One of my favorites! I have 3, one is older than the other 2 and has tons of buds with a few opened. The fragrance is heavenly. The cut flowers keep for several days inside. The stems are pretty short, though. My mature plant has a nice rounded shape, with healthy foliage. She behaves similarly to Sherry's in Fla. I love her very much!

Ah, the legendary SDLM! So beautiful, yet at times so frustrating.

Pro: the delicate beauty of the blooms with their lush fragrance, the bushes rebloom quickly and continuously From spring through fall. The bush seems to like a warm climate.

Con: The bush develops slowly and often new growth has an awkward shape. here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, it's disease prone.

Mystic Beauty is similar to SDLM in terms of the size of the bush and the continuous flowering. IMHO, it's much more vigorous and easier to grow. But to my nose, SDLM is much more fragrant than Mystic Beauty.

I've killed three of them here. Love the beautiful flowers, but the bush is very small, never topped 2' tall, and since I don't spray it tends to get BS and be weak so that it doesn't reliably live through our winters. Some winters it would survive and regrow from any top damage, but then every few years I'd lose mine. I finally gave up on it.

I grow the climbing form and it is much more robust and hardy with the identical wonderfully scented flowers. Gets bare around the bottom, as you'd expect with the blackspot, but that can be hidden by other plants.

Harryshoe, that's a beautiful shot of a beautiful rose.

My SDLM is probably 5 years old and is about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I do trim it back a couple times a year. In my hot climate it's a vigorous grower. Blooms all the time except for our hot summers. Mine does tend to get some mildew though, maybe more so than my teas and Chinas. It's a beautiful rose. I wouldn't be without it.

I Have SDLM & It's about 5 ft tall My friend kit is about 5'4" Kronprincessin Viktoria is the white Sport of SDLM she is standing next to it the pale pink directly behind it is SDLM and has about the same structure.
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Sometimes it seems like just another pink rose with a beautiful fragrance & at other times the variations in the color seems to have a light & color the camera just doesn't get. Light pinks, deeper pinks, a touch of gray/lavender pink.
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Do you get the idea that I love this rose enough to have it's other sport Capt Dyel de Garville a deeper pink version & SDLM ROUGE which may or may be yet another deeper pink version of it.

labrea - seems like your SDLM is growing in a shady area. Don't you have problems with mildew?
Mine is covered in mildew. And doesn't bloom.

It is said to be mildew-prone on the US west coast.

I grow mine own root in the same area as Lori. Planted on the East side of my home SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON is a stellar performer. The 3x3 foot shrub is nearly always in bloom and the foliage is more black spot resistant than most Old Garden Roses. If grown completely no spray, however, she will eventually black spot and drop all her leaves in late summer, and this is what makes or breaks her in zone 6b. I spray my roses infrequently with Mancozeb approximately once every three or four weeks. Here in Black Spot Hell many roses will still get spotted and defoliate with that schedule, but SdlM stays clean. Because she isn't stressed by having to constantly replace her foliage the plant can build up enough vigor to get through our winters without any dieback. As for balling I've noticed SdlM handles humidity just fine provided there is enough heat to open the blooms. She only ever has this problem during cool wet springs. This spring has been very cool yet the humidity hasn't been bad so every single bud opened. Besides, a little bit of balling is a small price to pay for her kind of floral decadence. When people ask me what an Old Garden Rose looks like I always point to a bloom of SdlM. The quartering of the flower formation is always pure perfection, and the fragrance is both strong and complex. Bloom size is medium to large with good vase life, and everybody adores the pale pink color and translucent petals that have the texture of fine French silk. If I had the room I'd grow twenty of SdlM and I'm dying to try the climber. She looks especially fetching planted in front of HERITAGE as both are warm pinks and harmonize together beautifully.

Image of SdlM by Archduke-7b-8a at Hortiplex

I have her in a not too sunny spot. She is smallish, but blooms well. I agree that in humid climates she does need some spraying, but isn't a true BS magnet. I haven't noticed a scent, but I will now check.

Wow from coast to coast many of us love this rose. Add me to the list of lovers.
Mine is entering her second season so my info is not as reliable as others who have had her longer.
We live in the Pacific North Wet. Cold wet winters and dry summers. I do not spray. I water in the summer occasionally. She's doing fine. At the end of the season a small amount of BS or a BS clone and so far no Mildew. But this is not an area that is prone to Mildew. Atleast not in my garden.
We also have a sport of hers Souv. de St. Anne which is quite similar but the blooms are less full and so they dont ball in the late spring when it can get pretty moist around here.
Give either of them a try. You wont be disappointed. Bourbons seem to be quite adaptable.
Jeannie
Oh mine grows in full sun.

