Right away I thought about the only 2 Meilland HT's in my garden; Peace and Dark Night.

Oh yes--Peace should have been listed first! The most beautiful rose, in my opinion. I don't have a picture of one since I quit growing Peace about 10 years ago--BS magnet, unfortunately. But as beautiful a bloom as you could imagine!

I don't know Dark Night. Anyone have a pic?

Kate

I only have one (although it has at least 4 different names) - The Charlatan, aka Sweet Pretty, Pink Sakurina, Astronomia.
I so wanted this rose to be a goodie....but it isn't - terrible mildew every year. Shame, as it could be a lovely little rose.

These roses are not really very good in an English climate but also, this breeding firm tends to have roses which are really not to my taste at all (same with Delbard and Barni).

Keeping with the theme of my favorite color class (the oddballs) the obvious choice for Number 1 has to be:

EDDY MITCHELL / DARK NIGHT
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And Number 2, would be a close tie between:

LEONIDAS (this photo taken in early spring before it turns that fluorescent orange and bright yellow)
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and:

TERRACOTTA
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dublin, what happened to your Eden climber? Your pic is beautiful. I've read that it's a poor bloomer. what was your experience (before it died of course, lol)?

Oh, I love Dark Night!

View1ny--the sad tale of my Eden climber. Had her best bloom ever last spring, and then went into decline for the rest of the summer and was dead by August. I could figure out no reason nor could anyone here. I had another favorite rose a bit earlier that same season also go into a slow mysterious decline--branch by branch slowly turning brown--and die by mid-summer. All I can think is that the drought we had the previous summer used up all their stored resources and after they put on the spectacular spring bloom, there was no energy left to go on. Or it was some kind of disease, the only symptoms of which was the slow browning of first one branch, then another, etc., until nothing was left. So sad--and so puzzling.

Back when Eden was "normal," it didn't have a strong re-bloom, but it did re-bloom. It's spring bloom was the show-stopper, however. I really miss it.

Kate

I forgot to mention that I love the look of Beth's Leonidas. It's hard to imagine him as florescent orange.
Here's Abbaye de Cluny. Diane

And finally, my second runner up, the lovely Colette. Check out the Huntington climbers thread at the top of the Rose Gallery first page. It shows a mature Colette. Wow. Diane

Here's one of our Dark Nights. I like this rose a lot.

My favorite Meillands would be Bolero and Papa Meilland probably. Dark Night and Peace are my honorable mentions.

Jay

This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Tue, Dec 17, 13 at 16:01

I'm really liking Dark Night. If my disease-magnet Gypsy Carnival doesn't shape up this year, I might turn her in for a Dark Night. How is DN on disease-resistance?

And Colette--beautiful! If only I had more space!

Kate

Well, after Peace, I would have to say Love & Peace. It's a rose I didn't grow for many years because I thought its coloring was too harsh and gaudy compared to Peace. I've gotten over that and now think it's bright colors contrasting with its dark foliage are beautiful.

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Then, I would say Gina Lollobrigida...a rose I don't see mentioned very often, but one of my favorite yellows.

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Honorable mention goes to Rouge Royale. Huge, stunning blooms with a wonderful fragrance, but not my most prolific bloomer.

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Oh wow, dublin. That is a sad tale. I hope the rest of your roses stay healthy & bloom their little hearts out.

I'm counting the days until spring 2014.

I saw Easter Basket a couple of years ago at the Tulsa rose garden, and of all the hundreds of roses there, this one really stood out. Loaded with blooms, healthy foliage, nice rounded bush shape. I didn't realize it was a Meilland until later......I'm always interested in Meilland roses as they seem to be more tolerant of our climate then many others. My two favorites are Yves Piaget and Rouge Royale...... I'm liking that Love and Peace and Collette too. Peter Mayle is really striking in person, but I've read he's a space eater and that's something that I'm in short supply of....Not much of a fan of the funereal black-red roses but it looks like it could have some form...Maryl

Kate - I am so glad you started this thread. There are several Meilland roses I have and I love them all, most of them are good performers for me. Pat - I definitely want to try Love and Peace now, yours is gorgeous! I will have to choose Peace as my Number One choice.

It is not easy to choose the favorites, Pink Peace was such a good performer this year I will have to choose it as my second choice. Honorable Mentions would be The McCartney Rose and Big Momma.

Love and Peace has Peace as a parent, but it was bred by Ping Lim and Jerry Towmey back when both were with Bailey (I think).

Pat--your three pics are gorgeous. I used to grow Love & Peace--a beauty--but after I moved her three times, she just never took off again and succumbed to BS between bloom cycles. I miss her.

But I think farmer is right--while Love & Peace was "introduced" by Meilland, Meilland didn't actually breed her.

Love the other "peace" pics also. Meilland roses are about as photogenic as Austin roses are--different as their roses look!

Kate

I checked Love & Peace on HMF:

Bred by Ping Lim ï¼Âæ 彬 (United States, 1991). Bred by Jerry F. Twomey (United States, 1991).
Introduced in France by Meilland International in 2002.
Introduced in United States by Bailey Nurseries in 2002.

Sorry about that. Still love it, but guess it technically doesn't qualify as a Meilland. I grow both Peace and Love & Peace. Peace is my favorite, but L&P is more BS resistant here. Both will spot unless sprayed, but L&P doesn't need it as frequently.

Sara Ann, I love your Pink Peace. I've often wanted to add it to my garden, but I'm running out of room. I was debating between it and Peter Mayle a couple of years ago. I chose Peter Mayle instead, but it pretty much shuts down on me when the weather heats up. Kate, is your Peter Mayle a good bloomer for you? I'm hoping it will improve in time.

Here a mile and a quarter or so from the beach in Santa Monica, Dark Night has been a nice looking shrub in its first season. The foliage is dark and glossy, with no mildew, rust, or black spot yet. The blooms are occasionally stifled by high humidity, but not often enough to take away much from the overall value of the shrub. I don't catch really any fragrance though.

Jay

This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Wed, Dec 18, 13 at 2:08

Thank you, arbutus, for the additional information. Sounds promising, though I'll have to research Dark Night more if I decide to put it in my Midwestern garden. I'm keeping it on my reserve list for now.

About Peter Mayle: Maryl, in my garden, Peter Mayle is not a "space-eater." In fact, it has been a rather narrow, vertical/upright bush and I've wished it would be a bit fuller on the sides. Maybe its narrowness is due to where I planted it--on the west side of my neighbor's garage (along the property line) stuffed between two bigger and more aggressive roses that maybe force Peter to grow vertically in order to get high enough to get his share of sunshine? Don't know.

Pat, Peter Mayle is a fairly good bloomer for a rose that produces the biggest, fattest blooms in the garden. Like Valencia, which produces the second biggest blooms in my garden, Peter is a bit slow on the rebloom. I think it is because it takes longer for big/fat blooming roses to make those big/fat blooms! On the other hand, nearly all my roses slow down considerably--even shut down-- when we get into hot, hot, hot August--Peter Mayle included. But when Peter (or Valencia) actually bloom, they sure can be show-stoppers, so I forgive them. LOL

Kate