My Lady Emma Hamilton has done reasonably well for me here. I like the color and the fragrance. Mine has never had a large number of flowers at any given time. Rather, it has had smaller numbers of flowers, but more frequently. The bush tends to grow wider than tall. It is not a large bush. Lady of Shalott is a monster that has lots of flowers all season, but they fade in the sun and do not have much of a fragrance. If you are considering Benjamin Britten, watch out. This one typically gets 10-15 ft tall in my yard. It has plenty of flowers, but they fade from vermilion to a sort of watermelon pink. I can comment on my long-term observations with my Summer Songs. They do sort of okay if we do not have a late, hard freeze. However, this past summer was the first year that any of them made a half-effort at reblooming. The flowers were small, but at least they were there. It may be like some of the other old hybrid perpetuals that had to be at least 6 or 7 years old before they would rebloom. They can be quite showy in the spring, but they are not like Crocus Rose by any stretch of the imagination.

Nothing wrong with that at all, I have several roses looking like that... the bud eyes are waiting to shoot out... in fact I prefer the look of your 'LEH' to the other one, which only has one thickish cane and 2 little thin ones....

Ratdogheads, your pictures look great! My summers for the last few years have been pretty perfect with temps in the low 90's here and there, otherwise 80's, maybe a week of bad humidity and unbearable weather. I actually could plant roses all last summer it was so mild, and that is rare. We have been having strange weather for Wisconsin though, milder winters (like this last one) though last year's polar vortex was down to -26 without the windchill. My roses survived it. I'm curious on this year after the mild winter what will stay. I don't uncover till tax day, as we still usually get a frost around the 13th, then it's smooth sailing! I am having a hard time deciding what to prune as the canes are sometimes discolored then green then discolored further down. If it buds, do you keep it or cut it off? If it's totally brown or black I, of course, cut it off. Btw, thank you for showing your zone, I like to be able to see if someone is close to my zone and what they're growing! :) Krista, Wow! I love it between the two purple/pinks. It really brings out the pink. It doesn't look red at all. So pretty! I'm so glad you mentioned the fragrance because that is a must! Thank you!

Saw many reports of Lady Emma being virused from David Austin, or else follks received the wrong roses instead of Lady Emma from David Austin. A friend in CA wrore to me this week: " We haven't had Lady Emma Hamilton long, but she's been quite floriferous and has non-stopped bloomed since we got her. We got her from Regan Nursery in Fremont, CA and the tag indicates the stock came from Otto & Sons. Hopefully Lady Emma stays healthy and vigorous." Lady Emma was released in 2005, which means the patent will expire in 2025. Today I contacted a friend nearby who grows Lady Emma (he bought as own-root from Roses Unlimited many years ago), and he said I can come by next spring and dig it up. I'm rooting non-virused & healthy Austin rose when the patent expires to donate money to charities. Versigny is better than Lady Emma since it has more petals and last longer in the vase, up to 5 days. It's small & compact for the pot: My Versigny bush was 2' x 1.5, very compact, it died after a few years in my zone 5a. I got it from Roses Unlimited. The scent is better than Pat Austin, and I miss its apricot and floral scent.