I've grown both, although not in the same garden, and for me Ebb Tide was a deeper, darker and more intense color than Sweet Chariot. In my heatit did fade to a sort of grayish purple. Sweet Chariot is much more of a sprawler, although that might not matter in a container and could actually look very pretty. I don't remember how it faded. Ebb Tide is quite fragrant. I don't recall if Sweet Chariot had a fragrance. You'll probably have more specific replies, and hopefully from someone in your area.

Ingrid

Thank you, Ingrid! That's kind of how Ebb Tide looked to me, and I was leaning toward Sweet Charity's more mauve/purple. They both look lovely, but SC is proving the more difficult rose to find. :(

tsuki, I know the story behind the naming of Sweet Chariot and it may answer a question or two for you. Mr. Moore grew them all in smaller pots in the nursery. With restricted root run, the canes of the rose tend to be more weeping, so he selected it for use in an alley of hanging baskets down the main walk of his nursery. The rose still hadn't a name, but he said all those regal baskets of royal purple, with the heavy, sweet fragrance wafting from them, the rose screamed its name at him, "Swing low, Sweet Chariot!" Yes, Sweet Chariot has a very strong, sweet fragrance. It can range from anything from a light lavender to very dark violet, all depending upon heat, alkalinity, intensity of light, available water, etc. In a more restricted root run, it can weep; planted with a larger root run, expect a stronger growing, more upright shrub. Ebb Tide is beautiful, but the flowers are large and double enough that it takes the plant significantly longer to regenerate them between cycles. Sweet Chariot should, I think, provide you with more consistent color. Kim

tsuki_chan,

I have both Ebb Tide and Sweet Chariot. Both were planted as own-root bands. Sweet Chariot has grown into a lovely little shrub, and Ebb Tide has sulked along. If dark purple blooms are your goal, Ebb Tide has deeper, darker flowers--it hasn't bloomed that much for me yet; I don't remember a fade to the color as it ages. BUT--at least in my garden--Sweet Chariot is a much better plant. At first its flowers were kind of a dark pink, but as it gets settled in, they're getting much more purple to them. I've read on GW that a lot of people grow it in containers. Here's a link to one grown in the PNW in a hanging basket--beautiful! Mine wasn't that color at first, but it looked a lot more like that last year. And the color might vary with the temperature and maturity (my first Ebb Tide blooms were a ghastly hot pink!)

Have you tried HelpMeFind.com to look for a source? Here's a list of nurseries that carry Sweet Chariot. I've purchased from all of them mail-order and gotten nice plants. I've only looked at High Country Roses so far, but they have it in stock (and have a sale going on right now, so gotta go check it out!)

If you want something that looks good in the landscape, SC, if you want purple flowers for the vase, ET. Container: SC. In this garden, the deep purple of ET wasn't stable until year 3. In year 1 especially it was more of a magenta. Now well established, it stays consistently deep purple--an amazing color--and has more petals per flower. Some afternoon shade probably contributes to color stability.

Thanks, everyone! This was just the info I needed!

I really was leaning more toward SC than ET, esp since I prefer the mauve/lavender colors more than the deep plum/purple. Also good to know that a smaller pot will produce the weeping canes, which is exactly what I wanted. Since I was looking at it specifically as a container rose, Sweet Chariot it is! I was just having trouble finding a source for it, so muchas gracias, lucretia!

I liked sweet chariot so much that I planted it all up and down my parkway. It's a lovely little plant and yes more upright in the ground but well behaved and very free blooming.