Good grief. I'm glad it's OK now. Mine is grafted. I forget from where now. It's fine though it does suffer from Blackspot from time to time. It's 4 feet tall.

WOW---that is what I call persistance----congratulations---it is a beauty--
Florence

Jeri

I'm celebrating your Dark Lady adoption--finally! She's as lovely as any Shakespearean beauty. The color is outstanding. I want to bury my nose in her blossom. Is she deliciously fragrant?

What an adventure with Heirloom! Jeez. I haven't contacted them about my La Ville imposter yet. The conversation may prove interesting. "La Ville" has been blooming her head off all summer. Maybe Heirloom acquired and propagated the first remontant plant ever...not. :-)

Carol

Boy, you really wanted The Dark Lady! Congratulations, finally. It really is lovely.

I remember those days late in the last century when we were all ga-ga over Mr Austin's roses . . . It took us about 3 years, I think, to realize that they weren't for us or for our climate, so to the wood chipper they all went in one fell swoop. . . Hail Britannia? I don't think so -- at least not around here.

Windeaux, you're right. Even here, we eventually realized that many -- ?most? of the Austins were not "the right rose in the right place" for us. So -- only a handful remain.

But I'm still glad to have Prospero (which is great here) and now The Dark Lady.

As for Heirloom -- Note that John Clements didn't like me AT ALL, because everytime I got a mis-labelled rose, I returned it, or at least reported it. And in any case, he has now gone to the Great Rose Garden In The Sky, where I hope he has become a less-choleric and more introspective being.

And Heirloom is now in different hands, and we hope for better things.

Jeri

I planted The Dark Lady, own root from VG, in 2006. I have moved her twice. She does not grow and she gets blackspot, but she does produce beautiful blooms, given that there is not much of her to produce anything. I haven't given up on her. If I hadn't lost so many to RRD, I probably would have shovel pruned her, but at this point I am hanging on to every rose free of RRD.

Jeri -- PLEASE. I don't want to be reminded of John Clements. That's a whole other story. I swear to the Sky God that I'd plant an entire garden with nothing BUT Austins before I'd revisit that encounter. Blessedly, all things dim with time . . . I'm with you in hoping that JC now enjoys a garden of true repose.

ROTFL!!! WINDEAUX! You apparently disliked him even more than I did!!! (And I didn't feel badly about that, because he also loathed ME.)

You're right. All things DO fade with time, and in retrospect, it's even funny. And, honestly, I only mentioned it at all to explain our odyssey with TDL.

CatsRose -- Blessedly, blackspot is a rare, rare problem here. In our very dank spring, it got some anthracnose, but mostly on old leaves. Now, it's clean as a whistle. So, I suspect it is a very good rose for dry-ish SoCal locations. But I also suspect that in real heat, it would lose that rich color -- and that and the bloom form are what I want.

Jeri

That was an even longer wait by my count--21 years. Congratulations! It is very beautiful.

Anne

Oddly in my soil and climate Austin roses are among the most reliable in my garden.

Hmmmm. I bought Graham Thomas from Vintage a few months ago because they stated that with careful selection of the cutting or propagation wood--not sure of the terminology--you won't get the "octopus arms" but rather a more compact shrub. We shall see :-). I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows.

Anne

You know, I think that, in CA, 'Graham Thomas' might be a far better garden plant on its own roots. The same might hold for things like Evelyn, and The Pilgrim, and even nasty ol' Othello.

But I also suspect that most Austins will do better in more acidic soil/water conditions than I can ever offer them.

Jeri

Thanks for mentioning acidity, Jeri. I looked at GT and even in its pot the leaves are looking a little pale. I will have to keep an eye on that (along with my RdV, rugosa alba--what a scent!--and blueberries and hydrangea and lemon. I've got to cool it on the acid loving plants.

Anne

If not acidity, at least less salty, alkaline conditions and a TON more water. Aridity and Austin are mutually exclusive terms. To be fair, though, pretty much any rose which produces largish flowers with MANY petals requires much more water, much less high heat and gentler sun than either my old Newhall garden or the current Encino hillside can ever provide. If you expect any real profusion of them, expect even more demanded resources. Some will grow and flower, but none of the heavily petaled ones are ever truly happy (or GOOD) without a high water bill or the rains Nature has chosen to deprive us of in recent years. If you're fortunate enough to have GROUND WATER, you can skate by with less applied water, but even that is drying up in these parts. Kim

Anne, I LOVE rugosa roses. LOVE them.

