Some who have grown it think it's a slight improvement over 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' especially in being less likely to ball; others say they can't tell any difference, but then, SDLM is among the greatest of all roses. I have MB and love it. The flower is wonderful and the plant is a busy bloomer. It does ball some, but our mountain climate is very bad for that. Here, few roses are immune.

SDLM is said to have mildew problems on the West Coast. I haven't noticed it on MB here, but we don't have much PM. SDLM and MB are somewhat resistant to blackspot; may not need protection in Seattle. They are successfully grown without spray in the Deep South and Texas, but not here.

My MB suffers some cane damage at around 5 degrees. It likes hot summers but does OK in our mild summers (usually 80s) and into the fall.

Zyperiris, I think you are the person who posted a question here recently about 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. Several of the people who responded felt that SdlM would probably not perform very well in Seattle. 'Mystic Beauty' is a sport of 'Kronprinzessin Viktoria', which itself is a sport of SdlM. I grow SdlM and all of her sports, & tend to think that if SdlM balls in your frequently rainy environment, MB would too.

Jax, yah that was me. I may rethink it

I have fairly young plants of Mme. Cornelissen and Kronprinzessin Viktoria and new bands of SdlM and SdlM Rouge and am very happy to know that they like dry heat since I have plenty of that here. The first two mentioned have already had some beautiful blooms for me. Another small, utterly gorgeous Bourbon is Mme. Dore from Vintage which has had one beautiful bloom for me. I wish now I had planted it on into a one-gallon pot instead of putting it into the ground since it looks so delicate. Hopefully when the weather warms up it will decide to grow.

Ingrid