Among the many Bourbons I've collected, I have SDLM planted in front of Climbing SDLM at a prominent corner that can't be missed by visitors. Both were a year old when put in the ground and after two seasons, I understand why some rose lovers pronounce SDLM to be the most beautiful of old garden roses. When she achieves perfect bloom, there is nothing like her fully quartered form, delicate coloring, and fragrance. Makes it completely worth the occasional BS or balling in my no spray garden in south Louisiana.

I have 2 SDLM's planted in front of my front porch. I keep them at 4x4. Nice bush in between bloom cycles. While in bloom , not only are the flowers beautiful, the fragrance is fantastic. There will ALWAYS be SDLM in my garden.

Since this thread has been revived, let me update everyone. By some process I no longer remember, I finally decided to buy Mystic Beauty rather than SDLM--I remember I was assured by several people that Mystic Beauty is nearly identical to SDLM, but maybe a little pinker.

Mystic Beauty is everything you all described--somewhat on the small side, but a heavy bloomer--and the most exquisite blooms at that! I love them. Almost no BS problems--maybe a spot here or there, but that is about it. Otherwise it is healthy.

If I had room, I'd order a couple more Mystic Beauties. Since I don't have room, I'll focus all my attention on this one beautiful rose.

Here's a picture from last year. For some strange reason, I haven't taken one this year yet. Isn't it beautiful?

Mystic Beauty
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Thank you everyone for talking me into this lovely, lovely rose.

Kate

Thank you for reviving this thread. These photos are amazing - SDLM is beyond gorgeous. There will have to be one in my garden someday...

I am in Northern California, in the East Bay with hot dry summers but still close enough to the bay to get marine influence. My SDLM get quite a bit of mildew and balling in the winter, but---in a pot on a hot patio---she outgrows this by june and blooms basically from May to December nonstop. I am willing to overlook her ugly mildew and balled blooms in the winter and early spring for the beauty she gives me the rest of the year. I have been told that Bourbons won't do well in my climate, but SDLM seems to defy the rules. (The other bourbon everyone in my neck of the woods adores is Zepherine Drouhin, but I've never tried it.)

In my initial rose buying, I bought a couple of these because my DH loves this rose, and as luck would have it a couple of my bands were doubles that I split into 2, so I have a few SDLM to play with.

Up until now I've only grown her in large containers on my patio, but this spring (enabled by this post, thankyouverymuch) I'm going to venture out into putting her in the ground and see what happens. (I figure, I have a few so if one fails, there's nothing lost.)

No, she's not thornless, which is usually a deal breaker for me. But there's something about SDLM---maybe it because she is my first antique rose love---or maybe just that her growth habit makes her thorns less intimidating.

She's a beauty.

Here she grows in almost complete, though dappled, shade. I've had her since the early 1980s and she has only produced a few blooms a season. I thought that it was because of the shade. However, thanks to you ladies and gentlemen I gave her alfalfa two or three time last summer and fall and once this spring. She produced 10 flowers on 2 canes in April. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the growing season brings. I do not spray and compared to other roses she does not suffer much from black spot. Her ability to survive in a difficult position is outstanding.

Cath

It's a continuous bloomer for me as is Kron Princessin Viktoria. This Spring was unusual very early heat produced lots of buds about 35 on and the first time it's had powdery mildew ain Spring. It turned cool & rainy again The last few days all that cleared up.

I thought I'd add my favorite 2012 photos of SdlM since I just moved her, much to her anger, and am not sure she'll relent to perk up and return.

Her blooms were a bit water-damaged in my garden this year, but still pretty and oh-so-fragrant.

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She's wonderful, even in partial shade. In my 5b (now 6a if you're a USDA purist) garden she grows well...does have winter die-back (providing you, you know, HAVE a winter, which we really didn't this past year). Does tend to get PM.

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Her buds have an almost iridescent quality to them...mother of pearl...

~Anika

Here is a link that might be useful: GothicLibrarian.net

I am getting her in June (YAY) and I can't wait!! Is she a slow grower and what about the root suckering, is it bad?

My plant doesn't sucker but yes she is a slow grower on her own roots and will never be a big rose. Like I wrote earlier she is nicely shaped petite shrub at approximately 3x3 feet. Enjoy.

Heres my SdlM
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Even though mine is still a baby it has a huge bloom on it (YAY) and it has a light delicate scent to it.

I'm reviving this thread. As I type SdlM is one of the few roses still producing blooms in November. At this rate I'll have flowers for Thanksgiving. Phenomenal rose.

Molineux please show us some pics. A picture tells a thousand words.
I just got a sdlm this year and so far it got plenty of buds. The first bloom i had look really nice just like a folded souvenir/ hanky-chief. I dont know why i didnt grow this rose earlier! The bush form is much better than a climber.

