I'm a bit confused by your post. You say you're contemplating those 2 roses for a certain location, but due to your remark about CM taking a long time to break dormancy, I assume that you already have at least that one, right? Are you contemplating moving the roses from one place in your garden to another? How long have you had CM?

Under the best of circumstance CM doesn't have a particularly long life span when compared to most other HTs. Also, it's not cold hardy and, if fact, is infamous for not surviving even relatively mild winters. Even in your locale, there exists the possibility that your CM is dead rather than dormant. It's been reported here and elsewhere that some gardeners who are smitten with this rose simply grow it as an annual and expect to replace it often.

To address your question about sunlight, I think that the roses would probably do alright in the location you're considering. In the intense sunlight of southern/southwestern zones, reflected light is often enough to compensate for less than the standard 6 hrs that we think of as ideal. Remember that the 6 hr standard is an average figure that attempts to take all latitudes into consideration.

Color Magic has been a favorite rose in this area but, except for the occasional show entry, I haven't seen it in a home rose garden for a few years now. It's still part of each of the local public gardens, I think.

Did you order the CM or buy it locally? If it hasn't leafed out by Sunday, wrap the canes with damp newspaper, filled with wet mulch and covered with 1-2 plastic grocery bags. They should leaf out within a week. Temps are headed back into the 60's this weekend but be careful not to leave the canes wrapped in plastic and exposed to afternoon sun. Could damage the new growth.

I have one CM and it is the largest bush in my yard. It just thrives every year. I think it really likes the heat here.
I think 5 hours a day of sun in AZ would be enough. Mine probably gets more like 7 ... but I think it could get by with less.
hope yours comes back to life!

I think my post was somewhat confusing. I purchased both roses locally and they're still in containers. My main concern with Color Magic is that it's the only one without new growth. Being that it seems healthy (has a solid rootball and green (older) leaves, I wonder if it just needs warmer conditions to leaf out--a late bloomer perhaps?

GBEBEH, how tall and wide is your CM and does it rebloom at a reasonable rate?

Still hoping for Aromatherapy feedback. Will it handle less than 6 hrs. sun? Does it bloom with average frequency and do the blooms shatter quickly? How tall and wide?

Thanks all for your posts!

klynn, I think the last paragraph in Jaxondel's post above is a good answer to your sunlight question about both roses.

CM doesn't do much for me. I think in 8yrs or so I've seen one or two decent blooms. Hardly ever blooms. AROMATHERAPY is a pretty good rose. But the name is overkill. Not much of a scent that I've ever noticed. The plant grows very tall, like between 5-6ft, and the blooms are quite lovely and large. Repeat is ok, but it's usually just one or two blooms here and there.

CM was very slow to get started, as I remember. Gorgeous rose, but it dies back from the spot where it was pruned, so if you can prune as little as possible it might last longer. This die-back I understand is a genetic quirk, so if you see it, it's not anything you are doing. Some roses just do that. 'Fair Bianca' is another that has this problem.

For the past several years I have vowed to eliminate my one Color Magic...until I catch a glimpse of it on my photo album. The pros with mine are: Huge, gorgeous blooms that last and last on the bush and in the vase. Simply gorgeous, especially when mixed in a vase with other large bloomers like Just Joey.
The cons: a somewhat infrequent re-bloomer, diseased leaves, leggy, awful-ugly shrub come July.
No/very slight fragrance.
Some bleaching of blooms in full sun.
In my dream garden I'd have an out-of-sight area for
roses like Color Magic...roses I LOVE for cutting but NOT for the garden.

Leahcate -- you took the words right out of my mouth -- was going to say it depends on what you're after -- if you want a good garden display, then forget Color Magic. BUT, if you are willing to wait, wait, wait, and wait some more, you will FINALLY get that one stupendous bloom from Color Magic every once in a while that makes everyone drool, but only after you cut it and put it in a vase in someplace prominent, away from the plant. The blooms tend to be 8 feet up for me.

So, a nice sunny place somewhere where you don't come across it often in the garden is perfect for CM.

Sorry, don't know a thing about Aromatherapy. I smelled it once and thought, well if they named it after that, that must be it's best feature -- I'll pass.

Kathy

I had a very good Color Magic rose bush for 6 years in my northwest Missouri zone 5b/6a rose garden. I didn't provide any added winter protection so it had to survive with the oak leaves that fell around it's base. Of course, I had the bud union buried about 4" deep which helps. My bush was a bit stingy, but not terribly. And, it was a vigorous grower and got about 6' tall each year. The blooms I got were huge, colorful, and gorgeous. I never had die back problems with it and pruned it just like all my other HT's. I tried transplanting it and didn't survive it or I would still have it today. Then, when I read all the negative things folks had to say about CM, I was reluctant to get another despite my previous good luck.
Oh, I also grow St. Patrick, Marilyn Monroe, Heart O' Gold, and several others that are supposedly not good for overwintering in my rosebeds. I don't winter protect these either and just let Ma Nature do what she will do.
John

Thanks to all of you for your much needed input! WOW, I was so excited (especially since my post was so far down the list) to find three more very helpful posts this morning. Now I can get started with the layout of this bed and choose something other than CM--don't need a stingy rose for a front yard location. I know Aromatherapy is moderately fragrant at best but was hoping to hear that it isn't stingy as I would like the color against our off-white house. Thanks again--you made my day!

I don't know why people don't think CM is fragrant. I had one at my previous house about 8-10' from the back door and I could smell it as soon as I opened the door. Since if one is good, two are better, the next year I got three more to put in the same area. One bloom will fill up a room with scent. And a bloom cut when fully open will last a week in the house.

In my current location they are suffering from mildew. I was going to suffer and not replace it, but now I'm thinking that I will change my mind! Oh, and as far as cold hardy which was not part of the question, but if someone else catches this thread, Deb & Dave's in Montana was on it's fourth year last summer according to HMF. Since I'm such a fan, I still remember when Deb found it and Dave figured that at the worst they would grow it like an annual with a new one each spring, but evidently even though it dies back to the ground it comes back quick and tall.

As far as is it a show piece, no, y'all are right about that. With attention it can get tall, but if you could tuck it in somewhere behind something, that might be the ticket.