I have PJP, Sugar Moon, Secret's Out, JFK, Bolero and Moondance in my white garden. PJP, Moondance and Secret's Out hold their blooms the longest for me. Sugar Moon was new in my garden last year so didn't bloom as much as the others. It's really kicking in this year though and blooms are seeming to last longer...about a week right now, but we had a really mild spring. It's really heating up here now, so will know soon how the blooms hold up in our summer's high heat and humidity.

Luxrosa -- 'Georg Arends' did get hit with blackspot here in NJ -- as did almost all the others, with a few interesting exceptions, notably 'Golden Buddha' bred by Paul Barden, which has remained PERFECT save for the occasional mildew on a leaf or two (and this says A LOT about a rose in the mid-Atlantic), and the only spray I used was neem oil, baking soda and dish soap in water as a modified Cornell mixture a few times up until late June. 'Georg Arends' shed damaged leaves rather quickly, and did get to an "almost naked" stage once, but leafed out again rather quickly. Keep in mind that this is a rose that came only this Spring as a band from Vintage. I let it have only a few blooms, and yes, they were VERY VERY fragrant -- strong, sweet "old rose" that is said to be "pure Centifolia" but being as I've never smelled a Centifolia, I can't comment on the comparison. They were a monochrome, unshaded pure pink, shaped like a typical fat Hybrid Perpetual cabbage but with the folded-back pointed-petal look of a Hybrid Tea. Considering its ancestry (it's about 3/8 Tea and 5/8 Hybrid Perpetual), that makes sense. Oh, and the plant is completely thornless -- I still haven't found the first thorn. It's growing as though it will be a short climber, or at least something that would do best with a little support -- like against an open picket fence -- so I have it where I can attach it to the lower part of the deck railing as it gains a little more height. I think much of the vase-life is a result of it taking a couple days to fully open, due to how many petals it has. Once opened, it holds up another couple of days. I cut one in the "loose-but-closed" bud-stage, sepals fully back, and gave it to my neighbors who share the yard with me. They kept it in a vase inside right by the window where I could see it while working in the yard, and I watched it unfurling over a couple days. By about the fifth day, it started looking as though it was finally past its peak. And I can't imagine they did anything more than stick it in a vase with plain tap water. If you can't find a plant by Spring, let me know and I'll try rooting another piece of mine. I was hoping to interest Linda Loe of Long Ago Roses in growing a few rooted cuttings of some things I picked up from Vintage which don't seem to be available elsewhere, so at least they don't disappear from commerce. 'Georg Arends' was one of them, so I was going to root a few anyway. HelpMeFind has Pickering as one of the other nurseries carrying it, but it's not on their current HP inventory on their website (perhaps they used to carry it?). Hortico may be the only other way of getting it in the US, though once again, I don't see it among their current HP inventory. :-) ~Christopher When it arrived and was repotted, April 25, 2013: First flower I allowed to open, May 22, 2013: A pic showing 'Georg Arends' on the left ('Nouveau Monde' on its right), taken September 2, 2013. At this time, it's recovering from going naked. This post was edited by AquaEyes on Sun, Sep 29, 13 at 2:09

Thank you modest goddess, kentucky_rose, and Jay/Jax. Glad you like the collages! Jay/Jax - Fragrance typically is reduced in high heat and low humidity which characterizes my summer hot weather. Typically Molineux has a light tea fragrance; recently I've noticed that the scent is stronger when we've had really hot weather, in my case 100 to 105+ temps. I didn't notice the scent increase until couple of months ago when we started having a lot more of these very hot days. I hope this rose works out for you if you get it; I can't comment on disease resistance other than to say it's very disease-free in my climate. Ann

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate your input! The clematis paired with Evelyn is Mme Julie Correvon, a sort of wine red, very easy and vigorous. I had originally planted her to be a companion to Aloha. But Aloha seemed to have all sorts of trouble opening, so Evelyn got her spot and is filling in nicely Halloblondie, Looking forward to see all your blooms soon, you have a beautiful garden. Malorena, Thanks for the Munstead Wood recommendation, she was near the top of my Austin list already, I might just have to go ahead and get one. How wonderful to have a surprise Evelyn. Nicole I’m sure Evelyn will be great for you, I’ll need to pay more attention to Boscobel. K S I just got Abe this spring, love the scent and the form, I’ll have to put him in a vase and see how he does. Diane and Stephanie I enjoyed your pics of Golden Celebration, I have one too that blooms well here (below with Iris Florentine Silk) However, I still find in my garden, Evelyn lasts much longer. I’m hoping to find another that lasts like Evelyn, maybe she doesn’t exist. I tried to pair GC with her own clematis, Tye Die, but they they didn’t coordinate well...you can see a few spent GC blooms at the base of Tye Die...I need GC to last just a bit longer! Ingrid, I totally agree...I also have limited experience with Austins, but among mine, Evelyn is clearly the longest lasting.