Crepuscule?

16 years ago

Many of my climbing roses are unfortunately infected a lot by blackspot this year. Most of them were good when they were younger, but now the infection starts sooner every year and defoliation is getting worse. Only New Dawn and Sombreuil are still very healthy. The others, Compassion, Polka, Papi Delbard, Eden Rose and Abraham Darby (which does great in the front garden) are going to be replaced.

Blackspot is not the only reason, though. I like my roses to be big and rambly, not stiff and upright like Eden or Polka. I remember reading a lot about Crepuscule. It seems to be a very good rose. However I am hesistant. First, I had another tea noisette, Gloire de Dijon, and it was an absolute BS magnet. Second, our summers are temperate and sometimes wet (lot's of rainy days), so I need a rose that doesn't ball. Third, our winters have been mild the past couple of years, but sometimes we have temperature swings in early spring: very cold at night and then relatively hot the day after. Once we had a night of -4 F and a day of 68F.

So what do you think, would you recommed Crepuscule?

Rob

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Comments (13)

jean
16 years ago
Rob

Gloire de Dijon is widely known to be a blackspot magnet. It's in a class by itself. Crepuscule is completely clean here and we have severe blackspot pressures typically. It does not have enough petals to ball when wet. As for cold, temp swings like that in one day are very hard on any rose, but a swing from 68 with active growth to -4 would probably kill or severely damage this rose. Otherwise, simply having a couple of cold nights during the winter is not going to do much to it. Mine have survived temperatures down to 1 with no ill effects.

Jean
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
16 years ago
The canes are not the most graceful, they are a bit stiff, the young plant with just a few canes is not the most attractive, but a mature one looks fairly graceful. It has very few thorns which is an advantage.

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I like 'Alister Stella Grey' a little better--the clone available here has constant repeat and good fragrance.
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steelrose
16 years ago
Wow--is that one plant?

Colleen
cemeteryrose
16 years ago
Rev d'Or is really beautiful here in Sacramento - and tested well in the Texas "Earthkind" roses trials - don't know how it would do for you.

'Gloire de Dijon' is not a typical tea-noisette, much fussier to grow than most of the others.
Anita
rosyone
16 years ago
Crepuscule's stiff canes are graceful enough if you don't cut them. This plant is supported from below by a bamboo frame about 1.5' tall, just large enough to direct the basals skyward before gravity takes over.
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As much as I love the way it looks, it's too darned BIG! So I plan to build a higher, wider frame under it this fall in the hope that hoisting its skirts up will bring its width back to the 20' range. I remove basal or lateral canes entirely, if need be, but quit trying to restrict its size by shortening canes after I realized that it was willing to put up more of a fight than I had time to counter. It's tremendously vigorous and throws out basal length canes at odd angles from any cut ends, so pruning it and then turning my back on it for 15 minutes just made it bigger and wilder looking.

This rose owns the garden from early April to mid June, and repeats almost continuously and not too ungenerously for the rest of the season. But the blooms quickly become unsightly in hot weather. Were that not so, I wouldn't mind so much that it's a real estate hog. Its health is good. It appears to have outgrown its early susceptibility to powdery mildew, and black spot has never been a problem.

I have to agree with hoovb on Alister Stella Grey. I don't prune that one for size either, and it takes up much, MUCH less space. Its health is good, the rebloom is constant and generous, and the summer blooms hold up a lot longer. Over all I think it's the better rose.
grnthumber
16 years ago
Wow! Gorgeous rose, but I'm glad I didn't choose it for my garden. I was very very tempted, but I heard it was a monster--a gorgeous monster, but still, my garden isn't that large!
User
16 years ago
Is Alister Stella Grey white or yellow? I'd love a yellow noisette but I have space issues...
patricianat
16 years ago
Peggy, mine is a combination (in one flower) of white/cream/yellow. It is gorgeous, the effect, and very unusual in that it does not look like an aged coloration but a natural coloration. I posted a picture of mine a while back. I will see if I can find it, but it is yellowish/cream/white.
jbfoodie
16 years ago
Crepuscule at my house in Northern CA tends to get PM. We have had a very dry summer (drier than normal) and my Crep is very young. I am hoping that it will outgrow the PM. In any case, if you tend to have wet weather, this would most likely help to keep the PM at bay, though if the bush is not able to dry out at night, I am not sure if other types of mildew would develop. I have not gone through a rainly season yet with this rose, so I am not sure about BS. I have been spritzing the leaves daily in order to combat the PM. I love the blooms, but they do blow quickly in the heat. This is a very rambly rose. I love it.
jerome
16 years ago
Alister Stella Grey looks like a great rose. Hoovb and Rosyone, GREAT PHOTOS!
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
16 years ago
Is Alister Stella Grey white or yellow?

It opens a pale apricot, then turns white. You get different color flowers at the same time. A nice effect. My clone is from Vintage--their website says their clone blooms continuously (which is absolutely true in my garden)--so try to get one with the same source as Vintage's.

That is mostly one Crepuscule in the picture. The bit on the fence going uphill is the other one, but it is mostly out of the frame. The Crepuscule on the lower fence is all one plant.

ALISTER STELLA GREY (on blue tower):
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RosariumRob
Original Author
16 years ago
Wow! Nice pictures of gorgeous roses. I love monster roses. They probably stay a little bit smaller here because I have sandy soil and not so hot summers. But I love my New Dawn because it grows so big and covers the entire section of the pergola, including the 'roof' section. My other, modern, stiff-caned climbers, only cloth the pillar and grow up vertically with long canes.

Alister Stella Gray is lovely too. Since it is smaller, I'll have to think how to place it, but it is a beautiful rose. I believe Reve d'or is a little bit less hardy?

We don't get much PM here, all roses I have are resistant to it here. So only if a rose is known to be susceptible to PM it will be a problem. BS is our primary disease.

I know many of you live in really different climates compared to mine. However, with us shifting towards zone 8 I guess chances are that these roses will do well here too.

I added Crepuscule and Alister Stella Gray to the list! Thanks for you comments!

Rob
ceterum
16 years ago
Well, if Crepuscule is hardy there you certainly must grow it - it has become one of my absolute favorites.
Again, I do not know about its hardiness, I read somewhere though that it is one of the hardiest Noisettes, but Jaune Desprez is another huge rose that I can grow no-spray in a very bs prone coastal climate.

Crepuscule?

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