My BD is about 4' tall and 5' wide. I just cut her back about a foot and thinned her out a bit to keep her healthy. Blooms flush after flush all summer. I love to deadhead, so that part doesn't bother me. I wouldn't be without her.

Carol

I love to deadhead too! I can't imagine a rose bush with that many blooms. I've tried BD here and she had 2 blooms in the summer and died over winter. Isn't meant to be. Wow - 200 flowers!!!

Carol

I have two BD's and four more small ones in pots. I'm shooting for at least one in every rose bed. I just bring bouquet after bouquet indoors. I have no other rose that blooms like this rose. The blooms are huge and beautiful and the bush stays covered all season.

I have 3 Belinda's Dream in a row in front of my Master Bedroom Bay Window..I'm like most people and don't mind the deadheading..to me that is just part of growing roses and aids in their producing more blooms..Mine bloom profusely throughout the growing season here, which is quite long..I hard prune mine about 3 times during the growing season to keep them at bay and in control..I'd never SP mine..they are fabulous..the only problem I've ever had is a one time balling period IF we have a very wet Spring..BUT never again the rest of the season. I have blooms on mine now...they never completely become nude for me but they are in a Micro-climate (Protected) area in my back garden...Jeanne

If you have loppers, you can deadhead her that way. We do that because she is so big and so full of bloom that she droops to the ground. Two of ours are about 5 x 5 or more (I think one of mine is about 8-ft wide but she has started taking over her neighbors' land), but one is only about 3 x 3. Not sure what difference. I guess there is a runt in every litter.

With so many roses, it is hard to deadhead after first bloom, so we are often relegated to loppers for teas, noisettes and chinas and BD fits into that category of hardy, heavy bloomer. She is kind of a modern-day tea.

I love BD - in my no spray rose garden, she has done well. I bought it on Fortuniana from James Mills. The rose is going to be huge, and the flowers are almost the size of my palm - big and full. A must have :)
Olya

Are you all deadheading to produce more blooms or does she fail to drop old blooms cleanly?

Tks

Ronda

I got a small band of Belinda's Dream last year. It has grown a lot. I'm going to plant her in full sun with lots of air circulation near our driveway
where she can get as big as she wants. I will not care about dead-heading tons of blooms. Can't wait until I can 'complain' about that.
How's she do with balling? Any problems?

I kind of doubt that Don Juan will fill the void left by Belinda's Dream. And DJ must be sprayed or will be naked.

Naked DJ, huh? I have 3 of them, 2 already in the ground. I'm not thinking about that right now.

As to space, BD now occupies approx 3 feet next to a fence with others encroaching. I figured DJ would fit in that space, training him upward and across the top of the stockade fence, facing east. With no experience with mature climbers I have no clue about their width from the ground to 5' of height. So I could be planning to do the wrong thing again! Someone please save me from myself. I don't want to dig more than I have to!
Thanks, Ann.
Sherry

I have a huge bush of BD that is 10 yrs old. Tons of blooms. Fast repeat. This is what I consider the perfect garden rose for FL. It has everything you want in a pink rose. Now if someone could come up with a red version of this beauty, or yellow or orange or purple????? Anyway, the older you're bush gets the better you will like it. Tell Steve, Ralph, Tuck, Tom and everyone else I said "HI!" and I'll see them at the Gainsville rose show this spring.

Hey, Ken, hope to see you in Gainesville, too. I could go for the other versions myself. Beautiful and foolproof. We watched Ralph prune like a pro on Sunday, plus I bought a bag of his organic fertilizer. Such a deal!
Sherry

One specimen of Belinda's Dream kept all the vases in the house full of perfect blooms all season long. She loves my climate. I don't see how I could complain about a rose that works so hard to please. She does get big ... just shows how well-adapted she is here.

Randy

My Belinda's Dream hasn't gotten over about 1.5 to 2 ft tall at the most and has not had more than 6 flowers in an entire growing season and needs to be sprayed regularly. It sounds like it is a southern rose and not for here. If it croaks, I won't replace it.

Bustopher, I'm not surprised that it doesn't do well for you, it is borderline hardy here, and that would be wayyyyy on the south side of the border. And I see it for sale sometimes at a local nursery, makes me kinda sad...

I`m embarassed to say my 3 year old Belinda is only 3 ft.and I am lucky to get 5 or 6 blooms a year. I now Get It. My zone is too far north. Might have to get rid of her to make room for one of the 20 bare roots I have coming this spring. Thanks for the insight....Lesley

BD is a great rose in spite of two flaws. One, the spring flush can ball in a cool, damp spring. Two, it finishes badly and doesn't drop its petals cleanly.

The fact that we all keep it in spite of this is an indication of how good this rose it. It blooms every 5 weeks starting in April. I don't deadhead but I do snap off the spent bloom and will cut back any canes that lie on the ground.

Lesley, you understand perfectly. BD is a perfect rose for specific portions of the country, like here in Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas, and not as perfect for other areas.

Randy

I'm in zone 6a and have lost mine back to two inches high,but it always comes back strong with warm weather. Maybe because mine is ownroot it's a little hardier. Even losing that much of the canes it blooms well, it always has flowers and gains back about three to four feet.

I bought two BD and one is blooming like crazy the other has blooms but hasn't bloomed yet. Either one gets full sun, is that a problem? I live in Alabama so the zone should be perfect for this rose.

......Jane

I shovel-pruned my Belinda's Dream. She had major die-back, the blooms balled, the spent blooms hung on, she got blackspot and the thrips loved her. I did not. Denise

MY BD is huge...she's blocking the view of much of the garden from my kitchen window. When the japanese beetles arrive, I vow to remove her.
Then....the beetles leave, fall arrives, and she puts on the best display of the year. Her pink blooms with the purple mums planted around her are the prettiest sight in the garden all year long. That makes it worthwhile.
I'll take a picture in fall and post here for everyone.