As I mentioned above, I bought Mystic Beauty--nearly identical to SDLM--instead of SDLM. That was a couple years ago, and it is still one of the loveliest and most prolific and disease-resistant roses in my garden.

You can't go wrong getting either Souvenir de la Malmaison or Mystic Beauty. Near twins and both are wonderful.

I believe Mystic Beauty is available only at Roses Unlimited.

When I wrote my comment above in 2011 I mentioned that the blooms tend to be paler in summer but that's actually no longer the case. They're recognizably pink all summer long, backed by a bush that is slowly getting larger and wider, and is so dense that you can't see the soil underneath. It's arguably my best rose and certainly one that blooms the most no matter what the season. It may have a little mildew at times but no blackspot, and it never defoliates, and the leaves are always green. I don't know what more one could ask of a rose. And, of course, it's fragrant.

Ingrid

Just for a contrasting note about SDLM, it's one of those roses I simply cannot keep alive in my zone 5 Nebraska yard. I think between the dry summers and colder winters, it doesn't like my climate. I've tried at least 4 times for SDLM and/or her clones, and none of them survived the winter. Since Kate can grow Mystic Beauty directly south of me in zone 6, and Sammy can grow SDLM directly south of that in zone 7, both hot and dry summers, I have to suspect it's the combination of hot summer with cold winters that does it in for me.

Or maybe it's just me (but I hope not). Anyway, I'd love to be a fan of this rose, but I have to enjoy it in other people's yards.

Cynthia

Gee, Cynthia--I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck with SDLM. Out of curiosity I looked it and Mystic Beauty up at HMF. Supposedly Mystic Beauty is hardy only to Zone 6 (unless that is HMF's usual "default" listing), but SDLM is listed as hardy to Zone 5. So it would seem you ought to be able to grow it.

Have you got a more protected spot? Maybe like on the east side of the house next to the foundation. That might keep it from getting too hot and too cold. Maybe a spot by the south foundation would also work since it wouldn't get as cold there. I don't really know--just guessing. It's a lovely enough rose, in either manifestation, that it would be nice if we could get one growing in your gardens.

Kate

I know, Kate - that listing of zone 5 is why I was so disappointed SDLM gave up the ghost on me. It's one of those roses that seems to grow backwards for me no matter where it is, and at least one of those locations was right next to the house in a zone 6 pocket. Still, I haven't tried it for 3 or 4 years, and that was before I was ruthlessly pinching off blossoms. Maybe it just needs a vigorous root system before it handles our summer/winters, so I might have to try it one more time before I say I can't grow it.

Is yours grafted? So far, you're the closest to my zone that has chimed in on this thread, and that might be a factor. I'm an own-root fan unless there's reason to go elsewhere, but it might be worth considering. Honorine de Brabant is another rose that's supposed to be hardy in my zone that I can't get to survive grafted OR own-root, and it has been 3 times in a prime location. Ah well, roses have personalities, and they're sometimes prickly ones!

Thanks for the suggestions, though - I still may try one more time.

Cynthia

Cynthia, since only Roses Unlimited sells Mystic Beauty, mine must be own root as are all their other roses.

I don't know if SDLM is available grafted, but grafted roses do often give a rose that extra oomph needed to get settled in before the cold weather hits.

You might call a couple nurseries that carry it and see what they say about its hardiness rating--and you might confer with Roses Unlimited about how hardy Mystic Beauty is. They are very nice and helpful people and maybe they would have some suggestions.

Good luck.

Kate

Cynthia, by all accounts SdlM loves hot summers. Apparently what happened was the crown froze to death. Maybe a 12" soil mound with some mulch on top and extra snow shoveled over would allow it to come through. You would still get some bloom even if all the canes had to be pruned to grade in spring.

But maybe you've already tried that.

Thanks for the tips Kate & Michael. I hate to give up on SDLM, and I admittedly haven't tried it in a few years since my rose "babying" strategies have improved. I agree that the crown probably froze, since there was not even the false hope growth that some winterkilled roses will put out in early spring before croaking. I have my doubts about my ability to maintain soil mounding every year, being at heart a lazy gardener, but I could put SDLM near one of the teas and give it the same protection of full leaf bag perimeter that they get. At least it should love our hot dry summers once it gets going.

Being zone 5 rated, it goes against the grain a bit that I should have to baby this one, but clearly it's worth it for the scent alone. Maybe I'll do the same for Yves Piaget, for the same reasons, since that one's on its third go round so far. Never say die, eh?

Cynthia

I don't think it was ever said to be cane-hardy in actual zone 5 temperatures. Rather it (maybe) could be grown there as a dieback plant just as HTs are. At one time it was considered too tender for the UK unless against a warm wall. But apparently the lack of summer heat is somehow related to winter-tenderness for tea-blooded roses in Northern Europe.

