Yes I mean Joseph's Coat and Jacob's Robe sorry. I have 2 Joseph's Coat and one Jacob's Robe. Out of the two Joseph's only one is blooming and its maybe 1-1/2 to 2 feet away from the one that's not performing. The Jacob's Robe is 10 feet away on the same side of the flower bed as the other two. They were all planted 2 years ago only a few weeks apart from each other. I know the non-performing Joseph's coat was the first and then I purchased the second a few weeks after and much later the Jacob's Robe which was quite well established when it arrived, blooming even. The weather here in NY has been warm in the day with cool evenings, I live by the ocean so its a little cooler than other parts of Queens, maybe temps between 50's and 60's. The three were purchased from different nurseries if that means anything but they all have excellent reputations (Josephs coat from Brushwood, the blooming one and Jacobs Robe from Stargazer Perennial). At first I wanted to blame it on age since roses from Stargazer tend to be more well established and sent in one gallon pots compared to Brushwood but this cannot be the issue since the Jacob's Robe is also having the same issue. The buds are so small on these two compared to the other that I am now wondering if they aren't ill or something. My Winchester Cathedral has one rose blooming and I'm sure the other's will follow suit since they seem more ready than my two reticent climbers. Its so annoying since I have the two Joseph's trained into an arch and now only one half is blooming.

Hi everyone Susan - Showing a picture of a flower makes all the difference. I think your plant is Billbergia kuhlmannii. If you get onto the FCBS Photo Index and go to the species index I think you'll see this is your plant. When you look closely at the flowers you will see they are different to the usual Billbergia flowers. These flowers are commonly referred to as âÂÂwatch springâ or âÂÂhelicoidâ because the petals are recoiled in a tight helicoid spiral (coiled several times like a watch spring) when the flower is fully open. All the best, Nev.

Your description does sound like CH is doing what it is notorious for... waiting to bloom until it reaches the top of that which it is growing on. High phosphorus levels in other plants encourage blooming but I just do not know if the plant will respond like roses do for example. Epsom salts mostly contain magnesium and some Sulfur. By the way, I am not sure how well the small tendrils will do trying to climb limestone rocks in your garage. Maybe someone has already tried and can chime in.

rosetom wrote: A 44" basal is not that unusual for QE. If it never blooms again, then it's the Climbing version. At first I thought that was pretty funny, until I went out and took another look at the bush. The canes I deadheaded weeks ago have no signs of new laterals developing, nothing whatsoever. I've never seen that happen on a rose before. I guess I got lucky with the climbing Peace because that photo was taken on a second flush of blooms. That might only be because it was almost completely defoliated earlier this year, by transplant shock. When the foliage came back, about every other leaflet produced a short stem with a bud on it. That's one of things that made me suspicious about it being climbing Peace. I have the bush version of Peace too, I agree it's a must have. What are your other top must haves? (That would be a better question for the general Rose forum maybe.)