Very pretty! :)

Two types of jasmine sambac are currently covered in buds and blooms...Maid of Orleans and Belle of India (elongated petal form) and every night, the fragrance is heavenly. My Brassavola nodosa is in bloom, too, but the fragrance, while strong, is definitely not nearly as wonderful as that of the jasmine.

I know this is an old thread, but I was thinking about how to properly care for my roses base on the information you gave me. At the time we were having this discussion, I only had one rose I had not planted yet, so I went ahead and planted the graft union below the surface of the soil as you suggested, and it did better than all the others which I have planted with the graft union level with the soil, although I still disagree with you about grafted roses being weak and short lived :) And I also disagree with your assessment of Jackson and Perkins. I've bought some very nice, long-lived grafted hybrid teas from them, as well as from Witherspoon Roses, but that's no matter, we all have our own opinions :)

My question is about pruning. You said to prune in late summer. I usually prune in about February just as the dormant buds are starting to swell to grow new canes. My concern is that my roses are still growing and blooming, and I'm worried that if I prune now, those dormant buds will start to grow, and then when we finally have a hard freeze, the tender new growth will get frozen and die. What are your thoughts on that? I've never had problems pruning in February, but you were right about burying the graft union, so you could certainly be right about the pruning, so I wanted your thoughts. Should I go ahead and do it now, even though summer has passed, or should I wait until February like usual, and then try pruning in the summer next year?

On established roses, I usually cut quite a few of the blooms and bring them in, which prunes them some degree throughout the summer, but since I just moved into this house, all my roses are new, and I like to give them a year to get established before I start cutting on them as they bloom.

You didn't ask me but, 5 minutes ago I read an article that said prune hip high in fall, knee high in spring. Since my roses are now pitiful because I can't use Three in One, I'm not a credible source.

Whether I asked you or not, I certainly appreciate the input. You always have helpful things to say and I value your opinions. That actually makes more sense to me than hard pruning in the summer. If you hard prune in the summer, they're just going to keep growing and get big again. Right now, my Midas Tough has a huge flush of new growth with lots of buds, and my Desert Peace has been growing and blooming nonstop all fall, and it has quite a few buds on it now also, and the fall flowers when it is cooler are as nice as the first flowers of the spring before it gets hot, so I certainly don't want to prune yet and cut off all those buds. I did prune on mine a little bit last week, just to remove canes that were too thin, and some wood that had leaves with black spot that I would have ended up pruning later anyway, but I left them mostly intact.

But why can't you use Three in One? I never had any disease problems on my roses in Oklahoma except for the occasional scale, and horticultural oil knocked that right out, so this is my first year to encounter any other disease. It isn't widespread, it's just on a few leaves on a couple of my plants, but I was thinking about using Three in One next year to prevent it from even beginning at all. Is there something wrong with Three in One? I try to avoid chemicals, but my roses are very important to me, so I don't mess around, and I'm willing to make an exception and use chemicals on my roses if that's the most effective way to keep them in top shape.

But I was wondering about ES's rationale for his pruning suggestion, and whether it might or might necessarily apply to my climate, as Dallas is very different from Phoenix, weather wise.

Our Indiana climate is not known for its great roses. I quit using anything systemic outdoors so as not to harm any pollinators. My garden is au natural now.

:bowing

It is a lot more work with out chemicals but strangely rewarding. Not in the flowers or fruits and veggies sense, but rewarding none the less

I joke but it is more work and I salute you bc the pollinators are for all of us and they are in danger

Roses grow and flower throughout our winters. We don't get enough frost to damage plants nor flowers. Their struggle is to survive our summers, when they hardly grow at all. Summer rose flowers here are about an inch in diameter and burn shortly after they begin opening. Roses need as many leaves as possible to make it through the summer, which dictates pruning just as it begins cooling down in fall. After the first strong flush of flowering around Thanksgiving, they grow vigorously all fall-winter-spring. January pruning often leads to rapid decline and death in a few years.

Sounds to me like y'all (JScott and estación seca) may have to prune at different times based on the differences in climate and best growth season.

My climate is similar to Dolly's (similar, not same) but we both have a climate where roses lose all their leaves and sit dormant. I prune similar to what Dolly says. Here, I'm lucky to have anything in spring to prune other than dead stalks from winter kill. Could I do better? Sure... like cover roses, etc. But for me there are other things that require more attention and it never seems to happen.

Here covering them is a crapshoot too. I grew teas, switched to Bonicas, then when I lost those, to Floral Carpets. They do okay for a few years but, in amended sand, only last a short while without Three in One. Since sandy soil needs highly frequent watering, spraying was not practical. When I was a much younger gardener, I was more up to the task. Much of my garden now is what will thrive in benigne neglect. However, my ferns and Forest Grass stir WW's envy.