Yikes, I get a strange feeling when about to land something great. It's easy to be pulled in every rose direction, especially in Spring when the photos start to roll in. My 80 year old Japanese neighbor, the ultimate gardening mentor was disgusted with my pitiful dirt patch of two bristly shrubs three years ago when I moved in next to her artistically sculpted garden. She suggested "Get some color " so I bought a few pansies that struggled. Winter came and went . Spring she stood back and shook her head as I planted seeds, " You think their gonna grow?" To both our amazement the Nasturtium seeds I planted liked the poor dirt and North exposure. I bought a grocery store mini red rose that did terrible, a blackspot factory. Then the past summer my small garden and the two older ladies' front yards next to me that I planted, exploded with color as I spent way too much money and effort trying to do something productive for the community. Voraciously reading Antique Rose Forum daily, I went rose overboard in a good way- my neighbor smiled "Now that's how a rose is supposed to smell." This coming growing season I want to do what was always put on hold and squeezed out while I took care of other things. If I can have only a few roses to elevate my apartment backyard to an ethereal plane to escape to, I believe Gloire de Dijon is the rose for the task. I like to go out in the back yard alone to look out over the mountains, but it's probably going to become a drawing place where the parents with their kids, old ladies in their baking aprons, the young maintenance guys will take in Gloire de dijon for what roses do best. Thanks for convincing me I was right about this rose but didn't know it. Linda

Yep, I have done a brutal hack job with ZD and it did work well. It roared back into life despite being whacked almost to the crown, most importantly, removing every trace of the previous years manky foliage (ZD will hang onto nearly all it's old foliage in my walled and sheltered garden...including all the spores of old rust and mildew).My other serendipitous discovery involved the huge importance of ventilation. When my poor rose grew above the level of the high brick walls, the mildew rarely spread to the newly exposed canes...whereas those in the lee of the wall were almost white (and shrivelled looking). I now trim all the laterals until the rose reaches the top of the wall whereupon I encourage it to fountain outwards, supported by the front of my old pergola. Tall ferns bask in the shade and disguise unsightly naked legs. Extra irrigation (it hated dry roots which were exacerbated by the wall stealing water through ther porous brick) and lots of air currents seemed to do the trick of keeping disease under some more control. Sadly, this year, I have been idle and there is still a goodly portion of old leafage and low canes lurking, yet to be dealt with...but I suspect the damage is done, spores are a-sporing and mildew is in the post...again.

The blooms are truly gorgeous. Often a young rose will blackspot and then grow out of that habit when it matures. That may be more true of roses in drier climates, but I'm not certain of that. If the rose is really horribly affected I'd be tempted to cut the blooms for the house, sans the leaves of course.

Thank you for all the great information! K S...it's good to know that GdD did well for you in Seattle and it was an own root. This gives me hope!! I also bought one from HCR, so maybe I can get a good result if I move it to a hotter spot. roseseek....have you ever seen 'The Victorian Flower Garden' series? It was a BBC production from the early 80's. You can watch it on YouTube now. It shows a GdD being grown in an old glass house, and the gardener there was waxing eloquent about his favourite rose of all, GdD. Maybe that show is what got me started on this GdD obsession :) Paul...I remember you talking about the wonderful GdD you grew in that greenhouse. I actually tried to grow mine in my greenhouse, but it did terribly in there! That's part of why I began to think my own root plant was just not a good one. The stars and moons must have aligned for your greenhouse-grown GdD :) That is very kind of you to offer to bud one for me! I may try to take you up on that offer if I can't get mine to grow. Jeri....was that long ago rose a good one or a bad one? I'm guessing bad, since you no longer have it. Sheila....I would love to see a pic of your GdD! I also have 'Elie Beauvillain' and she is a stunning rose in my garden...absolutely wonderful!! 'Adam' has been a slow grower for me, but is planted in one of the worst spots in my garden so I am giving it extra time to settle in and grow. malcolm....I would love to try my hand at grafting, and since I have a flourishing 'Fortuniana' already I might try it. I will most definitely check out your videos. Thanks so much for the suggestion.