Rio Samba starts out very pretty, but I don't like the last stage. It starts out sort of yellow, then quickly develops the blend that is so pretty. Around here it blows fast in the summer, so mainly what you see is the third stage - a pink that I don't personally care for. That is the stage you see most, and it lasts quite a while.I don't know if we can see the first two stages for more than a day.

I am curious to see other replies.

SAmmy

I see that you are in SoCalif.

We grew this rose quite a while ago in the public garden here.
Though it was sprayed regularly, Rio Samba truly set new standards for rust.
Not much mildew, but LOTS and LOTS of rust.

It was so horrible that no one CARED what the bloom looked like.

It may be fine where rust is not an issue, but . . .
I would not recommend it for a Southern Ca garden.

Jeri

I agree with sammy on the color, it goes right through the pretty stage into a kinda unattractive one, and blows fast in the summer. As for disease resistance the thrips eat her up so bad she always looks horrible. I wanted to love her but really I think she'll be my first sp.

I dont care for the color as it ages. It goes from gold and orange to pink and white. Mixed together on the bush the rose looks like a train wreck. Sorry...you asked for my opinion. lol

Wow thanks for the feedback! I'm glad I asked you first before I jumped into the impulse purchase. The full bushes are over $22 a piece so I want to really be sure before I get it. The gold & orange I saw today was fabulous, but if it goes so fast......... darn.
Well I'm still open for opinions so keep them coming. Though I guess I'm really taking a risk growing it in San diego......

You know, if you REALLY want it, get it.
If it doesn't work out, you can get rid of it, and if it succeeds, you'll be able to say we were all wrong.

But if you DO, I would be careful to give it plenty of airflow, and make sure it is not skimped for water.

Jeri

Many roses have beautiful colors so you ought to easily find others. I have just purchased Mardi Gras that I think has similar colors, and last summer I planted About Face that also seems to have those blends. There are so many beautiful roses out there, and there are plenty of us here to help.

Sammy

I agree about the colors - that yucky mottled pink - blech. I dug mine up - just couldn't stand it.

OTOH - Digger Dave's wife, Deb, says it's her favorite rose. He has a lot of pictures of it on his site.

Carol

I still have mine, but I hate that last stage of color too! So many new blooms, maybe it doesn't matter?
My garden is prone to rust and thrips but my Rio doesn't get either. Sometimes it is just a particular microclimate in the garden that causes problems.
Kathy

The one I had didn't give me a problem.,I loved it and the blooms lasted about a week.It was one of my favorite roses.Some thing got to it and ate the roots off it and I lost it 2 yrs ago,and I have recently got another one and planted it in a different spot.It seemed to be pretty much diease resistant for me.

Jean

I really like my Rio Samba. I have it planted way in the back though so you can't see how ratty the blooms look when they get older, and all the different colors look good back there.

Just like others have mentioned, while mine opened very pretty, it quickly deteriorated into unattractive blotchy colors.

On the other hand, mine was very clean, not a rust bucket at all.

I would not recommend it. There are many better roses available.

Rio Samba is one of our best roses. It is Deb's favorite rose and is in my top 10. Deb loves the different phases. Visitors marvel over it. They think it is 3 different roses on the same bush. Rio Samba is always a finalist in my best foliage contest.
Not important to you but Rio gets through winter great and is among the first to bloom in spring. It was the first to bloom in 2007. It is a bloom machine for us and gives us 50+ blooms per flush. Blooms last over a week and we like the fragrance. Turnaround time is good. Both our Rio bushes aren't bloomless very long. Deb cuts lots of blooms for bouquets.
I tried very hard not to like this rose back in 96 when Deb got the first one. I did not like gaudy blends. Rio won me over with dependable performance :)
{{gwi:241232}}
Digger's Rio is another site with some other Rio pics.

Rio Samba is hubby's favourite by far, he just loves that thing. Perhaps because we are cooler in the summer the colour lasts quite well for us. By the time the blooms fade to the mottled phase they need to be cut off anyway as they are getting in the way of newer ones opening.

I never dreamed it might make it in the ground. We have ours in a pot and is one of the "winter in the garage" roses. Perhaps if I can find another it might be worth trying in the ground. Would love to free up some pots for roses that are more tender and really do need that level of protection.

Cathy

LOL, I alway figured I could just deadhead blown Rio blooms when they were a couple weeks old. It has been over 10 years since I made that mistake. Deb likes the old blooms and I keep my peapickers off the rascal. There are several roses I let Deb deadhead when she deems the blooms blown. I would just as soon keep all my fingers attached to my hands :) I doubt she would take the fingers off if I deadhead Brigadoon or Color Magic but I refuse to chance touching Rio.

Off topic: Color Magic made it through her third winter here and is looking great. I thought CM was supposed to be winter tender?

