyland Rose is wonderful. A vigorous bush covered in blooms in a riot of changing colors. No disease problems at all.

Oregold did well with lots of blooms but they have little form, blow fast and fade out. Good garden rose though.

I'm worried about O'Rilla. It took me several years to find one. It only bloomed once and has had several battles with black spot. I'm not sure it's strong enough to last the winter. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will and will pick up some speed next year. It's so lovely and such an unusual color.

Ivory Tower is another one that only bloomed once. I may have to move it. Could be that it's not getting enough sun.

Summer Fashion is doing fair. Not the biggest bush in the bed but it's looking OK and did bloom a couple of times. I haven't seen any of those gorgeous multicolored blooms yet though. Maybe with cooler weather, we'll see.

English Sonnet, while still small, has been a good bloomer and they are soooo pretty!

My two favorites and biggest winners of the new roses this year are Dainty Bess and Golden Wings. If you like singles (and you really should) these are both wonderful and make a great combo. Both were in bloom almost non-stop. They did get some black spot, with Dainty Bess fairing the worse of the two, but niether seemed to slow down any for it.

I think that's most of the new ones for this year. I'll report on the others later.

I had a chinese fire drill with the pots today. In total I moved, replanted or repotted 18 roses. There are still a couple I'd like to dig out of the bed and pot up because they're doing very poorly but I ran out of energy, pots and potting soil, again. After all that I fertilized everything. This will probably be the last time this season for that.

Still hot and humid. Still watering. Very little is blooming right now.but I see some signs of new growth. Ruffled Cloud has wilting canes for some reason and it's not for lack of water or over watering that I can see. The drainage is good on it. A few aphid here and there but not much. I sprayed them off with the hose. The black spot and powdery mildew in the bed has abated somewhat. To soon to tell on the pots. Rose de rescht has it now. As well as all of the minis in the baskets. If it would cool down enough to really work out there I could get some of my repotting done.

It's cooled off some and finally rained too. Gave me a chance to finish getting the Bayer down on the potted roses. I hope it helps with the fungi. There's sort of a lull right now. Very few things are blooming but I can see buds forming on a lot of the roses. Should be a good fall flush come September.