I am so happy someone asked this, as I also LOVE yellow roses and since I am very new at growing roses in general I am always looking for new suggestions for yellows. I have both Shockwave and Julia Child, and it is extremely hard to choose between them. To me it honestly depends on which is more important to you, vividness of yellow, or scent. The color on Shockwave is an amazingly vivid Crayola-yellow, the color doesn't fade until right before the flower blows, they last surprisingly long on the bush, and it seems to produce buds continually. They aren't the most fragrant yellow, there is a pleasant mild fragrance that I definitely enjoy, but Julia has it beat on the fragrance side of things. Shockwave also seems to have more of a hybrid tea habit, it is much taller and skinnier than my Julia (but she's still young yet) Julia is my newest rose and hasn't really had the chance to show me what she can do in terms of volume of blooms, but the few she has had so far have been very lovely, they are a much richer butter- yellow color, fading to soft yellow and eventually to white as the flowers age. So far the flowers seem to last a little longer on shockwave, but I think it's too early yet to really tell. My Julia has a decently strong licorice fragrance that I have heard will only get stronger as the plant ages. I can't wait to see her in full bloom, about 12 buds popped up out of nowhere in the last day or so, and she has only been in the ground for about 2 weeks! That HAS to be a good sign :) I have a midas touch HT that is growing up from a bare root I planted this spring, it seems to be growing fairly slowly, but that is probably my own fault because I had to move it from the original planting location (shame on me for my incredible indecisiveness) It seems to be finally putting on some more growth, hopefully it will continue to do well, I will update as it comes along. One more thing, my least favorite yellow award has to go to Happy Go Lucky, although the blooms are beautiful, and the foliage is a lovely bright glossy lime green, the flowers both loose color very quickly and don't last long on the bush at all. When it blooms only the inner half of the rose is truly yellow, it starts turning white from the edges in before the flower is even halfway open. It does flower fairly continually, so I will probably keep it around for a while, but it certainly isn't my favorite. I took a chance on this one, it was a new rose from Weeks this past year (I think) and I couldn't find any reviews on it anywhere, and I bought it on a whim. It was described as being a rich non-fading yellow, but certainly does not live up to that in my garden. Oh well, maybe she will get better with age. I think if I really HAD to choose, I would probably go with shockwave, purely because I LOVE that bright lemon yellow, it just puts a smile on my face. BUT, I am super glad I don't really have to make that decision, because I'd much rather have BOTH. I don't know if I really helped with your decision at all, but I hope so! I'm sure you will fall in love with whatever you end up with! Jessica.

I have both and love them both, to me JCs blooms are more petal packed, in more of that antique rosette style bloom, and so the petals are smaller just because there are more of them. HGL has an antique shape to it as well, but more "fluffy" for lack of a better term & with larger & slightly less petals. For me HGL has more solitary blooms where as JC blooms more in clusters, since JC is a floribunda & HGL has been deemed a grandiflora, that makes sense. Also, JCs blooms don't fade as quickly for me as those of HGL, which can almost look bi-color in my garden because the tips of the petals go so distinctly white but stay yellow in the center, I notice yours doesn't look like that so maybe that won't apply to you, my HGL is in full sun...but so is JC... so that may or may not be your experience depending on your sun exposure. JCs blooms start out slightly more golden tone than HGL, and when they do fade after a couple of days, the whole flower fades at the same time, not tips first like my HGL. Also, HGL is much less fragrant than JC in my garden. Both of them are amazing at producing flowers, they are two of my best bloomers! Even in the summer heat! I hope this gives you some useful info! Jessica

I've only had Julia Child as an own root, one gallon plant since last October, but I am thrilled with this rose. It's planted in a difficult spot where it gets shade all morning and sun in the afternoon. I tried two other roses before it that did not do well. One died and one never bloomed, so I moved it to a better location. Then I tried Julia Child. Her leaves are healthy and she blooms regularly with large blooms for such a young plant. She has buds right now in February. I look forward to watching Julia Child grow. She should do very well in your zone 9. So far, the only other floribunda I know that is this as easygoing is Iceberg. I'm sure there are others and I would like to hear about them. Photo taken today: Photo taken in December:

Hi, Bart, I read that Gloire de Ducher is supposed to be hardy, vigorous. However, I am sure she needs the right conditions. for proper growth. And first year,roses usually are small-grow littleget their roots established. Second year roses start doing better-ok growth, but 3rd year roses take off-grow vigrously. Esp. bands from RVRs are small first year-take a few years to show their real stuff! I purchased Cinderella as a band, who had 3 blooms first year, 1-2 ft high first year. Second year winter took its toll on her & she took all season to grow 2ft, but end of season she finally shot up 5 ft. Not much show of blooms in her second year. 3rd year, she started pruned in spring at 3ft, now 5 1/2 ft-sooooo many buds-unbelievable-can’t count-super vigorous-HUGE!!! My soil/fertilizers are organic. How is your soil quality & does it drain well, fertilizer, and sunshine on Gloire de Ducher? I use organic soils, Rose Tone, fish fertilizers & she will get full 8 hrs sun at least. What do you think? There are many factors that can stunt growth. A climate she diesn’t like. Cold winters can damage their growth taking a full season to recover sometimes. if you have clay… it can defintely stunt growth &/or cause fungus from poor draining. Tree roots & other olants crowd & stunt growth. Sandy soil is poor for many roses. Where is your location-city-state? & plant zone?