This is the year I went rose crazy. My roses have increased from seven to nineteen in just the past few months, and the four roses I was growing in pots finally got put into the ground after several years! I now have seven in the front garden, five in the garden on the west side of my back yard, three in the garden on the east side of the back yard, three growing in tubs in the back yard which I'm babysitting for a friend, and a Dr. Huey in a pot which I'm raising just for the heck of it (I dug it out of the ground and potted it back in the days before I knew what a rootstock was...) The count on the list says 18 because one of my friend's roses is a Bewitched, which I also have.

We've had a foggier spring than usual in Santa Barbara, and I'm battling powdery mildew and rust, even on roses that normally don't get them. I hate to have to spray, but I've been doing it.

My best bloomer and strongest overall rose so far this year has been Hot Cocoa. It has always been very vigorous. Having collected mostly hybrid teas for several years, I'm enjoying having some new floribundas this year, Bill Warriner and Eureka. My original Brandy was killed by an unusually cold frost two years ago and I got a new one this year, but it's taking awhile to really get going. Bewitched, as always, does very well - both my own and the one I'm taking care of for a friend have shown beautiful color and fragrance.

My Sterling Silver has done something strange in the past week. It has two tall branches, unfortunately denuded of leaves due to powdery mildew, and each branch ends in not one but at least four buds! It suddenly thinks it's a floribunda. I'll upload a picture as soon as I can.

I'm really happy to find this website and have spent lots of happy hours exploring it! I'm planning to add our mobile home park's communal rose garden, which I work in once a week. Unfortunately, some of the roses have no tags and nobody living here now remembers what they are. I may try submitting pictures and seeing if anybody can identify them for us.