It does look like a lovely rose Steve has it got a perfume?
Jan.

JAn - very regrettably not much perfume ... unless you call sticking your nose right into the bloom and taking a deep sniff perfume (sigh) ... cannot have everything all the time.

Steve, I only saw it once, and the foliage had been ravaged by powdery mildew, which had been cleaned off leaving the damaged foliage. What's your experience with PM.

Welcome back from China Lozza! Any rosey news?

Thanks Pam. this was a really great trip. Sorry to be off-post. Went with a delegation from Beijing to Zheng Zhou, claimed by Chinese to be Central China, but geographically not so, though with so much desert (30%) they do have a point. There are 3 million people in the city proper, but 7 million if you include immediate environs. The 1st China Rose Exhibition was held there, and do they know how do put on a spectacular event. It was fabulous, and I will eventually write up my impressions. At the official opening, a drum band of at least 20 drummers together with a brass band also of more than 20 players provided a noisy but gay musical background, concluding with explosions of pneumatic (I guess) cannons firing coloured streamers and paper into the air (attached). Roll on Olympic Games.

Also pleasing for me was the cuisine in Zheng Zhou, which includes at least 4 tasty soups with each meal. I consider it a wonderful privelige to be made so welcome in China.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose show opening in Zheng Zhou

Sounds like one amazing trip Lozza. Welcome back. Did Jean go too?

In answer to your question re PM - mine is grown in a fairly shady spot - about 3to4 hours sunlight/day and I can't say that I've noticed PM on it much and we're now heading into the longer darker days of autumn. I guess there would be more flowers and less lanky stems if it was positioned better. The season has also been uncommonly good with PM and blackspot .... hardly seen any about.

Hi, Steve,
how is your Ian Thorpe doing?
This year for Mothers Day, I bought my mum a bunch of roses which I found out were Leonidas, then found out it wasn't much of a rose outside of the glasshouse, then was told that Ian Thorpe was the next choice for that colouring.
On my computer, your piccie looks quite red?
That dull, tobacco-sort-of colour with the lemon reverse was really what I liked. Was it just my computer (or something) or is your rose that dull sort of colour?
How do you think it would do in Brisbane? or is it a rose for cooler climates?
thanks,
Annie

I'm glad you mentioned the colour Annie. I thought it was just me (or my computer), but 'brown' was the least apt description I would think of for the colour. Is this just some sort of technical rosarian name for a particular colour. I HAVE to know! Maybe you can fill me in Steve (please).
Cheers,
Dee. (she who knows little of roses)

Well, I can tell you that Leonidas was definitely a dull-clay-tobacco-sort-of colour with the lemony reverse.
As soon as I saw it, I just fell in love.
Probably not everyone will love it and, quite possibly, here in Brisbane, the colour will not keep well in the garden but it was very unusual.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a piccie of Mum's roses.
Annie

Annie,
It sounds lovely to me. I also love 'Julia's Rose' which is more unusual in colouring, almost coppery at one stage. I've just bought one and I hope it is as lovely as I remember!
I just googled up some pics of Leonidas and I think it looks lovely. mmmmmm...temptation to buy...but where would I put it???!!!
Cheers,
Dee.

I emailed Magic Gardens when I thought the rose I was after was a Delbard and she was the one who put me straight. She also told me that Leonidas was a glass-house rose that hated the garden and that Ian Thorpe was the closest for that colouring.
Annie

Correct, but I repeat my warning.

so Lozza, you don't think it would do well up here?

Seeing is believing. The rose is susceptible to Powdery Mildew. If you can handle it, then go for the rose. It was only the foliage that was poor. It's a bloom that I like very much. It's the old story, we're buying a plant, not a flower, and it ought be healthy, not only novel.

Dee & Annie

I'm sorry the pic didn't quite come out as brown as it really is in realy life. It is the closest to Leonidas in colouring I've seen - truly. My Ian T still has much leaves on it and as far as I can see - no PM. However - as none of my other roses around it has PM - I would imagine that given another season and time - it would succumb to PM like some of my other roses - I'd have to succumb to the spraygun. I've tried to fiddle with the colouring here to give a better impression ....

{{gwi:2113049}}

I think the back of the Leonidas' petal is more yellow than Ian Thorpe's.
I've found my Leonidas is coping much better in a sheltered DRY spot. Don't ask me why - haven't a clue; but it has, and is holding much more foliage than before and it even had a few decent flowers. It's not a vigorous rose.

Thanks for posting that picture again Steve...I do believe you, I was momentarily confused! lol. I will look out for it in the nursery so I can check it out properly.
Cheers,
Dee.