Rose Winner.

Griffith Buck Rose "Prairie Harvest.", a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

The first rose of the year is Griffith Buck rose "Prairie Harvest!"

The powdery mildew is mostly gone. The leaves are still pretty battered, but what a lovely little lemon yellow bloom! It has a similiar scent to "Moondance" but a little less winey. Not really like a rose at all.

Back to roses...

I did find a bud on Chapeau de Napoleon. Yee hah!

All the roses are slowly but steadily moving along, except for Aptos.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1558.1

Aptos is a bit of a freak. It's covered with buds and covered with aphids right now. I blast them off with a hose every morning and they come right back. Just wait until my concentrated insecticidal soap shows up in the mail! Aphids, your days are numbered!

I planted Aptos as a band last September. I think that by now it's reached 5 gallon size. I half expect that late one night it's going to whip out a twelve foot cane and smash in my bedroom window. It's an obscure hybrid musk rose, so I don't really know what to expect. Do hybrid musk roses usually grow this fast?