Baronne Prevost: "Meant to be a California girl," or "West Coast girl," oh please. But it's good to know that she repeats and behaves well somewhere. What are the British books that dissed BP? I see that David Austin writes in The Rose: "Baronne Prevost has magnificent, perfectly formed blooms and strong upright growth." (p. 69 with a whole page photograph). Botanica's Roses, 2nd ed 1999, which is largely a British (Peter Harkness, Peter Beales, David Austin, John Mattock et al) plus Commonwealth production, notes on Baronne Prevost: "Extremely popular for many years, this early Hybrid Perpetual retains the shape of the Old Rose form. Large, globular buds open to full, fat, quartered, pink blooms that fade with age and make most attractive cut flowers. The stiff, stout canes are covered with attractive foliage and short red prickles. This tough, compact shrub blooms in summer with an occasional autumn repeat and is best placed at the back of the border. It likes sun and rich soil. ..." (p. 105) Now, of perhaps more interest to the OP, David Austin on Paul Neyron (from The Rose, p. 72): "In the past this rose was regarded as having the largest flowers of all roses, and I suspect that this may not be far from true today. It is in every way a very large shrub, with large leaves and strong upright growth. Unfortunately with size comes clumsiness, as is so often the case, but of the flowers are cut and mixed with an arrangement of other flowers they can be very effective. Their color is a deep rose-pink flushed with lilac; they're cupped in shape and have a light fragrance. ..." Botanica's entry does not add anything (other than a bit of PN's history) to this. My *North Carolinian* experience with HPs in general, notwithstanding a few very notable exceptions, is that they are not good rebloomers and throw out very long canes after their first (which is often pretty much the last) flush. I now grow more HPs here in England mostly because they rebloom and behave a bit better here. However, mind you that, despite their family name, Hybrid Perpetuals are generally known not to be all that perpetual. And regarding location, location, location, Virginia is in most respects probably closer to North Carolina than to England or California, and its, uhm, girls. Andrea

Hello Susan, Because of winter die back here, my Cressida is cut to a few inches tall each winter and has to start from scratch. She usually puts out 3 or 4 strong canes that grow to about 3 feet and branch moderately. She then blooms in flushes every couple of weeks over the course of the summer and into October. Mine is quite healthy, less blackspot than many of my other roses. Another plus for Cressida is that her blooms stand up to the worst of summer heat and humidity and she is potently fragrant regardless of how hot it gets. When I grew her on the west coast (zone 8), she was a short climber as others have described her here and she did not seem to rebloom as well as she does now that she is growing as a short bush. So she may be similar to Charles Austin and bloom and perform better if she is pruned hard and kept shorter to encourage rebloom. Might be worth a try. Cheers, Rideau Rose Lad

I can't understand these reviews. Perhaps mine is not a true Parfum de L'Hay? All I know is that it is my favorite rose -- outstanding in every way: fabulous fragrance, vigorous growth, first to bloom and last to stop blooming. Finally, don't tell anyone, but the petals are super amazing to eat! I make rose pastries to die for. And I cultivate all the most fragrant roses: Gertrude Jekyl, Papa Meilland, Mme Isaac Pereire, and many more, yet this is the star of the show. "Old Rose" fragrance too, not just funny fragrance. Since you say it does not repeat, mine must be something else, so I should re-name it. Very dark red, and loaded with thorns.

I, too, have just discovered this plant, and have planted it in part shade, moist soil, amended with lots of compost and organic matter. So far it is growing, putting out new leaves, and some have a reddish blush to them. I expect it will spread slowly, and could be a groundcover with multiple plants growing together eventually. It has to make it through its first winter however, so the verdict is still out on this one. Good luck with yours.