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'WEKblunez' rose Reviews & Comments
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My parents have had this rose several years in zone 6a. It seems fine growing there, but then they also have a massive rosemary that shouldn't survive the winters.
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Initial post
23 MAY 19 by
 AGBTG
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Not sure about the hardiness now that it's blooming red. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
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I've found that this rose is quite unhappy grown next to the Austins, who require a lot more water in high heat. I wish that I would have planted my twenty next to more moderate drinkers as it's been quite a chore to keep everybody happy!
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#1 of 18 posted
12 OCT 16 by
Jay-Jay
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So You noticed that too, that the Austins are greedy for (need a lotta) water!
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Definitely! But I've been blaming the poor Memorial Days for getting so upset about it as the Austins were there first. I should have planted them in separate areas, rather than mixed rows.
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Meilland & French Romantica need to be watered more frequently than Austin roses. Own-root Frederic Mistral has a HUGE root, but it's a spreading root, rather than a deep root like own-root Austin. Meilland roses with a wide-growth habit need to be watered more often than Austin roses with a narrow, deep root.
OWN-ROOT Austin roses are more winter-hardy & more drought-tolerant than OWN-ROOT French roses, Austin roses have DEEP-ROOT (deeper than 1 foot), rather than a spreading surface root like French roses: Firefighter, Liv Tyler, Frederic Mistral, Sweet Promise 2007, and Bolero died after 5 years, thanks to a dry winter with no snow. Dug them up and was shocked at how shallow the roots are compared to own-root Austin roses. Recently moved Dee-lish (Meilland) and the root spread out the surface, rather than a straight stick down like Austin roses.
Meilland French roses have big & woody roots, but it's spread out on a surface .. need at least 6 inch. of leaves to keep moist through a dry winter. Own-root Austin roses easily survived more than seven zone 5a winters, except for wimpy Jude the Obscure (own-root).
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Thanks for the great info! Do you think that Fred will like sandy soil if he's kept wet enough? Mine are still in the pot.
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Lavenderlace: Since your climate is hot & dry, and tap-water is alkaline, I would mix peat moss (pH 4) with your sand like Columbus Rose Park in Ohio did to their sandy soil to retain moisture. They also mixed in slow-released fertilizer since nutrients leach fast in sandy soil. For organic approach, TomatoTone (higher in potassium & with calcium) is more effective mixing in with sand than RoseTone. My Fred used a decent amount of sulfate of potash to pump out 40+ blooms per flush.
Frederic Mistral has light-green foliage, so it needs slightly-acidic soil for best blooming (peatmoss is acidic). Meilland roses really need THICK MULCHING over the entire bed. When I move Fred, roots were spreading on the top 6" of the soil, so at least 6" of mulch is needed (horse manure).
I kept my Fred healthy for years with horse manure, but the minute I dumped bagged cow-manure (with quick lime) .. it broke out in blackspots. Cow manure is too salty for waterhogs, and chemical quick lime is unstable and zapped out the anti-fungal nutrients (zinc, copper, and boron). Plus there's antibiotics in cow manure which destroyed the nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
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Thanks Straw! I think that I might keep them in the pots a bit longer to make sure that I love the scent since I've heard mixed reviews. I've been digging up and moving too many these days!
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Lavenderlace: Good idea to keep Fred in a pot longer to restrain him. He gets HUGE in the ground. Fred scent was too sharp at the rose park, but mellowed out in my alkaline clay, but I won't rave about its scent.
Got my 1st bloom of Barbra Streisand today .. AMAZING SCENT just like folks said. It's better than Angel Face (too lemony), better than Heirloom (too spicy in hot weather), and better than Bluegirl (a bit harsh). Barbra Streisand scent can easily compete with Old Garden roses (Comte de Chambord and Duchess de Rohan). I prefer Barbra Streisand's scent OVER Sonia Rykiel (too fruity), Radio Times (too candy-sweet), and Bolero (waterlily). Fragrantnutter in Rose Forum stated that Barbra Streisand scent is better than Young Lycidas.