This rose is near and dear to my heart! I grew it at my old house for five years, and out of 50 plus bushes, it was my favorite. I bought it as a boxed, grafted J&P plant, and in no time it threw out tons of canes, and bloomed like a fool. I had a no spray garden, and I'm not kidding, it never got any blackspot. Of course, I immediately bought a new one when I built my new home. The first one was an own-root and never thrived, and last year I got a grafted one that didn't work either!!!! I have to give it one more try. I just moved right up the street, and all my other roses are doing great here, so I might have bought a couple of duds. But, that first one I had was a wonder. Great scent too!

Scott

Dave,

That's really too funny, that Rio can be blamed for all sorts of things. I will never forget the day when DH picked her up in the nursery and said "we should get this one, I really like it" The truly confused look on his face when I said "that's a HT, we don't do HT's" is something I will always remember.

But look at the picture...he said...
don't trust that porn for a second ....she said...

in the end it didn't matter at all...Rio Samba came home with us and went into a pot. Gradually that pot and his chair migrated closer together on the deck. They were soon side by side in the warm sunshine. He would check on her when he got home from work. He also, over that brief summer took an interest, started to listen when I babbled about this rose or that rose, was always right there when there was work to be done.

There will always be a place for this rose in our yard for it was magical to watch someone fall in love with roses and gardening.

Turns out he loves mini's as well.... whouda thunk.... never saw that coming.....lol

Cathy
p.s. more HT's arriving this spring, we all evolve....

I only wanted fragrant reds back then. Rio Samba was Deb's first blend. I knew I wouldn't like it. I would put up with it since Deb liked it so much. The thing probably wouldn't survive winter anyway. I didn't protect roses back then. The rascal was unreal. I had to like a rose that tough and well behaved. I got to where I watched it closely too. That first one is planted right in front of the front porch and my chair. Double Delight is planted on my left side as I sit there. She has me surrounded by her blends.
I didn't consider minis real roses back then either. Deb began getting grocery store minis and I thought they would be annuals. Everyone of them are still alive out there. We began getting mini from Tiny Petals and they are some of the best roses I have grown. I may not have evolved but Deb made me see I was wrong about some things :)

Those grocery store mini's are about 50/50 here for survival.

Last year hubby declared that he thought it would look nice to have a whole row of them down the long driveway.... at 5 bucks a pop I said I don't think so..... but

In Jan I found a bunch of them at wallyworld and picked up 5. After dividing and taking cuttings we now have about 35 of them in the basement blooming under grow lights. We'll do his row of micro mini's this year. Silly things rooted like dandilions.

We have an old mini named Beauty Secret that is a heavily scented dark red. We kept it as a potted house plant over winter and it has bloomed twice.

Since Deb loves the blends do you have Friesinger Morgenrote??? she would love it.

Double Delight is arriving this spring.

My sincere apologies to gbebeh for the thread hyjack.

Cathy

That is a darned good survival rate for your zone. We don't have FM. I have never seen it at local nurseries. I'm one of those people that doesn't mail order roses. I have to inspect a rose before I bring it home. Tiny Petals? The owner, Sue OBrien (now Curry), used to be a member here. She convinced me to order some and she would gaurantee they would meet my standards. Deb ordered 19 (another reason not to mail order) in 2001. All of them are still doing great. She ordered 20 in 2005. I have a list of 40 sitting here by the computer. I created a monster when I got Deb hooked on roses.
The border of minis sounds great. All our beds have been expanded to make room for minis in front of the big roses.

Sorry about the off topic stuff too :)

I really like my Rio Samba. I haven't had any problems with it, no rust or mildew. And I actually like that the blooms look different at various stages. It looks like a mixed bouquet of different roses when the bush is full of blooms.

well today I got a 1/2 price container rose of "mardi gras"
the colors look like it may be similiar to rio samba.

All this talk has given me a reality check, but also made me so curious that I think I'm going to go back and get it.
Now I just need to save my pennies....

thanks for all the input.

My first rose was Joseph's Coat. When I considered buying another one after about 25 years, I received many warnings that it was a black spot magnet, and that it was rather inferior to other roses. I had to buy it, and did. It isn't great, but it was my first rose.

We also keep Tropicana and Chrysler Imperial because my Dad loved them.

You have your heart set on Rio Samba, and you ought to get it. Keep in mind that around here in the summer, the temps are around 100. Many people in the north do not think that it blows fast, and quite a few people like that third stage. It will be worth it to you to get it.

I also just bought Mardi Gras. It was blooming when I received it in the mail. I think it will be very pretty.

Sammy

Different stages of Rio Samba:

{{gwi:241233}}

wow decobug your photos are gorgeous. finally was set to go and buy it and the nursery has sold them all! THey had one puny bush left. But none of the big full ones like I saw a few weeks ago. I guess all the other shoppers fell in love with it too. It was really impressive.

STill on my "to buy" list.
thanks again for all the great comments!
gbebeh

I have to agree on the last stages - it's not pretty....

In my garden it's REALLY healthy and blooms in large quantities. I bought it on impulse 2 years ago at the end of the year clearance at Canadian Tire. It was 4$ I think - and it's been great!

I'd buy another Rio before I bought another Joseph's Coat...

I have 2 and love, love, love them! I love the colors at every stage, and mine are blooming machines. They gave me about 7 flushes this year. I'm not kidding!