Thanks everyone for your kind comments. It took a while to get a decent picture of Bayse's Purple but the color and the stamens are so beautiful I wanted to keep trying -- I've seen some bad press about this rose (ungainly habit mainly), but it's a rugosa hybrid and so close to PURPLE that I had to try it. :) I just got B'P this spring and it's thrown blooms all summer. Luanne and Sherri I've got a couple of Rosette Delizzy blooms that are a dark coral pink now -- I love roses that change color like that. I have been thrilled with Clotilde so far. Sherri I think you will like her. :) I first saw this rose in a pot in the Medicinal Plant section of the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill a few years ago, and it was love at first sight. So many petals! And the fragrance -- incredible!!! Like Bayse's Purple Clotilde went in this spring and like Marie Pavie it's been a bloom machine. We've had just enough rain this year -- not a wet year by a long shot -- so no balling.

Aliska2000, She is planted in the ground. I have a raised home and the height from soil to the top rail is 6ft.2inch. Its time to hack after the spring flush. All my roses are in the ground, I tend to kill things in pots! The picture really doesn't do the pink color justice. The windows you see in the picture are of the master bedroom, and continue wrapping around the corner to catch views of the pond and property. I can't tell you how great it is to have cl. old blush's color in the morning when I raise the blinds. Makes you not want to get out of bed! Clint

Thank you all for your replies; I feel encouraged. Looking around in my garden, I see that several other roses are behaving in a way similar to Clbg. OB: Fellemberg,Camellia Rose, Mt. Vernon Purple Noisette, and Deschamps. None are as mature as Clbg OB,however,but it's interesting to note that HMF classifies two of these as Chinas, like Clbg. OB. My garden is such a "particular case",since I literally started from scratch about 16 years ago,on completely uncultivated soil, and with no gardening experience either. Of these 16 years, about 10 or 11 were very dry,and from about 2010 to 2013,we had a real drought. Since then, we have been blessed with good rain. I am seeing different reactions amongst my oldest roses. My oldest Mme. Isaac Pereire kept on declining,cane after cane died; I dug it up,and found that the root-stock had completely died off, and what was left was the beginning of an own-root MIP. Clair Matin 's root-stock has probably also died, but it already had enough"own-roots" to permit the plant to keep on going; I just lost it's tallest climbing canes, and now have a nice, healthy shrub which will hopefully soon climb again. This year, both Gloriana and Crepuscule looked like they were in suspended animation,up until recently,when suddenly they began putting out lots of new growth (VERY late in the season for this,in my climate, please note!) In other words, I think the great improvement in the weather conditions, along with the work I've done on my soil,has affected even the established roses dramatically, in different ways,so perhaps this is part of what's going on with Clbg OB. Hopefully, it's working on it's roots, and once they improve, so will it's health.It's funny , because another rose that I truly wanted to grow-Reine des Violettes-had sort of the opposite problem: very healthy, vigorous plant,but the flowers were stunted and ugly. I moved it into well-prepared soil, and it is blooming very nicely now! though,ironically, now it does have a touch of PM... but there again, I moved it only about 6-7 months ago, so it's by no means established in it's new home. I do hope that I can improve Clbg OB's soil sufficiently without moving it though. I actually am by no means sure that spraying is a good thing,since when you spray, you are also killing off all the good fungi as well as the bad. It sure worked that way with the insects: things improved dramatically after I stopped spraying with insecticide. However, it did take a year or two to re-establish the balance. regards, bart

Well, in spite of my hydrangeas, maples, camellia blooms (the buds seem ok) and various perennials being toast (oh, gosh...the fern fiddleheads are mush. But I covered the hostas, and that's a whole 'nuther epic story), the roses are faring much better. Other than the ones in low-lying frost pockets, most of the roses seem to be fine, other than just the tips of new growth. Almost all of that got burnt. But the canes themselves and the majority of leaves look ok....for now. I'm sure the new basal breaks are probably damaged, but I won't know the worst for a couple of days. I do know those big, fat, glorious, *succulent* new canes on climbing Maman Cochet are goners. The roses in frost pockets are mostly big ramblers/climbers/house eaters. The majority of the plant is above the coldest air, so what damage they have won't affect the main flush. *I hope*. Only 18 more days and counting until our last frost date, lol.