Gorgeous rose, unhappy in my climate due to alkaline soil. I can't answer to its suitability having never gardened where you live, but if it suits your conditions, no rose could be lovelier. I have seen it growing in England and it Knocked. My. Socks. Off.

Also, the once-bloomer Tuscany Superb is wonderful, and very well suited to a zone 5 garden. My DH Tom fell in love with it, and I can see why. I bought it as a housewarming gift to a zone 5a sister.

Rosefolly

Is your soil acidic, alkaline or neutral (pH 7 is neutral, higher is alkaline, lower is acidic)? From reports here on Gardenweb Reine de Violettes does not like alkaline soil, the leaves turn chlorotic (the leaves turn yellowish green) and so the plant then is not as healthy as it should be. If your soil is neutral or acidic, you should be all right on that score. Help Me Find says it is hardy in zone 4b and I have grown it here in southwest Ohio in what was at the time zone 5b.

Cath

I would not recommend RdV for a beginner. It is so beautiful, but I, for one, have been having a lot of trouble with it; I can't get it to bloom well so far! My soil probably is sort of alkaline,it doesn't get chlorosis, but tends to cover itself in buds, which then fail to open well. I haven't given up on it, but from reading around, I gather that this rose is troublesome for many gardeners.So I would not begin with RdV. What qualities are you looking for in an OGR? Mme Isaac Pereire is, in my experience, as gorgeously beautiful as RdV, but easier to grow...bart

I just had my soil tested at the local hardware/gardening center. They said it was 6.1 where I landscape and grow roses and such. Do you think that would be an appropriate level, or do I need to amend the soil at all? I checked out some of the recommendations you folks had: Tuscany Superb and MMe Isaac Pereire. They look amazing, I'll definitely keep those in mind. Bart asked what qualities I'm looking for: I just enjoy the colors, dark pink or mauve type, and love the different fragrances. I don't know enough yet to be too particular. The winters around here are pretty mild compared to Northern Michigan, zero to -5 at the worst. Hopefully it can tolerate that type of temperature range.

krista, fabulous pictures! The color of your blooms is absolutely stunning. I've also heard it can be a very difficult rose but yours obviously loves you.

Ingrid

Ingrid, thank you, it's been a superb rose for me in this cold zone area. I love the color of the blooms, and the fragrance.

Bohemian, Mme Isaac Pereire is also a winner for me, I posted some pics recently.

Your ph doesn't sound too alkaline, but hopefully some experts on ph will chime in to comment on this....

Here is a link that might be useful: Mme Isaac Pereire pics, scroll down

One of the greatest roses for growing on pure chalk :) Intensifies the violet colour. Perhaps it is something else that is causing failure?

Best wishes
Jon

Jon do you grow it as a grafted plant? That might be why you can grow it well on chalk (which is always alkaline, for those who don't know chalk). We graft ours, and it goes with the soil preferences of the rootstock.

Malcolm

Yes, Malcolm, the majority of my roses are grafted - the exceptions being smuggled gifts from friends :)

I've had many 'clones' of Reine des Violettes, including the non-violet ones (pink, more vigorous, doesn't repeat as well and mis-sold by Mr Beales for a few decades). The best by far came to us from a friend in Belgium where it had been masquerading under the name of 'Rose du Roi a Fleurs Pourpres' and perhaps had thereby escaped over-propagation. This is the plant now at Mottisfont and my garden and now being distributed more widely.

Best wishes
Jon

Here's a link to it in Lakeland Florida. I've not seen much variability in the variety in the US, other than in general vigor. Of course the shade of pink/purple/blue does change with the weather (cold vs. hot and sunny vs. cloudy). This one was originally from Roses of Yesterday and Today (back in the early 1980s) so was infected with their characteristic strain of Prunus Necrotic Ringspot Virus. It was one of the earliest varieties that we heat-treated.

It's very vigorous (6-7 feet tall by 4-5 wide in 1 year), makes a big flush of flowers in the spring, then a few almost constantly throughout the hot summer, and loads up again (although not as heavily) in the autumn. I think it's a great rose! We always grow it on 'Fortuniana', which undoubtedly adds to the vigor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reine des Violettes in Florida

I was just admiring mine, I got her in April as a band from Burlington. I potted her right to a 5g (easier to keep watered)

Put her in the ground a bit over a month ago.

She has 3 canes that are all about 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall.