I have had younger canes of SdlM-family roses damaged by temperatures around 5 F.

Ah thanks, Michael. Calling the SDLM clan "tea-blooded" clarifies its status and makes me more comfortable about babying them. It's amazing how much difference there can be about preferred conditions among roses within the same class. It sounds like treating SDLM as if it were a tea is my best bet for survival, If England is an iffy proposition, and you've had damage at only 5 F, I definitely need to protect this one. It's supposed to hit as low as 5 F this weekend already, with highs in the 20's, and that's just the tip of the snow-and-iceberg around here.

Cynthia

The plant, with its fondness for heat, triple-branching habit, short stems, and continuous bloom, seems to me much more like a compact tea than a normal bourbon.

I've was wondering whether there were anything I could add that I haven't already written about Souvenir de la Malmaison (sdlm)?

The fragrance: not strong. someone used the term "delicate," I second that. on a scale of 0 -10, I'd put it under 5 and I wouldn't call it perfume. oddly enough with all that being an honest assessment, it is nonetheless inexplicably delightful to me. and its "oils" transfer fleetingly to my fingers if I rub the petals ever so gently when I'm deadheading.

What else? Oh, I think the musk heritage may be a crucial element of her fragrance. In fact, I was thinking this year that hybrid musk might describe her very well for that reason.

I should reinforce that it does exceptionally well here (9a FL) and that I never even tried it in zone 5 (where I wanted to try it for 20 years), because I understood then as I've observed now that she prefers a warmer climate. IMHO, life is too short to torture ourselves trying to make a plant happy that would prefer to live elsewhere.

I've tried 2 times growing sdlm in my zone 6 and did great but then died in winter.i am now trying again in a large pot and then putting in garage for winter. I did that with a pot of my green ice minis with success.

I'm still working on my SdlM's happiness. Her first spring/summer (ARE own root) after arrival 1/15 she could get yellow leaves if I watered, but improved over the summer after I took her emitter away, and ran her dry and looked great in the Fall. This Spring 2016 she started growth, that looked great, too early (Feb?) and it froze out in a later frost. She pulled herself together and tried again but got mildew on a plant covered with buds that I mostly cut off because they looked so bad. Now I'm thinking I allowed her to get too dry. I'll probably start my irrigation system a little earlier because this May I got a bit behind I think but hand water her once a week or so, which is less than the other roses prefer. In summary, she is a bit high maintenance so far here and prefers Ingrid for sure in S. Cal.

The pictures everyone posted in this discussion look a lot like a mystery rose I'm trying to identify does this look like mystic beauty .Since everyone here had or have one of this maybe I can get my mystery rose I'D

I don't know much, but I didnt think she produced such long, straight stems for her flowers. I'm a total beginner with SDLM and SDLM Rouge. I have only had mine for a year. The bloom does look similar though. I'm sure someone who knows will be along shortly. It's that long stemmed look that makes me doubtful. I'm Interested in seeing what others have to say. The stems look wonderful for cutting. Lisa

That does not look how I remember SDLM, however I only had it for two years - it kept repeatedly sporting to a climber and as such got shoveled.

Definitely not SdLM. The foliage is too green and shiny, and the stems too long and smooth. SdLM has a bluish cast to it's matte foliage, and the stems are short and have a rough, scented fuzziness to them.

What you have looks more modern hybrid tea to me. With antique style flowers.

Mine has done great so far in a large pot

Mine is still in a pot too. It's just about to bloom again, in the shade. I'm glad she seems to do ok in quite a bit of shade here. She does have a touch of powdery mildew on one branch as does my SDLM Rouge. Rouge has set her first buds now. I'm excited to see them open.

After fretting that I'd killed the OR SDLM I got from ARE last autumn by uncovering and pruning too early, and seeing that ARE is once again sold out, I found grafted ones at Lowes today for $10 each! Hoping they'll do better grafted (and planted earlier)!

I just changed out the soil in my dormant SDLM that I over winter in my garage and it is taking off quickly.

Mine is the climbing sport. This is her at the end of her Spring show. I am in south Louisiana and she is my absolute favorite of all my roses. I don’t care if she balls. There are SO many blooms that don’t that it doesn’t matter if some do. I adore this rose. She has few thorns and laughs at pests and diseases and her canes are dainty. shes not like New Dawn. She’s very pliable. I just love her. A happy easy going floriferous old fashioned cabbage rose who doesn’t quit. Her foliage is a lovely green too.

Anyone had experience from Zone 4? I bought this by chance from Palatine this year and really want to give a try.

I grew this in downtown Toronto once upon a time, which was likely zone 6b, and it died to the ground every year. I think you're pushing your luck in Zone 4. Its a very tender variety, more so than most other Bourbons.

It can be grown in a pot if you like, and that way you can bring the pot into a protected location in the winter.