What is a "balled bloom?" Can someone describe this for me, or, better yet, show me a pic?

Thanks!

Multi-petaled roses can easily ball if one has a wet Spring..there is absolutely nothing wrong with a rose that balls..it's due to the climate or excessive overhead watering and the petals not drying out and they stick together....yet the bud still swells but won't open and turns brown...once the season warms up and is less wet..they don't ball....not a good reason to remove any rose especially "Belinda's Dream"..she gets hard prune about three times during my long growing season and is an absolute JOY and bones of my back garden..I've learned that if you notice a rose starting to ball..all you have to do it take your fingers and pull off the outer 4-6 petals and the rose will open and still be beautiful..

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Balling

Naked DJ, huh? I have 3 of them, 2 already in the ground. I'm not thinking about that right now.
* * *
get your mind out of the gutter Sherry, it's crowding mine.

BD did not do well here in my garden---My zone is very similar to Diane's

I was disappointed because it does look like a great rose.

Florence

I 'm in middle TN . I bought my BD at Home Depot about 3 years ago at a great price and planted it by the driveway. It is now about 4x5 and would be bigger if I didn't prune it well. It's probably the easiest rose I grow. My experience is exactly like Jeanne in Tx. BD will occasionally ball if it's really awful, wet weather but then bounces back with great flushes of beautifully formed pink blooms AND they are quite fragrant. This is my daughter's favorite. She takes roses to her teachers and they love that. I've got 2 more waiting to be planted but now that I've learned how large BD can get, I haven't quite decided on the best place. Mine does get a tiny bit of blackspot but doesn't drop all its leaves so definitely goes as a no-spray rose. I usually try to deadhead or at least snap the canes to encourage more blooming. Just a great rose in my area!

all this talk about BD and I when out and got one. Planted it between a double red knockout and blushing knockout about 21/2 feet apart? who will win the spacing? BD or knockout? its in front of a metal fence that i want to have a hedge border with no space showing between...to close together?...this thread make BD seem like a monster. BD was a 3 gallon pot from Weeks with about 10-15 buds...how big will she get this season?

I planted a Belinda''s Dream rose last spring from Chamblee's. I could not believe how fast it grew. It was at least 4 ft tall and was covered with blooms. I also got Hawkeye Belle and planted them together. They both really took off. I have never seen own root roses grow so fast. What a great nursery Chamblee's is to get own root roses. I might have to move Belinda's dream to give it more space. It does have a lot of winter die back on it but It looks like it is going to come back good.

What a bouquet machine this rose is! I love the way blooms are produced all over the plant which makes it sooo decorative in the garden. I had a trio out in front of my house in Texas & they were gorgeous; my nextdoor neighbor took bouquets to nursing homes, which saved me a lot of dead-heading! For colder climates, a mass planting of Buck's rose Quietness would be beautiful-- it is equally bloomiferous but the blooms are old-fashioned in appearance with many petals and a quartered look. Check it out! It's at least as wide as BD, a true shrub, well-foliaged all the way to the ground and very quick to establish.

If I get one on its own roots and keep it trimmed can it be grown in a pot? I've been able to keep DdB and Louis Phillippe in bounds in a container here.

One thing for sure. On it's own roots, it will fill up a pot in a big hurry. In about 3 yrs you'll have a monster on your hands if you don't keep up with it. Here in FL. it won't slow down at all.

I was just over in the gallery and looking at the Pope John Paul 11(6 pics) and the last picture has a nice full bush shot of Belinda's Dream.

Here's the Grouch Voice regarding Belinda...that is the most boringest pink bloom I ever saw, and when the bush was healthy and covered with blooms it was hugely boring. Now that the bush has taken offense at my dislike and very nearly died, I can't say that I mind. Dull dull dull.

I have two of Belinda's Dream. They are wider than they are tall. They have nice blooms, and do bloom quite a bit, but in my opinion, it is just not much of a rose as it hugs the ground too much. I like more upright growth.

Interesting the difference when one is planted one thousand miles south of here.

Mine did quite well last summer. My first time growing a rose, it got to be over 3 feet by 3 feet and bloomed like crazy. I am hoping it is survivng the winter. I love it.

Mine would be huge if I didn't cut 2' off every time I deadhead. It produces like crazy. My only beef is it is thrip prone.
It's a great cut rose. Here's a picture.

{{gwi:232462}}
Unfortunately this is how she looks all summer, thrip damage:
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Nancy

It sounds great. If only it weren't, you know, pink.

-Greta

Anything colder than zone 7 is pushing her limits. She grows in my zone 6 garden but not well enough to keep. If you look through the posts it's almost perfectly aligned that all zone 7's and up love her and zone 6's and down not so much. I do have one tucked against a house (house blocks the winter winds) and it does wonderfully.....heat from the house combined with the blocking of winds probably gives it a zone 7 micro climate.

A lot of dieback for me every winter in zone 6B, but mostly I think due to winter temp fluctuations, not just cold.
Olga

I like BD, but I'm in zone 6 and the winters here are harsh. Is there a rose bush that is similar to BD?

One of my faces. Bought several for the house I moved into a couple years ago and they are blooming. Gorgeous blooms. Would not be without her.

Dani; you could try Frederic Mistral - he is similar in colour, and according to HMF, rated to zone 5. The the comments and ratings there seem to attest that he does well in colder zones.
Sadly we don't seem to get Belindas Dream here, so I cant compare the two, but I can confirm that Freddy is very strongly fragranced.