Unfortunately, most OGRs do not have good vase life. The (hybrid perpetual) cultivar 'Marchesa Boccella' has lasted 4 days for me from an open bloom, which I consider to be pretty decent. I totally agree about 'Madame Plantier'; two years ago some strange weather and/or possible allergies left me unable to smell certain classes (albas and damasks), while others were unaffected (teas, gallicas, bourbons, etc.) I could still smell 'Madame Plantier'. It's also extremely healthy, thornless, leafy, supple-stemmed, floriferous, and cold-hardy. I also agree about the remarks about the qualities of each of these classes' fragrances - gallicas being softer with a hint of spice, albas being sweet and fresh, damasks pungent and strong. That was a great description of 'Madame Plantier's perfume, Melissa! I think that the rich, sweet note of the musk rose that passes to many of its particularly double-flowered descendants like this one tends to come from the petals rather than the styles. I do find that most individual varieties have their own fragrance as well, and roses with complex backgrounds tend to have complex fragrance variations from one variety to the next.

I’m in central Italy, just north of Rome and a little inland, and our place has no soil whatsoever so everything we grow here is grown in pots. I tried a few Chinese wisterias here over the first three years we were here and they grew fine in very large pots but we never saw a flower and some of their roots escaped out the bottom of the pots. We then bought several Amethyst Falls last year to grow in areas where we needed to use smaller pots, and after a little over a year we’re actually really thrilled with them. Most flowered in their first year and basically all have now flowered in their second. However, as I’d read prior to getting them, they grow far more slowly than the Chinese wisterias. A couple of months ago, after lots of research, we replaced the four two year old Chinese wisterias we had growing over our gazebo with year old Blue Moons, and as I’d read would be the case, at this point they’re growing almost as quickly as the Chinese wisterias, though they say their growth settles down after the first couple of years. The leaves on the Blue Moons are more sparse than those on the Chinese wisterias though, but personally I’m finding that more attractive, and I have to say that aesthetically I find the leaves on both the Amethyst Falls and the Blue Moons more attractive than those on the Chinese wisterias; they’re a slightly bluer shade of green, slightly less transparent and a little less veiny. As a bonus though, just two months after we planted our year old Blue Moons, we have two buds on one of them and a flower on another. And something many may not be aware of with American wisterias is that not only do they flower within 1-3 years, but they also repeat flower right throughout the warmer months. And, while the flowers on Amethyst Falls are only 3-6 inches long (still very pretty though), those on Blue Moon are around 12 inches long, so similar in size to Chinese wisterias. And, while Amethyst Falls has a very mild and unusual scent, the flowers on Blue Moon are renowned for having a particularly beautiful scent. In summary, every one of our Chinese wisterias has, over the past year, now been gifted to friends, and though they’re all now 3-5 years old, not one has yet flowered. In contrast, almost all of our 1-2 year old Amethyst Falls have flowered repeatedly over this past year, along with at least one of our year old Blue Moons. And, while the Amethyst Falls are certainly less flashy than the Chinese wisterias, they are extremely manageable and are still very beautiful, and due to their smaller size and slower growth habit we’ve been able to plant them in medium sized pots in places like our rooftop terrace, our balconies, and numerous other places where we couldn’t have anything too big. In fact, we live in the historic centre of a medieval town and we ended up buying over 40 of them, 9 of which we’ve kept for ourselves, and the remainder of which we’ve gifted to other townspeople living here in the Centre, along with some medium sized pots, and they now line several of the streets of the historic centre. And as to the Blue Moons, I’m already absolutely thrilled with them, and after initially just planting them around our gazebo, I’ve just bought another 6 which we’re going to plant either side of our rear doorways, outside our rear gate, and at the base of a very tall wall at the end of our little street, none of which I would have dared do with the Chinese wisterias. The one outside our gate, btw, is going to share a very large terracotta pot with a Papa Meilland climbing rose, though we will be dividing the pot space into two to keep their roots separate…

Donna, Very interesting account; thanks for posting! I've been sighing over ramblers and climbers for some years now, because although I have plenty of room, I have neither trees nor structures to grow them on. That is, I have a few, and they're all taken. My dream is to figure out how we can afford to take a chunk of our land off the lease agreement that currently governs it and extend our garden into it. I would plant a line of ramblers and big shrubs along the tractor road on one side of the property, and plan for some kind of pergola. We do have a strip of woods along the edge of our garden, and the edge of the tractor road above it is planted thick with every kind of rambler and climber: we take cuttings, and the rooted plants have to go somewhere! I'm a fan of once-blooming roses because, as you say, they don't ask for much. I also like scent. Your 'Gardenia' sounds like my kind of rose. Melissa

Tried the pink tuberous myself this year. Too good a discount price, at $1.50, when I checked WalMart this spring. One is more the pink type, the other being a white/lemon/pink blush on petal tips&back. Enjoy the lemon/oitrus odor, but haven't had the flowering power I'd hoped. Maybe more sun needed; don't think fertilizer is the problem. Have had better luck with these, here in western NC, than I did with 'Show Angels' from seed years back.