Though their blossoms are very much alike, 'Sweet Chariot' is a draping miniature (lovely in a hanging basket), while Vineyard Song is a large Shrub Rose. It ran a good 6 ft across here, and maybe 4-5 ft tall, though it was miserably unhappy.
Ralph's plants tend to love a hot climate -- and it is all Multiflora in its intolerance for alkaline conditions.

I think if it were really happy, it might achieve the dimensions of Excellenz von Schubert, which it resembles.

Jeri

I have both Sweet Charity and Vineyard song and I agree that the blooms are very similar (both very fragrant). Unfortunately, my Vineyard Song is on my SP list after trying (unsuccessfully)for 3 years to ammend my soil to its liking. It suffers from chlorosis and is very unhappy here. My SC, on the other hand, is healthy and happy; however, I am growing it in a container and it is much easier to control soil ph, moisture, etc.

-G- Not Charity (tho for sure Charity is wonderful).
It's Sweet Chariot -- as in "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home . . ."

:-)

I'm sorry to hear from someone else who had that chlorosis problem with Vineyard Song. That's a Multiflora, for 'ya.

Jeri

If your conditions are very alkaline (join the party) I'd advise you to avoid, for the most part, roses that have a lot of multiflora in their genetic makeup.

That would include many of the world's poiple roses. :-(

You'll also have severe chlorosis problems with rugosas and hybrid rugosas. :-(

!Que lastima!

Jeri

Jeri, where can I find if a rose has Multiflora? I want to avoid buying/planting roses that dislike the ph of my soil. I don't mind adding a little sulfur once a year to turn my hydrangeas blue, but I don't want a constant battle with adjusting ph for my roses, since I have so many of them.
Thanks,
Molly

Molly -- You're right.

Paid members of HelpMeFind can see whole pedigrees of roses. As a dog person, I'm right there with looking at the pedigree, to determine what characteristics the offspring will have.

A lot of poiple roses are heavily multiflora, and R. multiflora was the basis for Polyanthas. (Reine des Violettes was often so chlorotic here that some of the leaves were WHITE.)

I love the found rose, "Forest Ranch Purple Pom-Pom," because it's one of the few poiple roses that doesn't struggle with chlorosis here.

Jeri

Thanks, Jeri--now I will know what to stay away from. Like Scarlet said "I will never eat turnips again" (or something like that).
Molly

I have Vineyard Song! It is really cute and I love it. And the fragrance is very pleasant.

I guess must have I ordered it five or six years ago, I forgot from where, but it was a very very small band and didn't make it over the winter -- so I thought. A teeny- tiny little shoot must have survived, which I nurtured, not knowing what it was anymore, the label having disappeared. This spring I found what I thought was a rose seedling with tiny leaves growing in a pot and that I thought I would keep, just to see what it was. Lo and behold it this spring it had lovely fluffy, rosey-lilac flowers and was sweetly fragrant. I thought it was a mini-rose, perhaps, but didn't remember purchasing one. I would have remembered buying such an unusually fragrant mini rose. I compared it to Sweet Chariot, which I also have, and which is doing fine. Not that. When I investigated, thinking to transplant it from its pot to a permanent position, I found a woody twig under the soil from which it was growing and realized it had never been a seedling, and it was a ringer in all respects (except for its tininess) for Vineyard song. I can't really remember ordering it, but I have nurtured along several other twigs in pots that got injured over the winter in years gone by and lost their labels, subsequently. I thought were done for for sure: they are Autumn damask and The Nun -- they are also both now blooming still in their pots (abeit as rather small spindly plants). Strangely, this tough winter, which has been so hard on the hydrangeas, has not affected them. I guess they were all saved by the snow cover that lingered in the spot by the north-facing wall where they all winter over. No photo, alas.