It is a vivid vivid red. Not the blue-red of, say, Louis Phillipe.
A CLEAR red, with some pink undertones.

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Jeri

I recently bought this rose while visiting Ashdown...after reading people praise it on here. Does anyone have any idea how big WP in a RDM gets?

Carole

Mine is about 4-5 years old and is a spreading bush, more open than many of my other Chinas. It's about 4-5' and I haven't done much pruning.

Kaye, how do you like this rose? Is it fairly clean in your garden? Since it is a china, it should be fairly disease resistant but I've been fooled before.

Carol

It's very cupped in form, and I'd consider it barely double (I just counted petals, and it came to 20, not counting a few petalloids).

Can't comment on east coast performance, but I know that Texans find it does well. It's a fabulous performer for us in California, no disease, rarely out of bloom, drought-tolerant, and cute as can be. It grows to about four feet high and five feet wide.

If you prune for height or deadhead by cutting back to the five-leaflet cluster, you can get some long, awkward new growth. Better to prune by thinning older/crossing canes and to deadhead by snapping off spent blooms (or not at all).

We love this rose. The name alludes to the red dragon who flies at night searching for pearls of wisdom to bring to the emperor, I am told.
Anita

Here is my WPIRDM - Sacramento Cemetery buy...
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It is a very healthy and happy little rose - Love Chinas!

A real trooper of a rose.
No disease here at the SoCal coast. And never out of bloom.
I think mine is now a bit over 3.5 ft now.

Jeri

Mine is about five feet tall and wide...
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Very nice! Thanks y'all for the pics!

Carole

Carol, this has become one of my favorites..mainly for the amount of blooms it puts out. I took one to the SC District show last month and it got a lot of notice and won the Victorian. No disease here.

Thanks Kaye, I've thought about purchasing this rose in the past but knowing it is disease resistant in an area with the same diseases I deal with is reassuring. If it is one of your favorites and disease resistant for you, then I probably need to go ahead and get it!

Carol

Thank you to everyone for their helpful advice and beautiful pictures. I am excited to be adding this rose to my garden.

I just ordered this last week from Ashdown in response to their email. All Chinas do well in my neck of the woods!

That's a beauty! Where will I put it? 5x5? Oh, my....

Sherry

It can get some blackspot in a particularly moist, half-shaded setting as I've proven myself - but generally speaking this rose is as close to disease-free as most I've seen. One rose of reddish color with even less evidence of disease (although an even greater stature) is what's sold as 'Bengal Fire'. It is almost unrivaled for spotlessness, in my opinion, not that there's really anything wrong with WPIRDM.

One rose of reddish color with even less evidence of disease (although an even greater stature) is what's sold as 'Bengal Fire'. It is almost unrivaled for spotlessness

*** You're right!
I have a young Bengal Fire, and it is among the most disease-free roses I've ever seen.
(Many red roses want to mildew here. Not Bengal Fire.)

I have tried to trace its origin, and so far been unsuccessful, but if you can find it, it's a winner.

Jeri