I've never seen it in person, but in pictures, it is of surpassing beauty.

Ooh, please tell us about her growth habit, and thorniness!

Now you are tempting me, because it is a noisette and a climber, which means it would do great in my garden. However, over 50% of the pictures on HMF show the color as a solid very bright saffron yellow, including whole bushes covered with blooms all of which are that color.

Does anyone on here grow it, and can you tell us if it fades from the saffron yellow to that gorgeous very light shade with pink? Or, does it just depend on the weather, soil, etc? That intense yellow color would definitely give me a headache.

Jackie

Jackie, I grew it and never once saw the bright yellow you describe, not even a hint of it. It was always white with some pink and cream tones. Alas, it hated my garden and I suspect it likes more humidity or something else I couldn't give it.

Jackie

Ingrid - thanks. Very interesting. There are pages and pages of photos on HMF of this rose, and some of them show the pale creamy white with pink color, but most of them are the bright yellow. Weird.

Jackie

Well, this is a first. I noticed I signed my post "Jackie". The synapses in my brain are refusing to function more and more....

Ingrid (got it right this time!)

This is a tiny bit OT question for Jeri, Thonotorose, and Ingrid (if that is your real name, hahah), and anyone else out there who might know -

How does Celine Forestier compare to Alister Stella Gray? They look fairly similar online, but (like Jackie) I'm not overly keen on bright yellow roses, so I was wondering if ASG might be a safer bet.

Jackie, below is about as yellow as she gets in my garden, which is the first flush of spring. Later flushes in hot weather are lighter in color, near white sometimes, with even a bit pink. In person it looks light yellow in spring, not at all like 'Sunsprite' or anything like that.

Muscovyduckling, Celine Forestier has bigger and fuller flowers than Alister Stella Gray. ASG's "yellow" is apricot to my eye and its range of color, rather than the light lemon yellow to white or pinkish of CF, is medium apricot in cool weather to white in hot weather.

Very different climate, but C Forestier has been in my garden for several years now and, although I love the rose, it seems to hate my climate. The blooms are sooo beautiful (the very few times it has bloomed) that I haven't had the heart to get rid of it, even though it's miserable.

Alister Stella Gray, on the other hand, loves my climate, and it is the only nOisette I've found that does. It gets gigantic here and blooms all the time it isn't beastly hot. Great rose but I do pine for C Forestier

This is an absolutely beautiful rose here in middle TN. This photo was taken last month. I purchased her 1G in April on fortuniana. Her canes are 12 ft. long and she is busting amazing laterals!
The blooms are gorgeous!
Susan

Muscovyduckling, She is quite thorny, but not horrifically. And not those dastardly hooked ones that Marcheal Neil has. I am amazed at the very dark green of the foliage. One reference said 20 feet and I have just the spot.

Jackie, I don't mind the yellow. I only expect it to appear in our mild fall/winter. Looks like she will be very changeable which is what I hope for.

Ingrid, good to hear that it may be a steamy noisette and to have the possible agreement of jaspermplants.

Catspa, the flowers are small now. So it is good to hear that they may get larger. That was her only, very forgivable fault, in my eyes. Wonderful pic that shows her creamy nature.

O Susan, that pic is perfect. Where did you find her on fort? This winter is the season I graft! I love this rose so much already, she may have moved to the top of my grafting experiment list.

Yes, Jeri, it IS wonderful.

Veronica

Poorbutroserich, that pic is incredible. I'm in love.

I recently saw 'Céline Forestier' growing at the Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg, SC. The Noisette beds were a weedy mess, but I fell in love with her despite her surroundings.

She is definitely hovering near the top of my want list now. And she's fragrant.

I have grown both Céline Forestier and Alister Stella Gray. In my garden, in my climate, ASG is the better rose. As always, YMMV.

Rosefolly

At the EMG, they had a display garden of Noisettes that was pretty weedy and set apart from the showier (and better maintained) HT/ Floribunda rose gardens.

They had an 'ASG' there, but it had very few blooms at the time of my visit. In that particular location, at that particular moment, 'Celine' looked better. None of the Noisettes looked like they were enjoying the competition from all the weeds, vines, etc., but the rose that looked best was 'Multiflore de Vaumarcus'. The saddest-looking plant was 'Brightside Cream'.

'Multiflore' also won the most-fragrant award, but 'Celine' was a close second. I was surprised at any fragrance at noon on a hot, muggy day, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Here's a photo of 'MdV'...

Virginia

That is a wonderfully poignant photo of MdV, Virginia, and an amazing color phase for Celine Forestier.

Thanks, catspa- all the roses there seemed to be waiting for cooler weather to put on a better show, but perhaps I was just projecting!

I wondered about Celine's coloring being so pink, but guess the difference is due to climate. The foliage seems right, and the shape of the flowers looks like some others at HMF, so I don't think they mis-labelled or mis-identified her, but I'm certainly no expert.

Virginia