We are not as continuously hot as Phoenix, but type of baking, arid heat is similar, with lots of wind thrown in. MP hated it here. Pretty show in the spring and suffered greatly when the brutal heat hits. Crispy critter blooms and chlorotic foliage in borderline alkaline soil. It now resides in the pot ghetto, looks better than in the ground. My MvH is very young, in the ground since spring 2010. Healthy, attractive foliage, blooms hold up fairly well in the heat. Takes the late afternoon sun without sunburning. And made it through our last winter with the sub-zero temps with little die-back. A great rose!

Michael, what a lovely piece. My MP is such a beautiful bush until late summer. Then she gets BS, drops her leaves, refoliates, and blooms again. This all became apparent when I stopped spraying about 3 years ago. I know I should sp her, but I just cannot. She only looks ugly two to three weeks out of the summer. And her scent is heavenly. I would like to hear what some of your other roses have to say. Barbara

Thank you, thank you for going to all that trouble. Coffee beans, huh? I didn't know that, but it makes sense! Earlier this year I read The Secret of Chanel No. 5: the Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume. It was full of stuff about the perfume industry, Chanel herself, and interesting theories about why she chose that particular fragrance as her signature, and why it became so famous. I totally agree about the growth habits of AV and MP. I have the shrub form of AV, and I killed at least three before I finally got one to live past the band stage. It's still very small, but healthy. I almost lost it to spider mites, but I finally go those under control. Even as a tiny plant, though, it wants to bloom and bloom. So I do need to start pinching off the buds so that it puts on more growth. Last week I noticed AV and Mrs. Charles Bell both had newly opened blooms, so I cut both of them to enjoy inside. MCB has shriveled and gone, but AV is still looks the same as the day it was cut. Who knew she'd be such a good cut flower? Can't wait until it starts making those big clusters. I'm out of room, but there are two or three roses that I'm thinking of removing. I might replace them with a Marie Pavie. Thanks again!

I bought 2 Marie Pavies and 2 Marie Daleys from ARE and planted them around the end of Dec, 2007. MP got bigger - easily twice as big. Neither did well here from the beginning IMHO, but MP has done better. MD's color was pink in the bud, barely pink upon opening, and whitish thereafter. Very little difference from MP. They both have suffered from tan leaves, not exactly BS, but sickly looking and very little blooming through the summer. I tried to move the MDs to pots, but they croaked in short order. Maybe my thumbs aren't as green as they need to be. The weather is becoming cooler, and it shows. MP has more flowers, bigger leaves - though still a good many tan leaves. I'm not real pleased with them, but they are young. My opinion of the EarthKind rating is that it may be irrelevant in humid conditions - which much of Texas is not. We'll see now that our humidity is about to break how MP does, but we will never have 10 or 20 percent humidity in Florida! All of this that I have described may be summer dormancy, too. Most everything in my garden (Teas, HMs, GaA & even Chinas - except Monsieur Tillier) dropped their leaves and stayed bare for more than a month in August & September. I am really hoping that with maturity will come the ability to handle the heat better. But back to Marie Daley...I was unimpressed. Sherry