Jackie, yes, totally different climate, but Susan Louise didn't perform for me down here, either. I found its wood very susceptible to sun scald and it was very slow to start. I honestly think it would be MUCH better budded to give it the extra push it needs to start. It's just too "Tea-like", at least initially. I believe it is a seedling. I, too, tried it to have the BP look much of the year without the barn-eating exuberance the "Portuguese Hussy" expresses. I just didn't have an abandoned barn for her to eat. I already had Montecito eating a Eucalyptus, Silver Moon eating the crest of the hill as a free standing plant and Twilight Mist eating an upper bed with Pernetianas sticking out of it. I hope Susan never disappears, but I've yet to see a really "happy" one. Kim

I grew Susan Louise for a few years then got rid of it. In my garden it was big and rangy and sloppy, and did not bloom enough to make up for those faults in my estimation. Perhaps in another situation it might do better.

Rosefolly

Hello
I have 'Susan Louise', planted 3 years ago as a rooted cutting. It's planted in a very difficult spot, sandy granitic soil full of invasive roots and shaded by a big Schinus molle, but it's growing vigorously into a 2 meters, loopsided bush. Unfortunately my micro-climate seems to be a challenge for many Teas/Giganteas in summer: also SL tend to burn its petals early in the morning, quickly losing her beauty.

I've planted a second specimen in a garden I'm making in the northern corner of Sardinia (a cooler climate than mine, a garden setting full of beautiful cork oak), and it's performing very well.

A friend grows SL in her garden in central Italy (near Todi - 8b zone, on heavy clay). And it's good. Smaller and more compatc than mine, but definitely better, always in bloom from April to December.

It does not seem to be a sport of BP, as the leaves look completely different (much better in SL than in BP in my opinion).

By the way, both the roses are blooming now in my garden! :)

Here it is a beautiful rose. For a couple of years it grew awkwardly but a heavy snow broke it in half. After that it grew beautifully. I'm certain that it is not an easy rose to grow, but now here it is as beautiful as any of my Teas. This is not a perfect place for Teas either.

Thank you all for the information! Now I am encouraged, as it sounds like this rose can be a very nice rose in a warm climate, so I will persevere. I am hoping mine needs more time, and that now that it is in an area where it gets more sun, it will do better. My Belle Portugaise didn't bloom at all until its fifth Spring, so perhaps I have been too impatient. Also, we have had no rain for 6 weeks, in what is supposed to be our rainy season, so that can't have helped. Supposed to rain this afternoon - not yet, but it has clouded over - everyone in my neighborhood is walking around staring at the sky!

Jackie

Jackie, there was a Susan Louise out on Mare Island, growing hear an old Victorian in "Officer's Row." (?Maple St.?)

The entire grounds had been Round-Upped, and the several roses there were either dead or badly wounded. One we collected and did manage to root was Tausenschoen . . . but it was never healthy.

Yet, in the middle of that general Field Of Death, there was Susan Louise.

As a SoCal person, I didnt recognize her right away, but others did. She was in full, flaunting bloom -- a column of roses easily 8 ft. high. One of those rose sights you never forget.

I bet she's a winner for you.

Jeri

Our Susan Louise in the Sacramento cemetery grows awkwardly. I remember conversation on a rose forum with rather notable members from around the world, and the consensus was that it often grows one-sided and ungainly. I would put it, if I grew it at home, at the back of a border. I think it would be a wonderful rose to espalier on a fence or wall. We get quite a bit of repeat bloom and I love the big, pointed buds and floppy huge flowers. I've never done a direct comparison with Belle Portugaise but certainly would accept the idea that it's a seedling. I've always thought of it as a Hybrid Gigantea/Hybrid Tea rather than a Tea - the blooms are singular and the growth habit just too stiff and upright and gangly to be a tea, IMHO.

Overall, it's a rose I would like to have in my garden. Yes, keep giving it a try, Jackie!
Anita

Yes, Anita. The one we saw on Mare Island was a honey, but it WAS rigidly upright, and there was nothing about it that said "Tea Rose."

Jeri

I agree - It's definitely a Gigantea Hybrid, not a Tea. It's easy to get her apart from BP: smooth, glossy, dark green leaves instead of coarse, large (not really appealing) pale green leaves in BP.

A picture of a good bloom in April, showing the darker revers of petals, which is also another main trait who distinguish it from BP
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Here's 'Belle Portugaise' in April, 2010

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And... can't resist to post another picture of 'Belle Portugaise', which is in bloom just right now in my garden.
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Maurizio

Belle Portugaise is one of my most favorite roses. Not only are the blooms amazingly elegant and huge and translucent, it perseveres in our climate without ANY care. In my old neighborhood, I see it blooming in the Spring in old gardens that have not been cared for for decades, and even in vacant lots where there used to be gardens. You don't notice it until blooming time, then it seems to be everywhere - behind every old fence, peeking down from low trees near the sidewalk at passersby, suddenly flaunting its beauty out of nowhere.

Jackie

It's wonderful in NoCal, but in OUR experience, it was mildewy, here at the SoCal coast. Pity, because I find the bloom heartbreakingly lovely ...

Jeri

OMG, Belle Portugaise really must be one of the most beautiful roses in the world. I LOVE this rose. No chance here in the UK but I did find an acceptable substitute - Madame Gregoire Staechelin. Before anyone falls about laughing, MGS has the same graceful nod, absolutely gorgeous foliage, warmly glowing pink petals with a slightly loose manner: reminds me of a tipsy matron with just a touch of louche sluttiness (I aspire to this state myself)and a fabulous scent of sweet pea.

Campanula, I would not laugh at all.

MacFarland wrote of her in 1936:
"Only its name has prevented Mme. Gregoire Staechelin from sweeping the rose world. . . . "

Up the hill from my house, there's a small, derelict, remnant of the Avocado orchards that once covered these hillsides. At its edge, years ago, was a very very venerable 'Mme. Gregoire Staechelin,' long-abandoned, but still beautiful in full bloom. It was across the road from the small farmhouse that once accompanied some of the orchards.
To my regret, before we could get cuttings to root (we were just trying to learn) the rose was destroyed by workers installing some cheap-grade chain link fencing.
Gone, but not forgotten . . . :-(

Jeri

I've been unpacking my rose library and thought some might enjoy reading what Roses of Yesterday and Today had to say about Susan Louise back in 1952 (before I was born!)Kim

Susan Louise. This is the truly ever-blooming form of the beautiful climber, Belle of Portugal, and in our opinion, one of the most valuable and delightful roses in existence, regardless of color, form or age. For the novice or the professional, at the beach or the desert, Susan Louise gives happily and constantly. Buds are very long-pointed, deep pink, excellent for bouquets, the open flower is semi-double, flesh-pink, charming and graceful. Robust grower to five feet or more and truly everblooming This, friends, is a ROSE!

"Susan Louise, a truly everblooming beauty, still at it when a November freeze put an end to her scintillating display." --Mrs. George W. Childers, Covington, Kentucky.

"Of Susan Louise, I'll say little, simply because once started, I could never quit...this much and no more, --she is one of my ten most beautiful flowers, --an unsurpassed darling...Mr. Tillotson's all-out vote for Susan Louise should assure every customer that when he says "this is it", it really is." Sarah Lakey, Tulsa, Oklahoma. ("Mr. Tillitson" blushes with becoming modesty, secretly deciding to re-check some of his other effusions, to be sure they are "it") 3 for $3.65 each $1.35