No Problems Here.

Darcey Bussell, Looking Like She Should., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

Darcey Bussell popped out a proper flower today! Yay! Of all this year's new roses, she's been one of the best in terms of health, vigor and disease resistance. Unfortunately, her flowers aren't always this shapely!

But this is the Darcey Bussell I fell in love with. This is also the first flower she's produced all year that has a fragrance. Quietness is also quite fragrant this year. Those two belong on my very short list of BS resistant roses, LOL!

Wrapping it up for 2013.

We're supposed to have our first real frost this week. I don't know if that will put a stop to our roses for good for 2013, but I'm preparing to say goodbye until next spring.

I'm not sure if this year has made me more or less optimistic about rose gardening. Some of my favorite roses from last year (Iobelle, Enchanted Autumn and Evelyn) did quite poorly this year, and others like Marianne and Quietness did much better.

I'm disturbed by what's been going on with Felicite Parmentier this year--last year she was a tiny, pokey thing and this year she's been shooting suckers all over her flowerbed like some kind of Lovecraftian horror. She at least seems to have an excellent resistance to blackspot!

I think that my favorite roses of this year for health and beauty are Quietness, Carding Mill, Claire Austin, Crown Princess Margareta and Heritage. I've heard a lot of people talk smack about Claire Austin, but she's been a real gem. She's one of the only roses that got neither PM nor BS. Heritage has a few spots right now, but nothing major. Unfortunately, both Lady Emma Hamilton and Prairie Star completely defoliated. What the hey?!