Oh, it sounds wonderful. One of those roses worth growing for the name alone! What a great name for a rose.

I am so happy it is doing good for you, Carol, but everything always does. I think they like that dose of TLC and knowing their mommy is such a caring, giving roselover.

Carol, am glad to hear about this rose for you. I love the white singles, bonus if it's fragrant. Annie

Carol -- It's just getting started!
--grin--

Jeri

Shame on you Carol!!!! I don't 'need' one but your description sure makes me 'want' one (LOL). I'm a sucker for fragrant roses but where in the world would I put it?!

It truly does have the sweetest blooms. I wish you could smell a cluster of these blooms!

Pat, I promise everything doesn't do well for me and I have the shovel prune list to prove it :-).
Hamp and Annie, you really do need this rose. Honestly. You too Krista if it would be hardy for you. You are my friends, I wouldn't lie to you.
Jeri, if it will hold on to enough leaves that it isn't completely bare, it's definitely a keeper. I might keep it anyway since it is behind some other roses...

{{gwi:308128}}

Carol

Carol, that is such a pretty rose. Those blossoms look like white starched petticoats.

I'm trying to remember why I went with Darlow's Enigma instead of SGMC - I don't have the foggiest; maybe because SGMC resembles Sally Holmes which I already had.

If Sally croaks you may have persuaded me. :) Annie

It's really different from Sally Holmes tho. I have both, and they're different. :-) I am the Queen of White Singles.

Jeri

Carol,

I agree with you on the fragrance of SGMC. It's wonderful. Mine, however, hasn't taken off yet. I'm wondering if it needs more sun than I'm providing it. Is yours grown in full sun? I'll have to monitor its sun to know for sure how much sun it's getting, but The Dark Lady is not 5 ft away and is doing much better. I think, also, that SGMC suffered a set back from the Easter freeze. Let me know how much sun yours is getting. I really want this rose where I have it...on a large opening to my secret garden, but, alas, if it needs more sun, I can put a different rose there.

Robert

How thorny is it?

Robert, mine is mostly in full sun. It gets a little morning shade from the monstrous Noella Nabannond planted down the fence but that is for a fairly brief period of time. This is a terrible photo but at least you can see the size she has attained. The rebar may not contain her but I'm hoping I can get her to go up and then fountain off. I promise that the roses aren't as close together as they look :-). That Easter freeze did significant damage to a lot of my roses so I wouldn't be surprised if that is a factor with your rose. Maybe she just needs a little more time to get settled and recover.

{{gwi:220832}}

Pretty good for a baby, eh?

Annie, I can't fault you for wanting DE. I don't have it but the fragrance is supposed to be wonderful on that one too and the photo's of it are beautiful. Keep this one in the back of your mind though, just in case the opportunity arises......

Carol

I've had SGMC in a pot for two years and have been trying to decide where to put her. My husband just finished building a gated arbor (8' tall, 6' wide, 4' deep). It's placed along a split rail fence that borders a small lake, and our dock is accessible through this gate (nothing fancy, bass boat and kayak only). This location gets morning sun, maybe six or seven hours, and then filtered sun through limbed up tall pines. I have a very young Buff Beauty on one side. Other side edges up close to some mature hydrangeas. Do you think that SGMC might be a better choice for the arbor than Buff Beauty? I'm wondering if SGMC would be too overwhelming for this spot, and if BB might not reach an adequate height to climb over the arbor. Any opinions?

Thanks for the photo! I couldn't decide so I planted BOTH DE and Secret Garden Musk. They'll be covering a fence with dark woods in the background. Both are very thorny, gosh I hope I've left enough space that they won't grab me when I work on the roses in front of them! Mine are not nearly so tall yet; the area has mid-day shade and a bit of competition from the trees. Both are keepers-- attractive foliage and nice fragrance, and they've been pretty clean for me. Hope mine catch up to yours!! I look forward to being able to eventually post a photo of these 2 side-by-side and REALLY confounding anyone who's trying to choose!!!! hee hee

Bad..bad bad bad girl!! Darnit Carol..I dont even like singles and now I want that..hmmm..would be a good contrast against my flousy girls.