Did I mention I have not had her 6 months yet? :)

I've had RdV for about 6 years now in SE Michigan and it's wintered like a champ for me. Green to the tips most every spring. The blooms are lovely...on the bush... but don't bother to try and cut them because they shatter almost immediately when cut. However, they will perfume the air around the plant for many feet away and the fragrance is heavenly! Another big plus is she's thornless and therefore easy to prune. She does get BIG! Mine is easily 10 feet tall and if her canes were stiffer and stood upright on their own she'd be taller still. So give her a very STURDY trellis to tie her up on (she's broken 3 for me now) or else LOTS of ROOM for her to spread out in. Healthwise she will spot some but that doesn't seem to slow her down and as she has matured there has been less of a problem with that anyway. I've found she blooms spring and fall and only rarely gives me an odd bloom here and there during the summer. If you have the spot for her I say go for it!

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This was in April after her spring pruning.
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This was in May when she began to bloom. You can see I had to reinforce her trellis with wooden stakes because it had broken off under the weight.
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This was in July after her spring flush was pruned back.
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Here's mine in May 2012. I got her last year from Greenmantle in California. She's own root. Foliage seems to be an average green to me. City water, per the water company's annual report in 2010 had an average ph of 8.2 (range 6.8 to 9.2) and the 2011 report indicated an average ph of 7.9 (range 7.0 to 8.8). Rainfall is generally low and soil is known to be alkaline. I tested it with a cheapie garden center kit (using distilled water of course) in various spots of the garden. Most were alkaline and a few slightly acid.

Melissa

OOOHHH! How I hope I can manage to get RdV to do well for me,seeing these beautiful photos...I'm not sure that it's just a question of the soil ph that can cause probs with this rose.Like I said, mine do very, very well as plants-vigorous and healthy-but the blooms are very,very poor quality.I even got a second plant, from a different company,just in case,but it's the same story. I'm going to try to move RdV no.2,put it in a place where I can water it a LOTjust to see if that's part of the prob...It's funny, because some rose companies say that this rose can be grown well even in poor soil! yet from rose forums, I think that this rose is very particular about either climate, soil...SOMETHING. So, this is why I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner, because if it happens that one's garden is not "right" for RdV, the beginner might mistakenly think that ALL roses are "hard to grow", etc.Mme. Isaac Pereire is more reliable ,I think,easier-going,blooms are over-the-top beautiful and it may well be the absolute most perfumed rose of all.I'm getting a third one of those this year, and want to try the sport Mme E. Calvat...bart

Here is my one year old own root, here in Westchester NY.

Bart, the fist 3 years I had RdV in a pot with good quality potting soil and the last three years she's been in the ground. Just ordinary suburban subdivision fill dirt on a pretty much clay base. In both situations she was also in partial shade. She's done about the same in both places but since being in the ground has definitely gotten MUCH bigger.

About losing some of the buds, mine does that too. It's like she sets way too many and then aborts some she can't support. They just dry up and fall off. But she still gives a good flush that lasts for quite some time in the early spring and a second smaller one in the fall.

I haven't noticed her to be a water hog for me. She never seems to be wilty like my Austins will tend to do.

I think she'd really be an excellent beginner OGR given enough room to really spread and strut her stuff.

I cannot wait for my Reine des Violettes to grow and bloom. The scent is heavenly.

****front yard flower bed in between Rose of Sharon (Althea) and Souvenir de la Malmaison

Seil, your story makes me want to continue to try with RdV.I do see that you are in a very different climate from mine though, here in Tuscany, Italy, where it is very hot and dry. I'm going to try putting it in partial shade, and watering it really well (keep in mind that my mature roses have to rely on the scanty rainfall to get by; I don't have running water on my land). It is kind of frustrating, because for me this rose as a green plant does really well, at least as big as the one in your great photos, and maybe bushier.However, I have heard of even expert rose gardeners who could not grow this rose. But I myself have not give up yet...cheers,bart

REINE DES VIOLETTES (Hybrid Perpetual, seedling of Pope Pius IX, Mille-Mallet France 1860)is a rose I couldn't live without. She ranks among my top three picks for the most beautiful roses EVER, but does have her "issues". She is very picky about her soil requirements. Grown on her own roots she serves as the canary in the coalmine for chlorosis. Even worst is the extremely poor vigor in alkaline soils. Deeply amending the soil is the solution and works every time. She is also a heavy feeder. You cannot neglect RdV and expect her to grow and bloom well. Disease resistance is better than with modern mauve roses but the foliage is no stranger to black spot. You will have to occasionally spray to control the fungus. Not often, about three times during the growing season is enough for reasonably clean foliage. Because my red clay soil is acidic I didn't have any trouble with leaves turning yellow. Instead my own root RdV never grew much. I blame myself because I got lazy with the weeding and feeding schedules. My solution was to buy her grafted from David Austin Roses Ltd. Grafted she has been a monster rose that is tough as nails, which is how I recommend you grow her.

