Has there been any sort of a sudden change in your weather? I know some roses will change color (to some extent or another) with the weather, especially with temperature shifts.

We had a gloomy June, cooler then usual for over a month. Could it really be the weather, in my experience Mr. Lincoln gets darker with heat and sun. The June blooms were normal that stunning color of deep red.
Don't get me wrong, the blooms are beautiful but not quite what I was expecting. : )

How does the saying go? A rose of any color still smells as sweet?

Carlota, you're in So. California, but I'm in Kansas... My Lincolns will only stay red in the coolness and when there's rain...My Lincolns are always a magenta shade now, ever since the heat wave and blazing direct sun hit... Mr. Lincoln does not turn dark with Kansas heat and glaring sun, it turns magenta, even pinky at times...I miss my deep reds too Carlota, but I still love my Lincolns...even though our sun changes its lovely classical shape into huge cabbage flowers. Ah, well, Kansas is Kansas, what can one do, but at least it's not desert, lol!

This is very interesting. Thank you for your input. I would be interested in hearing from more people on his performance in different climate conditions. Do you think soil has anything to do with coloration?

Carolota, soils and nutrition always play a role in things, but your culprit is probably the recent sudden weather change.

After 3 straight months of extended fog and drizzle, with temperatures markedly below normal -- we've switched to temperatures ABOVE normal. (The next cycle is supposed to begin next week, when we drop to approx normal.)

Blooms here are either:
1. Potpourri, or
2. Bleached by the sun,
or, in the case of Chinas
3. Darkened by the sun.

Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal

I think I am going to research our soil. Since our plants are growing better then I've ever seen it would be an interesting investigation.
Just Joey living fairly close to Mr. Lincoln looks like he should. So does Old Timer. I'm finding this very interesting.

Mine gets fuschia pink at different times of the year, depending on the weather.

It's not the entire bush but half. Hoov, it's good to see you here again. :) I've tagged with a string the first branch with the fushia blooms. But right now I have 6 deep reds and 3 fushia. The scent is exactly the same, incredible and delightful. I've had this bush about a year. And in the past grown Mr. Lincoln in each of my past rose gardens.

I cut my blooms to give to a good friend from Hong Kong who brings her daughter here for summer school to brighten up her temporary home but I will take some pictures of the next batch. If they do a repeat performance. I also bought a second Mr. Lincoln to grow nearby to compare.

I am beginning to think something is infuencing my garden because my Just Joey bloomed one soft buttery yellow flower yesterday. If its the weather this is very exciting! If its my soil, I'm fascinated.

In that section of my garden I also have Old Timer, acting normal. Golden Masterpiece, normal. Arizona who looks just right and the two mislabled presents that are gorgeous and consistant.

I will definately keep a close eye on the blooms.

As a follow up to a long ago post about my red simplicity turning dark pink at my mothers house... Its still blooming pink after at least 2 years. Owning both the red and the pink simplicity bushes I can confirm that the sport is not similar in color to either. I'm going to try a cutting in the fall. My mother has cared for 3 of my sentimental favorites for years and while she won't return them she does tend them for me and admits they are mine. :)

Rosy Smiles,
Carlota

It's completely normal for Mr. Lincoln to be magenta at various times. It's called blue-ing, and is a common trait of Mr. Lincoln and that whole related family to do that. It's one reason that when folks are looking at new ultra-fragrant reds, that they mention the roses ability to stay true red, b/c so many of them blue. Totally normal :-D

Susan

What Susan said.

Over a month has gone by and we still have a bush producing half and half blooms. Half normal, half different. I'm going to get a new online photo album and try to get you all pictures of Mr. Lincoln and hopefully I'll catch the color correctly.
Watching Mr. Lincoln misbehave has been a constant source of joy for me. Ok, I'm a little weird. :) I really want to post a picture so everyone can see what I see.
Carlota

Hee-hee! Carla...

--watching Mr. Lincoln misbehave has been a constant source of joy for me---

Me too! Just when I start howling about the hideous tiny flowers resulting from my hacking and slashing, Mr. Lincoln again surprises me and sends out his classical blossoms. Half are quite lovely, the other half itsy-bitsy lopsidedness. What in the heck????

But thank goodness, no matter what, he smells sooooo wonderful, doesn't he Carla! Whether it's a miniscule 3" flower to his nearly 6-1/2" blooms, they all smell out-of-this-world. Our rose Chanel No. 5!

We are very!!!! much looking forward to your photos!!! I love him and hopefully your photos will help encourage those who are thinking of giving up on him.

This reminds me of the discussion on my magenta Chrysler Imperial earlier this summer. Every bloom was magenta for awhile and the magenta color was obvious in the buds. I wanted CI's traditional dark red color, and thankfully it returned 2 mos. later. I'm not 100% sure, but the magenta blooms seemed to have followed a growth spurt in the bush. The blooms tended to blow apart quickly.

Many factors changed leading up to and after the magenta blooms that I can't pinpoint which one(s) contributed to the color change. Temperature, rainfall, my watering, my use of fertilizer and ironite. The leaf color was always normal. CI was either getting too much of something(s), or not enough. I think your Mister Lincoln can return to dark red too. Good luck!

Could you please post a few pictures.

YES!!! Every red rose that I plant in the ground starts out red but ends up bright fuschia colored!! It's awful!! I am to the point that I won't try to do red anymore, because I can't stand pink where I have them, but they will not stay red. I am at my wits end!! I have tried several different varieties, thinking that maybe I misjudged the color of one, but every variety turns pink. 😡😳 Also, my don juan and red tree rose have stayed red in their containers even in the high heat. Must be something in my soil????? If so, how can I amend it so that this doesn't happen??

In my heat too.
But I will say Ingrid Bergman stays red. But it has no scent, and fries when it hits 90.
And Ketchup and Mustard also stays red (& yellow!)