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StrawChicago Alkaline clay 5a
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Hello, Beautiful rose! What is bio char and also where do you purchase chicken manure? Thanks!
Evelyn
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I get chicken manure from Ace Hardware or from Menards, apply only ONCE in spring time. I make my own biochar by burning tree branches at low flame in a fire pit, then douse it to get black charcoal rather than white ash.
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Initial post
27 FEB 12 by
goncmg
A shame this rose is barely available if at all......the blooms are a little small, the plant tends to grow wider than tall, and the form is not for exhibition but the color is lovely! Always reminded me of "fruit on the bottom" yogurt in boysenberry or some sort of berry! The scent is insane, strong and hard and makes your mouth water. Grew this one for 10 years in the 80's until we moved and by then it was not easily found. Scent seems to be "in" now, again/finally and the namesake has always been well-esteemed. Maybe someday this one will re-appear. It is a nice, good rose.
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The name is hard to remember, perhaps that's the downfall.
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Maybe it could be rebranded as "Calvin Klein," or is that name also past recognition these days? It's so hard to keep up. :-)
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Summer Song is a really special rose in a rare colour. That said, I really hate these secretive "seedling x seedling" statements. Mr Austin did not invent roses, he built upon the works of others, who themselves have been building upon the works of others for generations. Nobody can make me believe Mr Austin got Summer Song as a chance seedling with unknown parentage. By not disclosing the parentage, he wants to prevent others from going down the same road in hybridising. Of course it's not only an Austin phenomenon, and part of my argument is vain because I can use Summer Song itself in hybridising, but I still find this kind of non-disclosure irritating to say the least.
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It would be fun to guess the parentage. I grow two own-root Pat Austin with shiny & glossy foliage, and I can see some Pat Austin in pictures of Summer Song's leaves. Pat is a water-hog and can't take full-sun & best in 4 hours of morning sun. Pat Austin has a mango scent (like Summer Song). Another rose that might be in Summer Song's parentage is Geranium Red (amazing scent & many petals, but wimpy). The glossy-foliage like Summer Song and Pat Austin need alkaline minerals & shade and constant wetness more than others, in my experience of growing 110+ OWN-ROOT roses.
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Reply
#3 of 3 posted
17 DEC by
jmile
I got my first Summer Song this year. We get very hot in the Summer in Zone 9B so I put it where it only got sun half day. It grew very listlessly. It produced some flowers but not much----so I moved it into full sun and heat----It loved it. It perked up and sent out new growth. I didn't water it a lot either---- it was adapt or die and it chose to adapt and it is looking a lot better. I am hoping that next year will be even a better year in full sun and hot weather. I got two more young plants this Fall so I will experiment. Maybe graft it onto Fortuniana to see how that goes.
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The habit of not disclosing parentage is particularly annoying for us who garden in difficult climates because it prevents us from studying lineages to help us determine whether a cultivar can thrive in our climate and soil conditions. It does help a little to know in which of his five categories Austin places his roses, but even that information is not always or often included in nursery descriptions.
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As own-root it gets big, but VERY STINGY in blooms in both full-sun and partial shade. Leaves are healthy, but it's only a very light scent.
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