This is The Ambridge Rose. It starts out as a lovely peachy apricot but fades very quickly in the sun to a thin white which then turns brown. In the rain it will go brown very quickly. The blooms are easy to pull apart once they begin to nod and collapse a bit so that is what I do to keep the bush looking fresh. I detest brown blooms and Ambridge is the second worst of my roses for this trait. I would not replace it if anything happened to it.

What a disappointing progression after such a lovely beginning!

This is Boscobel. These photos don't show the warm orange centre properly because it was overcast when I took the shots. The pink buds open to reveal strong pink blooms with an orange/gold centre which fades to the colour of the surrounding petals as the bloom ages. The colour remains as the blooms gradually become limp and fall apart but if they become fried in the sun before the petals fall they can become crisp and a little bit brown. I now have two Boscobels because I like it so much more than any other strong pink.

Lola thank you for sharing your experience with your Austin roses. It's funny, I have been considering the purchase of Boscobel over the last couple of years. People, fortunately/unfortunately seem to send in their very best photos of a particular rose. This prevents a viewer from seeing the entire bloom cycle from start to finish - the good, the bad and the ugly. When considering a purchase, I try and seek out photos that display the entire rose bush. These photos will often show the bloom cycle and show the architecture of the bush.
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Margie - that is why I decided to do this series of photos. I bought Betty White because of the photos I'd seen of her at her best but I have rarely seen her look like that in my garden. She is brown from bud to bloom and I am so disappointed with her. She is at the back of the border where my sheep can eat her and I don't even care anymore. I will probably remove her next winter and give her away. I have come to realise that instead of having lots of different roses with some I love and some I just put up with, I am better off growing multiples of those I adore and not bothering with the rest. Life is too short to put up with disappointment year after year.

Lola, I agree with your thoughts completely. Over the years, I have often felt like my garden was nothing but a "test" garden until I wised up. My advise to beginners, if you find a rose that is a strong vigorous grower, disease resistant and you like it a lot, don't hesitate to get a duplicate. In my area, floribundas do much better than Hybrid Teas. In particular, Kordes roses from 2002 to date. They have been field tested for 7 yrs. and carefully evaluated for health and disease resistance.

The 1st-place winners in each photo contest category have been chosen. Time to vote for Best of Show.

https://garden.org/apps/photoc...

Margie and Lola
<Over the years, I have often felt like my garden was nothing but a "test" garden until I wised up>
Yes absolutely! Actually this stands for any group of flowers, whether annuals, perennials, bulbs, bushes or trees! My only caveat is however if someone does the testing before... ( this hasn't happened in my context at any level: local , regional or national , for any type...no such thing as the rose trial gardens in Auckland NZ with regular reports... )
So after a while, since my gardening is heavily skewed towards roses, in my way of wising up, I've reached to a practical similar solution. Some roses I really drool over for their fragrance... then get many of them. So goes for those that are well behaved over all bushes: then find a good placing out in my landscaped gardens with a few of these in different settings: grouped together or single but with different companions. Of course I can afford this disposition since I don't lack space. I do want to have gardens through which I can stroll and the views should be pleasing!

Then I've set a test area... Where I don't mind if they don't do well. I look at all of their aspects. If they are worthy ( including stepping stones for hobby hybridizing), then they are kept. If not, then they are just left to their own. If they survive for 30 years like some of my fully neglected bushes then they have the kind of rose vigour that I would love all my roses to posess...
( ...I find it very difficult to discard any...if dissapointing, they can keep their dissapointing attributes distant from my every day vision...and voila ...no frustration!). This set of criteria I also keep for all of my other plants too like bearded Irises, bog irises, species irises, daylilies, true lilies, clematis, Penstemons, Primulas, Astilbes, Lewisias...and...and...

So I really thank you Lola for uploading your sets of bloom stages. Yesterday we had a very intense heat wave which ended into a summer rainstorm today and dropping of temperatures. Most of yesterday's blooms were fried ( something very unusual here) so I'll just dead head them... That is how I would have dealt with some of your browned and ugly looking fading blooms long before they become part of a photo demostration sequence!

Arturo

PS on Oct 24 we had a devastating windstorm that tore the lining of our greenhouses ( about 700 sq yards) and destroyed the telephone wiring plus a energy shutdown for three days. We are gradually emerging out of a non stop repair mode ( plus expense... )Internet was regained just a week ago, no land phone yet... )

zuzu said:The 1st-place winners in each photo contest category have been chosen. Time to vote for Best of Show.

https://garden.org/apps/photoc...

About the 1st place winner in the rose category:
Oh, as soon as that rose showed up on my screen, I said "winner" - it's both striking and dramatic. Well done...

Arturo, sorry to hear about the windstorm - terrible. Hope you get your landline functioning real soon.

Arturo - I've had to restrain myself from pulling off dead blooms from my roses for a week in order to get the photos of all the different stages of the bloom cycle, and it has been killing me. Each day I go out to check if all the stages are represented well before I take the photos all at the same time so as to have the same light conditions for each shot. As soon as the photos are on the computer I run outside like a mad woman and pull off all the dead and dying blooms and I don't feel better until that is done. Once the photos have been posted to this thread I wipe them from the camera and the computer so I never have to see them again without deliberately looking on here for them.

This is Troilus. This rose is my second favourite. It has creamy buds that open to a buttery cream bloom that begins cupped but flattens out over time without fading and without going brown. It can become freckled with pink spots or pinkish petals in the rain but that adds to the charm as far as I'm concerned. The blooms don't wilt or wither and the petals fall without any need to clean them off by hand. I have 3 Troilus and I would plant more if I had the space.

I can see why this is a favorite - a lovely rose who ages gracefully.

I love the flushes of peach!

Calif_Sue said:I love the flushes of peach!

Unfortunately Trolius never made it down here...

Margie, gradually recovering in every sense....

Lola, your photo epic is even more laudable! I couldn't go through such an ordeal

Decidedly you can prove your point around which roses are winners in an over all garden test My congrats again

Arturo

This is Leonardo da Vinci. It is a lovely bright pink that has a definite edge on the petals which makes it difficult to photograph in certain light conditions because of the contrast. It starts out with deep pink/crimson buds which slowly unfurl over a few days. The blooms do fade with time but they last for ages on the bush without going brown or dropping petals. There are also heaps of them so the bush is smothered in colour. It is very similar to Wise Portia in colour, bloom form, and size, but LdV is way more generous and the blooms last longer.











Edit: OMG I just realised I didn't edit that last photo and you can see my wine glass and the surrounding stuff. I've already deleted the original shot so I can't change it now. Sorry.

Lola, Wise Portia a DA and LdV a Meilland Romantica...clearly the latter produced a better over all rose around the same idea. It has been placed in my search radar, because I've seen ads of it in a catalog here!
Thanks for this specific photo series...
including the (empty) glass of wine....

Arturo

Lola, LdV looks so gorgeous. I just ordered one and will arrive next spring. What size is yours? It seems there are different comments about it's height. Some said it could be a short climber (not the climbing version). I'm wondering where to put it.

Aerith - The label I got with LdV says it gets to 1.5m tall x 1.2m wide.

I applaud the wine glass in the picture. Your wine glass photo was my top favorite in the Miscellaneous category of this year's photo contest.