They are beauties:) One is a bourbon ( Honorine de Brabant), the other is a Hybrid Perpetual (F.P.). I am not familiar with R.C. Twirl at all. Generally speaking, for my hot dry climate, more roses in the bourbon class have been recommend than the Hybrid Perpetuals. Even looking at my one gallon own roots, potted the same way and given the same treatment, the bourbons seem to be faring better. I contemplated Honorine de Brabant but the ones I have seen created a wide, tall shrub and I do not have the space for it. Ferdinand is "supposed to" grow more upright. The color description is different too. Honorine is described as more blush with a violet stripe, where as Ferdinand Pichard is crimson striped. Those are my generic inputs based upon HMF and seeing mature H.B. in CA. How a rose performs in one climate, garden, pot, versus another is key and I am sure that the gardeners on this forum will provide valuable information so you can make your choice. The above are my 2 cents:)

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 11:03

I grow them both, but my climate is very different from yours. Rust and powdery mildew are the chief diseases here. For me HdB is healthier than FP, but both are pretty healthy. Blooms are a bit bigger on HdB. FP has a good spring flush with one or two light repeat flushes if you deadhead faithfully, and it is a pain to deadhead. I didn't bother this year so I'm not seeing it. HdB has the spring flush and throws out random blooms now and then by way of repeat.

If you really want good repeat on a striped rose, you might do well to look at some of the modern roses. Breeder Tom Carruth has done some excellent work in this area. Consider Fourth of July, Scentimental, George Burns, Purple Splash and more. Of these I have only grown Scentimental myself. It repeats well (shatters quickly, though). Carruth breeds for fragrance, health, and unusual color such as stripes or purple color. There are modern striped roses from other breeders as well. I mention Carruth because I am familiar with his work.

Rosefolly

All of Tom Carruth's striped roses go back to Ralph Moore's 1985 mini -- 'Pinstripe.' And 'Pinstripe' goes right back to 'Ferdinand Pichard.'

(I am told that Mr. Moore, when asked why he chose 'Ferdinand Pichard' for his source of stripes, said: "Because I had it.")

I liked 'Ferdinand Pichard' and grew it here for years. When deadheaded, I got a pretty decent Fall repeat -- and it had, as Folly notes, good resistance to mildew and rust.

If it were me, and I wanted to grow an old rose with stripes, I would again choose 'Ferdinand Pichard'.

If I wanted a modern rose with stripes, I'd try for 'Peppermint Twist,' (which I think was in Vintage's 1-G clearance) -- OR I would grow 'Fourth of July.'

'Peppermint Twist' is a very good Floribunda that is mostly forgotten.

Jeri

Jeri, I think another reason Ralph used it is that when he looked at the history of the other striped roses, almost all were described as being a sport. 'Ferdinand Pichard' was a seedling (i.e. "striped from birth"), so he thought it might be more likely to be able to pass on its stripes to seedlings. Of course, I didn't hear this from him directly, but I remember reading something to that effect somewhere......along with a bit about many old striped roses arising as sports losing their stripes after undergoing heat-treatment virus indexing.

:-)

~Christopher

In any case, it did a good job of passing the characteristic forward. :-)

Jeri

I do like my HdB very much but she isn't perfect, of course. She gets big and does want to sprawl. I grew her in a pot for her first 5 years and contained her by putting a trellis in the pot that I could tie her to. She's in the ground now and still on that trellis because I couldn't get it out without destroying the bush but she is more content and can spread out more. The first few years she did spot for me but she seems to have really outgrown that trait now. There may be a few spots along the bottom from time to time but she's never been naked the last couple of years. I really do wish she rebloomed but she's a beauty in the spring.

ALAS! I wanted to grow her, but like most Bourbons, she did not want to live here.

Jeri

Thanks to all who responded. I truly appreciate the advice.