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Moses, I only had it one year, a body bag from Walmart. I was surprised to see such a new rose there. But I lost it in its second summer to RRD. I really liked it, and it was pretty black spot resistant. It did lose some lower leaves, but never became unsightly. The blooms are somewhat sensitive to heat, in that they blew fairly quickly in our scorching summer heat. In Spring and Fall the blooms were lovely, and held their shape well. In summer, they went from bud to blah pretty quickly. But the thing that made the biggest impression is the scent. On HMF it's described as "strong, anise, rose, spice". To ME, and some of those who left comments, it was more herbal than spice, lol. I might even call it earthy. Positively odd. But then, I can't detect "anise" in most roses with that scent, so I guess I'm getting mostly the undertones.
I love these ruffly blooms. The color reminds me of Disneyland And makes such a great contrast to the dark shiny leaves.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, my Julie Andrews is due in through Home Depot online. Cooler weather in a couple days will help make planting JA a snap. She's going one bush in from the front edge of Drifts, so I can stand on the pavement in front of the Drifts and plant away. No walking into the bed is necessary.
Moses.
They are own root. They are most likely just 2 quart roses (which they've been selling for a while), up-potted and grown on to a larger size.
EDIT: it would be almost impossible to get a grafted rose into a one gallon pot, especially with the absurdly long shanks that DA grafted roses have. There would be NO roots left at all by the time they were trimmed to fit a one gallon pot.
awesome Fig! Thank you all. I ordered Dannahue. The price tag as discussed in the other thread is expensive, but I am willing to do it for a plant that will do better long term.
Jen I have been dreaming of Dannahue. I would also love to get the Lady gardener which is healthy here and Desdemona.
My last DA order was for a potted MW (own root) less than a year ago. They sent me a grafted bare root, which is doing well. I never reported it. I hope you get the own root you ordered, Dianela.
@Diane Brakefield Speaking of the Austins — two years ago I found what was left of my plant of 'The Prince' out among the Blackberry brambles (thanks so much, Luther Burbank) and dug up those two 5" twigs and put them in a 2 gallon pot. I've had that plant since 1994 and it has never performed well for me, but I kinda wanted to save it (I mean, odds are I'd never get it back again if I let it perish, right?) and see if I could coax it to do something worthwhile.
Fast forward to today: I'm honestly surprised — it's still in a 20" pot on the deck, and it gets dappled shade in the afternoon, but I have never seen it look so good. Yeah, it has to be watered daily and I've fed it obscene amounts of Miracle Grow (Yeah, I know: ugh), and yes, it has to be sprayed or the foliage all dies from Blackspot. But right now, today, it is close to what I envisioned those 32 years ago, but never came to fruition.
To get back on topic: no, I would never pay $70+ shipping for an Austin rose. If a grower can bud 'Tiffany' and 'Fragrant Cloud' on Old Huey and sell them cheap enough that Home Despot can offer them for $12, then you'll have a heck of a time convincing me I'm getting my moneys worth for a $70 Austin rose.
I've always found it fascinating where DAs thrive or don't. I guess it's kind of a no-brainer that they do well here in a Mediterranian climate, veering towards UK climate at times. What I find interesting is how well they do for some hot summer growers like Judi and Diane. I suppose a big part of that is lack of humidity and fungal diseases.
I completely agree with Ben and Roseseek about not being a fan of the company, particularly in the past ten years. As Joe Average, I obviously have no experience with Roseseek's comments about their pricing and policies to their growers, but that's truly awful. But as Ben said, arrogant and greedy has been my impression of them recently, and it appears that they've been that way for a long time.
Diane,
Every time I go to the nursery I have to resist putting ’Light Years Away’ into my cart, I think has the nicest bloom I’ve seen of the purple/mauves, and the plant looks terrific too. I should go ahead and buy it so it can live in my yard instead of rent-free in my head. I heard Christian Bedard is no longer hybridizing at Weeks so this may be last in the long line of great purple roses that includes Twilight Zone and Ebb Tide. Living the Dream is a new Weeks stunner too as well as Meilland’s Martha Stewart, but I already caved in and bought those. We get Weeks/Star roses super well grown and cheap, $35 in a five gallon blooming pot. Austins follow their usual pattern $70 for a smallish plant in a funky green pot. Selection is quite limited too, sometimes you can have any Austin you desire so long as it’s Darcy Bussell.
Kim
Exactly, and nicely detailed, their practices bother me.
Shine,
You’re so right about different climates for different roses, but we in the West do have it so much better than the East and South. I’m much more OK with paying $100 for a giant 5 gal plant from Regan than $70 + shipping for a 1 gallon directly from DA. When you buy from Regan you’re supporting a wonderful local nursery that has managed to survive in a super high cost part of the country.
Sharifa Asma from Regan in 5 gal pot.
Isn't it amazing that sometimes the best roses emerge from just sports (like Little White Pet), or dubious circumstances, and then confusion, like Colonial White. My attitude, as long as a rose is available in commerce, is to judge the rose on its merits, period, and don't waste time worrying about its past.
Jackie
@jacqueline9CA Jackie, the consensus is that it was definitely "dubious circumstances" around the introduction of CW, lol. We may never know what the true name of the rose is, because it's widely accepted that Wyant, the man who introduced it as Colonial White, had pilfered it from another breeder, or at least re-introduced claiming it was his.