For me Lady Hillingdon has never faded that much but it does receive shade from a tree in the afternoon which doesn't seem to inhibit its blooming ability. Souvenir de Pierre Notting didn't really fade either when I had it but its color to start with was already a light yellow. Before you think of buying a hybrid tea, what about some of the yellow Austin roses?

Ingrid

Of course they fade. And I think Ingrid nailed the best: Lady Hillingdon. Some clones must be much better than others. I have a dud, but I see plants that are 7 feet tall in Mill Valley.

I like buff Teas. If I want bright blinding yellow, I'll plant Sunsprite.

My 'Lady Hillingdon' fades in summer as well. However, for what it's worth, I have a dud too: it blooms willingly but doesn't want to get over 20" high. Perhaps those seven foot giants don't fade....sigh...I want one like that.

Melissa

If you decide to go with an English Rose then MOLINEUX is the most disease resistant of the yellow group. It starts out bright canary yellow then fades to cream right before the petals drop. Sometimes the color is blended with shades of orange and coral but that just adds to the beauty of the flower. Most yellow roses fade to some degree, so instead of looking something that is "colorfast" you might instead want to choose a rose that begins brilliantly than fades to a softer tone. Two other such roses that come to mind are Golden Celebration (English) and Duchesse d'Auerstädt (Noisette). Good luck with your search.

Patrick

Even here where the sun intensity equals the sun intensity of latitudes similar to the Manitoba province my Lady Hillingdon fades:

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Climbing Lady Hillingdon in a sheltered position with filtered sun does not fade. It is one of the few tea roses I can smell, which is the only reason I go through to trouble growing it since it needs winter protection.

Alexander Hill Gray is almost white to begin with. Golden Celebration is a beautiful color. Souv. de Pierre Notting is a light yellow to begin with. Etoile de Lyon is a nice color, darker than Notting. Lady Hillingdon still reads very warm yellow to me even in the summer, but mine has afternoon shade. She's so worth getting. Even if the older blooms fade there are still plenty of new blooms that are darker.

Oh dear. Don't you already have Hillingdon and Lyon too? I would consider Notting to be darker than Dudley.

Niels, I'm amazed at how light your Lady Hillingdon is in bud stage. Mine have never been anything but a deep golden-apricot yellow at that point. I wonder if this rose actually needs more warmth than you have to show its true color. Having said that, I still think it benefits from afternoon shade (at least in So. Ca.) to hold its color better.

Melissa, my Lady Hillingdon is already over two feet and constantly blooming even though I purchased it as a tiny band this spring. It was either from Rogue Valley or Vintage Roses. I don't know whether you're able to order from the U.S. at all, so this may not be of help to you.

Ingrid

Lady Hillingdon here is exactly like Niels'. Rarely do I get those apricoty-egg yolk yellow blooms. Sigh.

Jerome

Do you all think Alliance Franco-Russe would work? Such a lovely yellow bloom here and very healthy.

Pat

I have AFR and I love the lemony yellow blooms, but it is rather pale to begin with. Mine does not tend to fade, but it spends a bit of time in the shade.

Ingrid,

I'm currently plotting. IF I get to the U.S. next summer, and IF I can talk someone who owns a monster to take cuttings and send them to me by overnight mail if I pay the postage, right before I return here, and IF I can smuggle the cuttings back to Italy (customs never stops at me, I guess I look too innocent and too poor), THEN I could root them here! I don't know of anyone in the European Union who appears to have a vigorous clone: they may all be in the U.S. I would love to show a great big own-root Lady Hillingdon to the doubters who believe she has to be grown grafted because she's so feeble. Ha.

What is life without dreams?

Melissa

Melissa...my Lady Hillingdon is about my size after being in the ground (started as a band) since April 2005. You are welcome to cuttings. It is, however, the color of Niels plant. I have no clue how to mail cuttings. If you tell me what to do and keep in e-mail contact, I'll do what I can. If you are going to be on the East Coast, there are probably better options. I know Olga has a Texas-sized LH...:-)

Jerome

Jerome,

Thanks! If I get to the U.S. next summer I may very well take you up on your offer. I can tell you how to send cuttings.

I've never seen a Tea that would hold a yellow or apricot color well in heat and sun. Does yours have good color in cool weather? That's what mine does.

Thanks again for the offer.

Melissa

The best yellow tea rose I have is Rosette Delizy. It has egg-yolk yellow center with pink edges. Even in Texas 100 degree weather - the yellow is strong. Why don't you try it?

JMHO, Alliance-Franco Russe is a much better rose, much less fade than Lady Hillingdon and yes, they are planted about 5 feet part, so position has little to do with it but AFR is a better rose all around for me than LH, although I have seen Jean's and Olga's which are beautiful but I don't think mine is even remotely related to theirs. I have 2, 2 different vendors, or maybe they just do not like my area.

Melissa! I have a very nice lady hillington, quite my size ( I'm not so big!) and about a year old!
I can send you cuttings next spring!! (mine comes from p beales, very nice yellow, but in shade)
maybe easier than bringing it back..quicker, I don't know, as I heard about post in Italy!!