Barbra Streisand has a blackspot reputation with its dark-green-foliage, but NOT a problem for my alkaline clay. Blackspot roses are perfect for dry & hot climate & alkaline-tap-water. It's the LIGHT GREEN foliage like Frederic Mistral that gave me trouble: need tons of acidic rain to bloom. Dark-green foliage means the roots do a good job secreting acid to break down minerals for blooming, but it will cause blackspot in acidic-rain region, or acid soil.
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Oh that's great to hear about Barbra S! I've been afraid to try her after the BS reports since I had such bad luck with Heirloom.
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Heirloom has light-green foliage and wimpy (both as own-root and as grafted). Barbra Streissand is the tallest & most vigorous & most blooms among the 7 own-roots I received. Next most vigorous is Lagerfeld, and Nahema is the wimpiest as gallon-size-own-root. Nahema has the reputation of being stingy for less-rain folks (died in my zone 5a winter, so I have to buy another one).
Own-root Barbra Streissand with its vigor and dark-green foliage, will bloom easily with alkaline tap water, no need for rain.
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My grafted Heirloom does look as bad as the own-root! I know a lot of people have good luck with this one though.
Very happy that you found one with a great scent in your climate. It's so fun when everything just clicks with a certain variety!
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Geoff Hamilton has been quite water conservative for me.
Jude the Obscure was greedy when grafted, but self-sufficient own root.
Jubilee Celebration has been average for water in all respects, but its a short Austin, like Geoff Hamilton is. Its grown in front of Solitaire, which is fairly water conservative.
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#12 of 18 posted
25 DEC 17 by
Nastarana
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During three years in CA, Central Valley, GH never bloomed for me. I think he needs perhaps moderate water all season, and maybe can't tolerate dry soil, either that or doesn't like high heat.
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I am not sure. I water it very little at all, and it blooms in 3 seperate flushes, just like a floribunda. But I also live in Oregon. Its also quite clean, which I find amazing. Heritage, its parent, rarely ever bloomed here. It just tried to grow and grow.
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#19 of 18 posted
25 DEC 17 by
Nastarana
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I have lived in OR, including the Willamette Valley, and in CA, and the CV soils are much dryer than those of the WV. Don't forget that the CA water table has been drawn down by generations of water intensive agriculture.
I once planted Annelino Beans, which are from Italy, similar climate, and the beans sprouted and then died. I feel sure they could not tolerate the dry soil.
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#14 of 18 posted
25 DEC 17 by
Jay-Jay
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▲ At first: Merry Christmas to You all. ▲
This year in spring, I cut back the bulk of the Austins, for those got a lot bigger than predicted/described.
But I had the mishap, that we experienced an exceptionally dry year. So in spite of the fact that they were established, they almost didn't grow and almost didn't flower at all. And no repeat flowering.
Only Constance Spry seemed to do well (as usual), as the other older Austin varieties did, like the Mary Rose, Redouté, Winchester Cathedral and Tamora.
All the plants are grafted. For Austins on own root do not survive or thrive in our garden.
From September on, it has been raining a lot, but that was too late, to start all over.
None died, so we'll see, what next season will bring.
PS: Despite the lack of rain, the large flowered climbers and the once blooming climbers thrived last year and didn't seem to bother about the "drought", the old roses didn't too!
So the latter seem to have an advantage, compared to the "new oldies" from Austin.
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Merry Christmas to you too :D
My first two Austins were Heritage, which I hated, and Ambridge Rose. The latter was pretty drought tolerant, and not really a huge rose. It was nice. Too wispy for my taste, but pretty easy to grow.
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JC can't bloom upright here lol. The blooms are 6-7" in the spring, and firmly face-planted right into the ground. I keep it anyway. The foliage is pretty and the summer blooms have a very intricate color.
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#18 of 18 posted
25 DEC 17 by
Jay-Jay
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I had to laugh, when I read, what You wrote: Face down into the "dirt"! Not scar-face, but mud-face.
The scent is good too, for as long as it lasts.
The flowers do not get that big (as You describe) over here, but they only nod, for the plants were getting huge and sturdy, so the flowers looked over their neighbors' shoulders, or got stuck in them at some "altitude".
In my humble opinion, A Shropshire Lad is still the healthiest and best performing Austin... At least in our garden.
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Own-root Memorial Day rose survived two zone 5\6 winters.
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