HELPMEFIND PLANTS COMMERCIAL NON-COMMERCIAL RESOURCES EVENTS PEOPLE RATINGS
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I planted a pair a month and a half ago from Roses Unlimited and they have produced their first blooms! I was surprised to find that these young specimens have nicely fragrant, clear pink flowers! The fragrance to me is honeysuckle. I can see why someone mentioned perfumed soap because of that clean, fresh floral character. We will see how the plant progresses through the year.
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Such a beautiful mauve color! My blossoms seem a little light on the petal count, but I'm sure that's in part to the plant struggling in my climate. It seems hardy through the winter (surprisingly for the small size it's attained) but the humidity of summer brings on defoliating blackspot. She loses all her leaves and is reduced to three green very upright sticks which is a funny sight next to her monstrous, verdant neighbor Wedding Bells. This spring I plan to move her to a pot to see if she does better in a more controlled and isolated environment. (zone 5a WI)
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Barbra Streisand, with dark-green foliage, is known to like alkaline clay & well-drained. That's why I ordered as own-root coming this May. Will let you know its performance later. As own-root some roses prefer loamy/sandy soil, others do better in clay (can be acidic or alkaline). Own-roots have their own pH-preference, depending on where they were bred. To test soil pH, google "cheapest soil test using red-cabbage juice". I paid money for my soil to be tested professionally and did that again using red-cabbage juice, and the results were the same. My soil pH is 7.7 and my soil is alkaline heavy clay. Knowing one's soil helps to select the right own-roots.
I'm 1 hour south of Wisconsin, so I looked up Wisconsin soil, and found this great link on different types of soil:
http://www.gardenguides.com/122618-types-soil-wisconsin.html
My soil is composed of the first two categories in the above link: low acid & fertile brownish sub-clay (Alfisols), and very black & high organic matter in the top 1 foot (Mollisols/Histosols).
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Yes, I will definitely have to read up on those. I tried doing my own kit which points to alkaline and seems more clay-like to me as well. I have already tried stalking your postings for ideas on what might work in my garden. I am interested in sulfate of potash for nutrition during blooming you mentioned elsewhere. My garden store did not have that and I bought muriate of potash instead. Do you think that will work and how to administer? Black spot and Japanese beetles are the two scourges in my garden! If not for those it would be awesome.
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Alas, another victim like me fell for the prey of muriate of potash .... it's another name for potassium chloride, the stuff that we use to de-ice side-walks in zone 5a. It's extremely salty, with salt index of 116.2, versus much lower salt sulfate of potash, with salt index 42.6. Data taken from University of Illinois Crop Sciences. I tested muriate of potash, and it was a disaster: pale roses' petals turned brownish, very ugly. I would save that stuff to de-ice your walk-way in freezing winter.
Amazon sells sulfate of potash cheap, but the stuff sold at local stores as "Potash" is often the cheap & high salt potassium chloride (muriate of potash). Kelp4less has free shipping, and their sulfate of potash worked very well in producing blooms, same with the one ordered on Amazon.
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Oh, goodness! I'm glad I saw your response before I put some on my garden. I am pretty disappointed with my local garden store lately. Thanks for your tips. I did find an organic vegetable spray that has sulfur in it that seems to be keeping the blackspot in check SO FAR (except, of course, for my misfit Barbra Streisand who likes to stay petite and high maintenance with all her beauty marks).
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I love your comments, they make me laugh. Thanks. Barbra Streisand is slow in a pot (bought as own-root in May). She's the slowest to grow among the 7 that I bought from Roses Unlimited, others broke out in buds way before her. Despite many fertilizers, she grew only 1 inch, only after I doused her with calcium/sulfate of potash solution. I was ready to spank her. She has very thick & glossy leaves, so I suspect a higher demand for calcium and potassium. Her first bloom lasted very long in the vase, means a higher need for calcium & potassium. Since my tap water is pH 9, I use a large bottle, fill with half-way with vinegar, then add sulfate of potash 1st (less than 2 cups of vinegar with 1/2 cups of sulfate of potash), let it dissolve COMPLETELY, before adding about 1/4 to 1/2 cup gypsum and stop when things can't be dissolved. I use 1 tablespoon of that per gallon of tap water for Barbra, and less for others.
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Badger and Straw are making me laugh too! Your Barbra stories remind me of my struggles with Heirloom!
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I bought Heirloom for the 3rd time .. this time as grafted. I succeeded in making the soil fast-draining & loamy, and it's 100% healthy even through weeks of rain. I watered it with high-potassium red-lava-rock water. Then the bunnies devour Heirloom rose during our hot & dry spell. Heirloom's leaves are thin like lettuce & mild & yummy for fungus and bunnies to feast on. I'm moving Heirloom to a spot where bunnies can't eat. DOES BARBRA STREISASND PREFER FULL-SUN, or partial shade? Thanks for any info.