Melissa, I haven't been on the forum for a while. To answer your question: yes the Lady is a deeper yellow in fall for me. The plant here (about 5'11" x 7'...approximate, I have not measured) is in full-on sun all day every day, so I can't tell you what shade would do for it. Let me look if I have a picture...I posted one a long time ago.

Okay, here it is last April...just 2 years old then.

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It is good for me to take pictures like that. It has gotten bigger this season. I gotta go out with a camera soon.

Jerome

Jerome,one of mine is about 8 years older than yours and mine is about that height but nowhere near that width, never will be I suspect but has about that same amount of blooms. I say that is a paucity of blooms for a spring flush, especially when compared to the large Alliance-Franco Russe, several years younger with a multitude of beautiful blooms.

I couldn't agree with you more Patricia. I don't complain about the Lady much, because I know lots of people like her. If I lost her, I would not replace. I would not say that about many teas. If Vintage has Alliance available, I may order it. The best yellow tea here is Vintage's Etoile de Lyon. BTW, I stress Vintage, because another type is going around from other places...Vintage has the rose I'm talking about. What a fantastic rose.

Jerome

Soff,
You are very kind! Thank you!
In fact, my Lady Hillingdon is grown from cuttings that came from a rose from Peter Beales. That rose was purchased in 2001, so unless he has changed his own stock, we have the same rose. PB's Lady Hillingdon is definitely more vigorous grafted. This is why I want U.S. stock. By the way, you're right, the Italian mail's parcel delivery service is an outrage, and I use that word without exaggeration.
I read your profile and saw that you share a lot of my rose interests, also that you're a native French speaker. I can read French, though not fluently: should you want to establish contact you could write in French and I respond in English. I don't know enough old rose enthusiasts in Europe: they're not that common in Italy. You probably have more company in Belgium.

Jerome,
I still want LH. I don't know if I'll be coming to the U.S. next year: it depends on a lot of things, including how the currently plummeting dollar will be doing. I was also wondering if I could talk others with certifiably wonderful plants into sending cuttings, since even among vigorous LHs there may be more than one clone.
That's a lovely photo. I love palms and roses.

I just want to mention another yellow Tea that no one has mentioned (possibly with good reason), that's perhaps fussier than some but lovely when it's happy: Isabella Sprunt, the lemon yellow sport of Safrano. Yes, it's pale. Like Safrano, it's somewhat prone to mildew, not that it cares, but the gardener usually does. Mine is growing in the usual super dense clay and wasn't watered during our drought. It defoliated, but is now putting out new growth and getting ready to flower, not the best time of year, but what I'm trying to say is that it's not a rose that keels over and dies when the going gets tough. I adore lemon yellow flowers and wine red new growth.

I'm glad to hear good reports of Alliance Franco Prusse.

Melissa

I finally had a bud on Lady Hillingdon and can show you what she looks like at this stage. In our hot summer weather earlier she had the exact same color. I'll try to post another picture when the bloom is fully open.

Ingrid

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Like Ingrid, I get a deep egg-yolk yellow in Lady H's buds. Sure, she fades some as she opens, but in our climate, she never fades to white.
To call Alexander Hill Gray "yellow" (as someone noted) requires in my opinion considerable imagination.

Ya' need to keep in mind that the really true yellows came along in the Pernetianas and their descendants. The Teas were more in the buff range. Of course, something like William Allen Richardson will give you a striking saffron yellow. And if you find a Duchesse de Auerstadt that grows as a shrub (as mine does) you'll get a nifty yellow with no disease problems.

Jeri

My Lady Hillingdon never fades to white either, even in full sun. The blooms do lighten up, but to a paler shade of yellow.

Sandy

Cooler weather brings out the deepest colors on Lady H. here. At just under 4 feet, she is the smallest tea in the new planting-- Duchesse de B. and Monsieur Tillier are much bigger. For a big plant, why not purchase Cl. Lady Hillingdon (12-15' high, 8-18 wide)? HMF lists two sources in Italy, as well as Vintage and RU here. Gee, wish I'd thought of ordering the climbing version myself.

Barbara,

There's a very considerable difference in the management of a shrub Tea and a climbing Tea. For the former, you just dig a big hole in a sunny spot, plant the rose, mulch it, and water it the first year, and that's practically it. Climbing Teas need a structure to climb on and require regular skilled pruning and tying which I haven't mastered yet; they also play a different role in a garden design. I have cuttings of Cl. Lady Hillingdon rooting (I hope) right now, but it's not the same as having the bush form. I believe that climbers in general are less everblooming than the shrub forms.

Melissa

Melissa, for me Cl. Lady Hillingdon bloomed very well, once it got established. Graham Stuart Thomas wrote about climbers that he prefers to give them some support part of the way up and then just lets them cascade forward and downward. That certainly sounds like less work, and I think I'm going to try that with some of my climbers that are just babies now.

Ingrid