AND YOU MUST GROW HER!

Simply put this rose is drop dead gorgeous when in full bloom. The Old Garden Rose flower formation is sheer perfection. The color is a wondrous blend of deep pink shading out to soft purple. THE ENTIRE PLANT IS FRAGRANT! Yep, canes, stems, foliage and flowers have an achingly sweet and spicy perfume. Just handling the foliage will make your hands smell like roses. And the foliage is this lovely shade of blue-green that sets the cool colored blossoms to perfection. She isn't much of a cut flower (short vase life) but as a garden specimen is hard to beat. Grown up a support and allowed to cascade down, and when in full spring flush, she will literally stop traffic. I know because my neighbors comment on this rose every year. Oh and one last thing: the canes are thornless. THORNLESS! Need I say more?

Image of Reine des Violettes by Christian at Hortiplex.

molineux, excellent information!

Thanks so much, molineux, inspiring information!

Molineux, can you tell me what your "feeding schedule" for RdV is? On HMF, they say that this, as well as Souv. du Dr. Jamain,need to "eat" a lot in order to flower well, and you confirm this, but I would like to know from your personal experience exactly what this entails so I can try it...thanks, bart

Molineux, does your RdV rebloom throughout the season? I have two, both grafts, and they bloom beautifully in the spring (I have acidic soil, I suspect that's important for this rose) but I never get much rebloom during the season - a couple of blooms here and there. All my roses only get one feeding a year - a mix of organics (including alfalfa meal) in the spring. I used to fertilize a couple of times during the season, but now I have too many roses and its too expensive. A lot of them seem to rebloom just fine with this regime, and for the ones that don't, well, I just accept them as once bloomers and live with it. But for RdV, I might make an exception, if you could let me know if it'll make a difference? I also don't spray, but I have to say I haven't noticed much in the way of bs on RdV.

I do think that RdV might not be the best OGR for a beginner. How about starting with Rose de Rescht (a great little rose, ALWAYS in bloom for me, no disease problems, beautiful!) or Comte de Chambord (also a champion bloomer and very healthy)? Or if you want something bigger, Maggie is an excellent bloomer, and actually, Mme Isaac Perrier, who I always thought was going to be a diva, has a gorgeous spring flush and then reblooms quite well! Both of the latter get a little bs for me, usually during July in the hottest weather, but then they seem to shake it off and are fine.

I grow Reine des Violettes without spraying, and it thrives in my organic garden setting. It gets blackspot and drops its leaves, however this does not diminish vigor or hardiness.

It does well with organic fertilizers and topdressings.

In early spring I put down a thick layer of rich black compost followed by Organic Rosetone when the canes just start to bud with leaves. I then follow with a commercial rose food about once every four to six weeks. My RdV is growing up an iron tuteur. At the base I've constructed a rose well by mounding up the soil into a large ring around the base of the plant. During the hot summer I give her two to three big buckets of water every week.

In the spring the rose literally covers itself with purply-pink fragrant blossoms. So much so the sheer weight bends the canes down from the top to the ground. When she does this she causes automobile accidents. She then slowly doles out a steady stream of blossoms until she flushes again in the autumn. NOTE: this rose doesn't repeat until she is established (about her second or third year grafted, longer if own root). Even then she is rather stingy between her spring and autumn flushes. Don't get me wrong, she DOES repeat. During the summer there is always at least one or two blooms on the plant but in no way can she compete with the rapid repeat bloom of a Floribunda or one of the better shrub roses. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Molineux. I bookmarked this page and am going to try to follow your program as much as possible with my RdV. Sadly, organic fertilizers are not (easily?) available here in Italy; I will try with alfalfa and manure,and also the regular watering. I'd be satisfied just to get the one good spring flush! It's frustrating, because the plant, as a green plant, does well in my garden; no chlorosis or real disease,very big and vigorous,about 5-6 feet on a tripod. If only I can get it to flower properly! regards, bart