O, dear-I just bought Thierry Marx; it has buds but they have not opened yet. I hope it's not a habitual baller!

I hope so too, Bart. The annoying thing is I didn’t even order it, it was mistakenly sent instead of Vichy, a white rose. It grew very slowly and only had a few blooms last (it’s first) year and they fried in the heat, but I gave it a free pass as it was an extremely hot summer. If it proves to be both a habitual baller and a crisper this year, it will meet with a violent end!

This is interesting to read as I really like what I’ve read about this one. Looking forward to reading what you learn in the coming months

I will try and remember to report back oursteelers, but do nudge me if I forget.

I have not had issues with balling, I think my climate (hot summer mediterranean) is not so different from yours, but of course weather on specific days can be quite variable. In general I would not say this is a rose that tends to ball, petals are stiff and center is not super tight. I hope your future blooms clear up once your weather warms up (but then you will wish for rain!)

Oh, Ben - what a beauty!!! :) :)

Nollie - I hope this balling is a one of. :)

Me too, Rosecanadian!

That’s good to hear Ben, thanks so much for the feedback and I’m glad it does ok for you.

Roses do have to be rainproof here because we get heavy summer downpours, or at least we used to. We have been in drought for the last couple of years, so drier and less black spot. It could also be the big overnight temperature drops we experience at our altitude, following hot sunny days. I could do with some proper rain right now, all my water butts are empty!

Water butts? :) :) Here's hoping you get some rain.

We call them totes....as in water totes. We have 3 really large ones.

Water butt...I'll have to tell my hubbie that. lol

Ours in the us are called rain barrels! how funny :)

Rain barrels here too, Jen...but only for the smaller barrel shaped ones. :)

Nollie,

Amazing! You are from Spain!

i am in the Fingerlakes, New York region. It rains a lot in spring/fall & some in summer. I have Theirry Marx! She’sca winner! Great leaves, no diseases! And never balled! Beautiful blooms!

My Theirry Marx, Oct 2023,

raining often…

30-39” tall .,

I passed on that variety because some of the mature plant height photos on HMF are.. uh... more than tall. I went for Huddersfield Society Choir or w/e its called. I hate both names. HCS is less double but hasnt balled on me.

Kitty - GASP!!!! I loooove your pics of TM....especially the first one.

Beautiful photos @KittyNYz6, thanks, they give me hope it’s just a temporary blip with mine!

Roses can grow taller than advertised here, but TM it one that hasn’t so far (second season, grafted on laxa) Jadae, it’s been a very slow starter compared to my other Delbard roses and not gotten beyond a foot tall.

It rained again last night but lightly and not for long, I’ve deadheaded the worst offender, hoping this is just a bit of residual damage and the newer buds will come good:

Nollie, the pics on HMF are why I picked HCS over Thierry:

https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.339474

Nollie - what a great looking plant!

Nollie,

Thank you!

Sometimes rose roots get close to the clay or other ground soil they don’t like or just don’t like nutrients in the soil, or fon’t get the nutrients they want, so they grow slowly. I moved Desdemona rose into a pot after 2 years of not growing well, although she was next to other roses that grew well and I had added good soil to her-in ground-she grew terribly slow. I transplanted her kast summer to a pot w/ great pitting soil & gave liquid fish fertiluzer weekly for 2 months-she grew super vigorously and has been vigorous with minimal care ever since. This season she goes into the groubd w/ new soil, a BIG hole so she gets really good drainage & drainage.

My Theirry Marx grew really vigorously first summer season, after sitting a couple months to establish roots in spring. She came small, but when she started growing-she sent up a couple hardy thick canes-very good! First years most roses grow slow anyway, but 2nd/3rd years if good soil/nutrients, watch out! They take off!

Carol,

Thank you! TM is a beauty! Love her shiny purple/green leaves and gorgeous blooms!

Sometimes it remains a complete mystery why some roses, even strong specimens with a reputation for vigour that are well cared for, just decide to grow slowly, Kitty! But your point about the planting spot might be a clue, it is on the edge of a bed hacked out of hard, boulder-strewn rocky clay so the roots will literally hit an underground wall at some point. If I decide to keep it, it will need moving in any case, sincd it was supposed to be a white rose and the colour clashes with that of 'Soul' behind.

Hmm, yes, Delbard’s roses can turn into blooms on the end of green monsters, Jadae! I have to prune mine back really hard, more like you would do with an HT.

Finally we have had some decent rain and my butts are nearly full again - hurrah!! So we’ll soon see how my TM has coped..

Oh dear, well this is what happened to this rose after heavy rain, all the new buds look like this!

Nollie, I’m having problems with LOTS of my rose buds doing the same thing this spring. All kinds of roses. And we haven’t even had rain recently, so I can’t blame it on that. Many of mine look far worse than what your picture shows… I’m blaming it on a combination of things. That late freeze we had that damaged a lot of buds and new growth, excessive powdery mildew from the cool spring, thrips, and the high winds that rip through here in the spring. My spring flush is getting ruined on many of my roses.

Nollie andJudi - so sorry about how bad your roses are doing. Not fun. We're in a winter wonderland right now and the roses are in the garage....again.

@judijunebugarizonazn8 I’m so sorry to hear that, we invest so much in our roses it’s really disappointing when weird weather spoils them. The tender new rose growth survived a late April frost here, but there was blackened foliage on the fig tree and emerging dahlias and salvia guaraniticas.

Some of my usual suspects lacking in rain resistance (which I’ve been gradually getting rid of) have damage but it’s mostly limited to those. Mme. Antoine Mari‘s blooms are a mess:

I had Spring freeze damage here, after warm weather started new growth. It was 31.6 F this am. I also cut down roses with canker including CS, Mutabalis, Ducher, Climbing Pinkie and Moonlight. This was worse Spring freeze damage this year even though we had a mild Winter.

Isn't that SO sad? Anymore the weather has become so dammed capricious; I just don't know what to think. These last few years in Tuscany have been so disappointing: too dry in autumn and winter; only at the end of April and May did it start to rain properly. This pattern did not do the roses much good at all, because suddenly afterwards it became horribly hot, and stayed that way. So, the spring flush was pretty much spoiled ,and the poor roses were also frustrated in their attempts to grow, since the rain arrived so late. Thank Heaven, this year has been great, with lots of rain,but I wonder if I'll ever again get the glorious explosion of flowers that I used to get in late spring. I don't even really consider summer bloom; it's just too hot here. So, so sad..

Probably I shouldn't have "liked" your post Sheila, lol. Sounds too much like the kind of stuff we've been having here in the last few years.

My sympathies, Sheila. We had an incredibly mild winter here too. The weather has gone bonkers and unpredictable everywhere, it seems. The poor plants don’t know whether they are coming or going!