But the ONLY rose I could call a Hybrid Rugosa that has ever lived here is Louis Lens 'White Surprise,' which is an odd cross of R. bracteata x R. rugosa rubra (and is listed as a H. bracteata). It really takes more of the bracteata character than rugosa.

I've tried to grow any number of rugosas here, including R. rugosa alba ... Eventually, they die, or have to be put out of their misery. Roses heavily-invested in multiflora fare about the same here -- tho some few make it.

And Reine des Violettes, which I think is among the loveliest of roses, has actually had WHITE leaves, here. (So has Excellenz von Schubert, come to think of it.)

That's why we planted "Forest Ranch Pom-Pom" whose blooms are reminiscent of RdV's blooms. It manages just fine in our conditions, so it's a better bet for us. I wish it were more-widely available.

Jeri

Jerome has a long hedge of 'The Dark Lady' and WS2K at the Abbey, I can't remember if it is own-root or grafted, but it is wonderful (WS2K in front, DL behind, and quite tall!):

{{gwi:295637}}

Depends upon where he got it.

Austin USA, I think, sells it grafted on Huey.
Heirloom probably still sells it own-root.

I suspect it's virused no matter where you get it, but without the root gall, that's probably not a huge deal.

Jeri

Without the gall and in hotter, drier condtions, likely with more water than you permitted it, too. You tend to be more "thrifty" with water, as I do. Kim

I'd love to water everything generously, but water now costs considerably more than electricity, here -- and THAT ain't cheap.

Some things still need to just go away (we're working on it!) because we will keep only what we feel is important. And we're filling in with salvias and lavenders and the like. We re-use water, everywhere we can -- and that re-purposed water is the salvation for many things.

The bed where The Dark Lady lives, along with Lady Reading, and International Herald Tribune, is an easy one to keep hydrated.

Jeri

I'm with you Jeri, they should have their plants tested.

My Heirloom copy of Pristine which I could have gotten cheaply on huey anywhere, was coaxed along for 4 years into a nice sized plant and had a spectacular showing of RMV in this last heat wave. My old huey version was a better performer. Phooey. No more scrawny little own root RMV starts from them. Maybe it does not show in cooler climates and that's why they think they are virus free.

What a breathtaking hedge! How I envy the beautiful purplish color of Jerome's Dark Lady. Mine was never dark; it was bright red. Disgustingly healthy, vigorous, with huge, fragrant BRIGHT RED blooms!

Congratulations, Jeri. Such persistence deserves, and even demands, a great reward.

Ingrid

ALAS, Ingrid -- I suspect Bright Red is what you get in a hotter climate. I suspect I might get that in a Really Bad Heatwave -- and one of these days, I'll probably find out.

As for Heirloom and the virused roses ...

I think the problem lies in the fact that they misunderstood how virus works. Sure, it IS spread in budding -- but you don't avoid it by taking cuttings from a virused plant.

AND roses imported from Europe can't be considered virus-free -- because we kindly sent virused plants over there for years.

So, the description should read "TESTED virus-free." (Unless, of course, it has not been tested, in which case they probably not ought to mention it at all, eh?)

BTW, at one time, we had 3 plants of the HT, 'Secret.' One of the three was by far the most-vigorous. And yet, that was the only one of the three that periodically displayed signs of virus.

We knew it was there, in the other two plants. We just couldn't SEE it.

Jeri

Jeri

Congratulations on getting the rose that you've wanted for so long.
Because of your suggestion, I bought a 'Forrestville Purple Pom-Pom' at the 2013 Old Rose Celebration, it already has 3 rosebuds on it!!! and I am awaiting their blooming with great expectation!!!

Lux

I'm glad you did that, Lux. It's a honey of a rose, I think!

Jeri

Waving to Florence!

Patrica--waving back at you---How wonderful to see your name.---Hope you are well------I miss you !
Florence