"Hybrid Perpetuals can't grow in Tampa......

La Reine

Marchioness of Londonderry

General Jacqueminot

Baronne Prevost

......especially own root and all organic....everybody knows that!". Thankfully, my growing collection of Hybrid Perpetuals in 18 gallon Water Wise Container Gardens doesn't know that!! Since the early 90s I've been "informed" by some Florida rosarians that, except for a handful of varieties budded onto the Fortuniana rootstock, the Victorian era Hybrid Perpetual roses "can't" grow here and require toxic expensive spray programs I could never embrace as an environmentalist. But using Probiotic methods and organic soil feedings in these 18 gallon Water Wise Container Gardens, I am being blessed with fragrances I said goodbye to when I left Denver in 2002. Plus I am getting to do pollinations I'd never imagined! To aid my studies, Mike Shoup at The Antique Rose Emporium (1-800-441-0002) is donating NINE more roses to see just how far I can push the envelope, and Heather at High Country Roses (1-800-552-2082) gave me a 20% discount on my newest order. And yesterday my wholesale order of 12 roses from Chamblee's Roses (1-800-256-7673) arrived. Woo hoo! Years of drought and severe watering restrictions had GREATLY diminished my roses collection and my enthusiasm FOR roses...but inventing these restricted-drainage Water Wise Container Gardens has been a total game changer, and I am reinventing the entire yard, front and back, both roses and food crops, based on making and burying (to protect the plastic from UV) hundreds of these. TONS of digging but well worth the effort. In a couple of years my front yard should again be a showcase for own root, all-organic rose growing in Tampa. Enjoy these photos of Hybrid Perpetuals that "can't grow in Tampa". I just wish I could attach their heady perfumes! John