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Haha! That is funny stuff. She is our defiant child all right! I will try to that potion on her as soon as I get around to ordering the good stuff from Amazon. Thank you for your secret potion recipe.
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Does that vegetable spray with sulfur work? That's interesting because I deal with a lot of sulfur in my water.
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Lavenderlace: Do you use sulfur to lower alkaline tap water?
UPDATE: As OWN-ROOT Barbara Streisand doesn't like full-sun at 92 F, top leaves got scorched to brown, while Nahema next to it is OK, same with Geranium Red and Golden Celebration.
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Straw, my well water often smells like sulfur so we go through a lot of filters.
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Lavenderlace: My hunch about glossy foliage means water-hog is correct. Barbra Streisand REFUSED to grow for 1 month since I put it in full-sun & watered daily in wet MG-potting soil. Then I moved to partial shade (4 hours of morning sun), and we got heavy rain last night (1st time in a month !!) .. and it pumped out new growth at last. This rose needs tons of water to grow, best in partial shade & dense & moisture-retentive clay or peaty potting soil.
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That's exactly how glossy foliage Love Potion is behaving. Very interesting data!
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As to the vegetable spray which is called "Tomato & Vegetable 3 in 1" it appears to be working -so far-. It's been getting hot and humid already but we all know July and August will be worse. Last year the blackspot dam broke and flooded throughout the garden in midsummer. My roses were very angry with me then because I let it get so bad, but there was no way to put the blackspot back behind the dam. This year I vowed to stay on top of it and I thought the vegetable spray (which says it's good for organic gardening) with sulfur and pyrethrin would help with disease and sawflies. It seems to be working for those things and it didn't burn the foliage but I will say it sure didn't deter the thrips. Yes, it's true I sprayed before the roses bloomed so the buds didn't get any protection.
It does leave a slight brimstone aroma to the garden. It reminds me of the cream the dermatologist prescribed to me once upon a time to get rid of my own blackspots. That had sulfur in it, too. Since it rained so much the last couple of days the smell is pretty much gone.
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That's great info, thank you. My last house of acidic clay was a BS-fest, but my current house of alkaline clay, roses are much healthier ... another rosarian nearby also noticed his roses are quite clean in alkaline & loamier soil. After 2-days of non-stop rain, Barbra gained at least 10 leaves in partial shade (I gave it blood meal & gypsum) to stimulate growth.
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Mine grows in part shade. I don't think it gets more than four hours of sun a day. In these conditions it stays small at about 2' and blooms maybe three times a year. Gets a touch of blackspot here and there. I can only imagine how amazing this rose would be with more sun. The flower color is a delicious creamy apricot confection. The buds are perfection as they unfurl. I prefer them up to the 3/4 open stage. They don't last long after that. The heat makes the buds open and end more quickly, too. The scent is great: strong yet not blunt, fruity, well-balanced. The Japanese Beetles appreciate the scent as much as I do. As soon as she first whispers her scent they hear her and are drawn to her. Leaves are a glossy medium green. Zone 5a.
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Fantastic review! I wish more folks would report how long the blooms last on the bush .. those make good cut-flowers.
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I've had this rose for two years. The first year it did not bloom. The second year it bloomed prolifically in flushes. The flowers are smallish but in big clusters that create swaths of frosting-pink color. The petals are neatly arranged and numerous. The canes like to grow out long and diagonally. It is vigorous with clean foliage. It is in a tight spot with three other neighbors who got blackspot (First Crush, Peter Mayle, and Wild Blue Yonder) but this rose did not. I was torn about rating the fragrance on this rose because I could not really smell it myself. There were a few times I could detect a faint licorice/anise scent. On the other hand, my sister-in-law stated that she could smell it and that it was quite strong and pleasant. I believe she said it smelled like a fancy resort--whatever that smells like! In the end I gave it a lower rating based on my own perception. If this should change as the rose gets more established I will definitely adjust the rating. Otherwise, the flower trusses and health of the roses are tremendous!
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I love reading your honest reviews, esp. about fragrance. THANK YOU !!
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I have mine in clay, no blooms first year, with only a few so far this year. Big healthy bush but maybe a slow starter in the blooms department? A lady in dry heat says that it's been great for her, including the fragrance, but we're still waiting here.
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For the zillion petals rose like Summer Romance, there's a higher need for sulfate of potash & gypsum. Crown Princess Magareta is a zillion-petals rose that was stingy on me, until I gave it sulfate of potash & gypsum (calcium sulfate). Potassium initiates the blooming, and calcium is to form those many petals. For hot weather with alkaline tap water, I always use sulfate of potash & gypsum with many-petals roses in my alkaline clay.
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