Mari

jbcarr, it has thorns, but I wouldn't call it heavily armed by any means. I have much thornier roses.There's several inches between thorns on the canes.

chattahooche, that is a hard question. My Buff Beauty grew to 6 feet this year and she was just planted last year. I have a friend who has hers growing on an arbor and she is large enough to cover it but some say she isn't as vigorous for them.Mine gets some shade and performs well. I think 6-7 hours would be enough sun for most any rose. SGMC would certainly cover your arbor but since mine is so new, I have no idea if it would require lots of maintenance to keep her in bounds. Jeri has a photo of one that is very, very large. I cut my roses back to keep them in bounds and they do well. I've been wrestling Reve d'Or for years and he doesn't mind and continues to bloom well.

barbara, I can't wait to see your photo's. That will be an awesome sight and the fragrance from that area will be overwhelming!

Pandy, you know how much I love my big, overstuffed, tons of petals blooms. I never really loved the singles but this rose is so pretty, fragrant and she does make a nice contrast with the flousy girls.

Carol

I'm thinking that the white singles may be just the ticket for my wanting some white roses that aren't always disgusting looking brown gobs. I'm assuming thrips would tend to leave these alone.

How large is this rose supposed to get?

Sandy

{{gwi:308129}}

This is two SGMCs.
One planted on each side of an arbor. The one on your right gets more sun than the one on the left.
Neither gets morning sun until they are over the top of the Gazebo which is behind them
(but which you cannot see here).
The plants look a bit fuller because a climbing species fuchsia (F. hatschii) is growing
through the plant to your right.

These plants are perhaps 5 years old now.

Jeri

Mine took off like a rocket too, in full sun.

Carla

The clove-like fragrance is incredible. We have this rose in the Sacramento cemetery, and I sometimes catch the clove-like fragrance from more than ten feet away. This is definitely a wafter - I often get more scent from a distance that I do if I stick my nose into a flower. I've planted one outside my bedroom window at home, and really hope that it fills the room with its sweet smell!
Anita

Carol, those are beautiful photos. I love seeing pictures of your garden. How you get things to grow so vigorously is a wonderful thing.

Jerome

Jeri, your SGMC is beautiful. I remember that photo but didn't realize it was two plants. Maybe there is hope my "one" won't be monstrous?

Anita, that is a great idea. I wish I had a place to plant one near a window. I've noticed that the scent is stronger as a wafting fragrance than sticking my nose in, as well. Either way the fragrance is wonderful.

Jerome, thanks but Luanne told me recently that the almanac now lists our area as sub tropical, the longer, warmer, growing season probably accounts for the size of the plants here more than any skill that I have as a gardener.

Carla, don't you love her?

Carol

Those who have SGM in the eastern part of the country, please tell me something about its spot resistence or lack of it. Blackspot? Anthracnose? Cercospora? Botrytis?

I would like to know all the good things I know I would like to know the bad and the ugly ...

It does get BS, but doesn't completely defoliate. Probably 50-70% leaf loss here for me. I hope it will be better with age. My SGM is only 1.5 year old.
As I understand from Carol's original message sha has similar experiencewith her SGM.
Olga

Exactly Olga, she has lost leaves on the bottom half of the plant but still has leaves on the top half. Probably less than 50% leaf loss at this time. Does yours grow new foliage to replace what is lost?

Carol

Carol, once the plant is fairly well-grown, you can prune it enough to keep it restrained. They do this at Descanso. WE argue over it. DH wants to prune a bit harder than I do.

Jeri

Olga, reading Carol's update prompted my question. I don't know why but I assumed beforehand that SGM would be disease resistant but after reading Carol's assessment I got "suspicious". I hoped to hear about better disease resistance. I love the photos of this rose and the praise of its fragrance is alluring but I really want to get climbers that I do not have to spray. I spray the rest of my roses but I find more and more difficult to spray the climbers. I guess Crepuscule, Jaune Desprez and Colette spoiled me.

Ceterum, Secret Garden Musk Climber was collected in the summer-arid Sierra Foothills.
In most arid California conditions, it is indeed disease-resistant.
In some coastal areas, when immature, it can be touched by mildew. Otherwise, it is clean here.
But few of us here have conditions which favor blackspot. Rain (when we get it, is a winter visitor.)
Without warm, humid conditions our roses are rarely "tested" for blackspot.

Jeri