Here in my climate it grows about 3ft wide and 6-6.5ft high. Blooms are in massive clusters. And it's almost always in bloom. I don't recall it getting much disease. Don't remember if there's any scent or not. You'll love it

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Oh yeah, I have to have it! A quick search last night before bed turned up one seller (I'm sure I'll find more) that has it for $20 plus shipping. I was hoping to find it for less, but I'm new to roses and they seem to all be priced about the same everywhere, regardless of the intro year...

Has anyone purchased from them?
Also, my reading comes up with different hardiness zones for Irish Hope. Some say up to z5, some say only to 6b. Anyone grow this in 6?
Thanks!

I recall a zone 5 grower saying it did OK for him. Of course this would be with heavy spring pruning. I have had it for ten years with seasonal lows usually around 5 F. There is some cane survival. A peculiarity is that canes can turn blackish after winter without actually having freeze damage. Check for green inner bark and clear pith before cutting them off.

It is resistant to black spot in some gardens, depending on the strains present. It is slightly fragrant. A good rose for me.

Oh, Beth, that's gorgeous!

coatfetish2, step back a few minutes. There are a lot of things to know about growing roses on the east coast. The first is that we have a lot of disease pressures, primarily the fungal disease black spot. Treatment for black spot usually requires a regular application of a synthetic fungicide (typically,, every 2 weeks). If you do not want to use such products, then you would need to find roses that are disease resistant on the east coast. Marketing materials may say a rose is "disease resistant", but different areas of the country have different disease pressures. See the link below for a recent discussion on black spot and treatment.

For new rose growers, I recommend seeking out disease resistant roses for your area (you may want to start a new thread).

Here is a link that might be useful: battleing blackspot

Mine gets towering (10') every year. No mildew, no rust. It's good here, though I would not call it the best of the best. Here it tends to bloom in huge candelabras (50+ individual flowers) so repeat is not quite as rapid as it could be.

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Excellent tips, everyone. I'm finding the thread on blackspot particularly interesting. Of course I'm familiar with it, but I never delved into it, not having roses. One of the things that attracted me to Irish Hope were the reports of it's health and vigor over a wide region.

Being disease resistant over a wide region means nothing to you if it isn't disease resistant over *your* region.

It's pretty basic, but a lot of people seem to have trouble with this idea. Know where you are. Know where the people you are listening to are. There will be many threads where the majority of posters will say one thing, but the people near you will say something else.

Yes, that's why I started this thread, asking if people had opinions on Irish Hope - to hear views from areas near me as well as far away (to get an idea of how it grows in different environments). I could have been very specific & asked only for feedback from people in SW Virginia, but we have so many micro climates due to the mountains, I wanted a broader picture : )

Irish Hope was recommend to me last year when I was looking for blackspot resistant yellows (there's a thread I started somewhere out there). I ended up getting mine from Heirloom Roses. I'm in the Knoxville area. I can't comment on how well it is doing for me since it's still very tiny, but I can't wait to see how it does!

Thanks, TNY78, Heirloom is one of the sellers I'm looking at - have you been satisfied with their product/service? One of my coworkers buys yearly from them & loves them.
Your weather in Knoxville is very much like mine, we're not too far apart. As a matter of fact I keep meaning to go to the Knoxville Zoo when I head over to Pigeon Forge, I hear it's a great zoo.

I've been happy with Heirloom's product. I've never had a bad experience with them, but since they only sell bands, you'll need to baby them a little bit until they get established. I placed an order with them this spring for some minis, and in late spring they usually sell all of their remaining bands at half price...which is always nice, so I'll probably place a second order then.

Yes, the Knoxville Zoo is very nice. Last time I was there, this past summer, they were remodeling the big cat area so much of it was closed unfortunetly. But, definitly worth the visit!

I often buy from Heirloom Roses but have learned to pot mine up and grow them in Gallon sized pots until they are big and vigorous. I did buy my Irish Hope from them a number of years ago.

Here in the area near Seattle I do have some problems with black spot but it survives. It is beautiful when in bloom! I have found that even when it looks badly damaged by winter it comes back. I do have trouble with what ever kind of thrips we have out here that like white roses...they really like crawling around on the flowers. Not sure how much it hurts them in the long run but it does reduce their value as cut flowers.

Thanks for the feedback on Heirloom's - I think I will try them out for a band or two, once I make some decisions. I like the tip on the possible 1/2 price sale too - lol.
I don't know what it is about the pics of the Irish Hope sprays that appeals to me so strongly, but I am going to try it & see how it does in my yard. By the time it arrives I hope I'll have read as much as possible on rose care and site preparation - hopefully I won't let the poor thing down... ; )