Viewing comments posted by GardenQuilts

I have grown this rose for several years. I like it, but it wasn't what I expected. It sends lots of long, thin, prickly canes that take off in all directions rooting wherever they touch ground. The longest canes were 8-12'.

I have moved three times in the past 4 years. Baby Blanket and its progeny have survived. I am going to try growing them as climbers against a chain link fence - I hate chain link fences, so I am covering them in flowering vines.

I will hopefully return with beautiful pictures later this season.

I have seen 'Baby Blanket' sold as a standard. It would be a beautiful, weeping, flowering standard rose.

I bought this rose from Lowe's. It was in the "native plants" section in a pale green plastic pot, not the rose section. It is growing on its own roots "au naturel", of course. (I am not a fan of "branding" roses and putting them in matching plastic pots, but happy to see roses other than knockouts for sale)

I planted it late in the season then dug it up the next season. It is in a pot waiting to be planted in my new garden. It hasn't bloomed, yet, but it is setting buds.

This year has been a warmer than average winter. My potted relocated roses appreciate it, but I worry about spring frosts.

This rose is my last remaining Austin rose after three moves, the worst winter in recent memory as a newly transplanted rose, and the Bambi brigade.

I hope she thrives in my new cottage garden -- in my mind's eye it is a cottage garden; in reality, it is a plant ghetto plunked in a mess of muddy clay.

She is beautiful when she is happy and tougher than she looks!

I read a review somewhere saying if you want a rose to cover the side of your igloo, this is the rose for you! I was a novice rose gardener facing a garden of dead, prickly twigs that used to be roses every spring. I wanted something that survived winter - does it ever!!!!!

It isn't fragrant, or vaseworthy, but it is big, beautiful, and healthy. It remains disease free without spraying or systemics - rare in the humid Pocono summers. Once its roots hit "critical mass," it sends up huge healthy canes covered with bright pink flowers. It makes the hot pink Knock Out rose look like a sickly dwarf.

What a survivor! It survived two moves in one year, including two "polar vortex" winters - the worst winters in recent history. I hurt my shoulder in the first move and didn't get all of my roses in the ground before winter. WB spent one winter in a pail.

I lost many of the roses I moved. I am still mourning their loss.

The survivors are small, short own-root roses, growing roots trying to revive - and William Baffin.

He is taller than I am, with canes as thick as my finger. ...still smaller than he was before I moved, but not for long. He survived without protection in the worst of winters. The only thing that can slow him down is the deer - they don't even bother the burly canes, just new leaves and buds.

I am growing this rose at the back of the garden, blocking (eventually) the neighbor's shed as a backdrop for my other roses and cottage plants.

This rose was struggling to grow in the yard when I moved here. It has been over 10 years since anyone gardened in this yard in the rose-unfriendly Pocono mountains. Some tough plants have survived the neglect, including a little non-multiflora rose. I suspected it may be the doctor, but have waited for a bloom.

I am labeling it and letting it grow on a bamboo tripod for now. If it thrives, I may build a bigger structure and find a clematis to keep it company.

I wouldn't plant it on purpose - would anyone?

I admire a survivor, so it can stay if it behaves itself!

My plant originally came from Bluestone. It has spread - by runners and from seed. The seedlings are true to the parent. Seeds winter sow in place or containers. I have other toad lilies, but none are as reliable as this one. Clumps survived two moves and are thriving!

Deer seem to leave this plant alone. I have it growing with stonecrop. They make a nice show in the fall when everything else is slowing down.

I bought a plant at a big box store. I wasn't impressed at all! It was a poor producer of mealy, flavorless tomatoes. I figured this was the kind that people grew for supermarkets. Perhaps I got a bad plant.

I bought this rose from a "native plant" collection in Lowe's today. Of course, it was own root. I am looking forward to seeing it bloom.

I received a bulb from my neighbor, Joe. i am looking forward to seeing it bloom next year.

I already grow Orienopet lilies Robina and Nymph. It will be in good company.

She is a diva, but she is a pretty diva. Worth the bother IMO.

I bought a healthy potted Double Delight to add to my red and red/white hybrid tea circular planting. It is keeping company with Ingrid Bergman, Chrysler Imperial, and Love. All were bought within a few weeks of each other at about the same size. Double Delight is the tallest one now. It took a while to get started, but it is growing and blooming now.

I planted the roses with Bayer systemic 3-in-one granules. I also treat them monthly. All my hybrid teas have a bit of blackspot on the lower leaves. Given the record rains and persistent high humidity, I am pleased that blackspot is only affecting the lower leaves.

By contrast, "disease resistant" floribundas on their own roots have pristine foliage despite the weather with the same fertilization/disease protection formula.

I am glad that I added the red/white Double Delight and Love roses with the "reds". The contrast helps the "reds" blend more harmoniously.

None have weathered a Pocono Polar vortex winter. All will be protected with peat moss and mulch or leaves. Mother Nature may add a foot or two of snow cover. I'll try to report back on the survivors next spring.

I just bought this rose from Home Depot.

What a gorgeous, big, red, fragrant bloom!

I just bought this rose from Home Depot. Blooms are fragrant, peony-pink colored, and old fashioned. They age to a lavender-pink.

Star Roses is marketing this as a "floribunda romantica." Very confusing marketing, but a nice rose.

I am glad to see more Radler roses available locally. IMO, this rose is much nicer than the ubiquitous Knock Outs.

I love hardy own-root roses!

When I saw a healthy own-root specimen of this rose in Walmart for $5, it leaped into my cart! I need some more "tough guys" to keep William Baffin company at the edge of the yard.

I have been admiring pictures of this rose for a while, so I was delighted to find one locally: at Walmart, of all places.

A good alternative to red Knock Out roses.

I wanted to buy my neighbor his first ever rose. It had to be a no-fuss manly rose!!!

I was looking for a hardy, disease resistant, reblooming, colorful (but not pink) shrub or floribunda rose on its own roots and already blooming. I was thinking of a red double Knock Out rose, but didn't see a healthy specimen in the stores. I saw this rose in Lowe's next to the Knock Out roses. It has pristine, shiny, dark green leaves and deep red blooms.

One advantage of buying roses in big box stores is that you can see how the blooms age. (They don't deadhead the roses. I suspect they may not even water the poor things.) Milano's blooms stay red as they age, while the red Knock Out roses fade to a garish reddish-pink color. I saw very slight bluing on a couple of blooms: just a fine line around the outer petals, much less than on many very dark red roses.

The blooms aren't fragrant, unfortunately.

I have wanted to grow this rose since I saw it growing in RosesAreRed's garden. What a beautiful climbing rose! We both garden in the Pocono mountains, zone 6a.

I saw a body bag variety early last year, but waited to find a potted specimen later in the season. No one had it in stock when I was shopping last year.

I jumped the gun and bought a healthier than usual body bag Don Juan at Walmart last week. It was worth the risk to grow this lovely rose. We can still get overnight frosts in May, so I am "living dangerously" planting roses this early. I will be ready to protect them.