Hi, Sunnyside, I admire Papi Delbard a lot and have looked at a lot of pictures of it. I have noticed that it is rated zone 6b on helpmefind, so I don't know if it would do well for you or not in zone 5. When I look at the gardens that do grow it on hmf, I noticed that there's no one lower than 6b that lists it in their garden. Celeste lives in NH and grows a lot of roses. She doesn't list them on hmf, but maybe you could email her and ask, if no one responds from up your way. Mad gallica seems to be saying that it won't do well, but I could be mis interpreting.

Carla, I ordered Papi from Roses Unlimited this year, they always send really healthy plants. It is potted up now, very healthy. I have seen a couple of blooms and they are lovely. I cant attest to its health/hardiness but I got a good plant, the blooms are pretty and I like it. I, too, want an Alchymist, but it only blooms once and I lean more towards remotant bloomers. I would say - get it! [no self control!] Judith

Nahema is insanely perfumed...but is, I am afraid, leaving my garden on account of persistent die back, uneven and gracelessly stiff habits (a climber? - I think not) and horrible ugly foliage. It isn't the unyielding stiff canes which annoy me because Meg, grown nearby, has similar (but a hugely generous single summer flush), it is the uneven distribution of large yet brittle canes and parsimonious amount of blooms (after 4 years in FULL sun). For sure, a single bloom of that silvery-pink is lovely and the fragrance is to die for.....but. A few years ago, one of the larger garden companies like T&M or maybe Unwins, were heavily promoting Delbard roses - a couple of people I know bought a set (the painter series and Papi Delbard) but they are/were complete rubbish in a damp and cool English summer. However....in Crete? I also grow a few renaissance roses which, as a group, are all very tall (6-7feet), very stoutly upright (almost like a fastigiate yew in profile with blooms somewhat out of reach or sight) and horribly predisposed to blackspot (at least in my allotment). However, they do produce very good flowers for cutting and have a reliable, if delayed, rebloom (a second flush just coming along now). The sort of plant which makes a good freestanding specimen but assorts less well with others, especially those of a looser, more tumbling habit.

When I take a picture of a rose, it is just a rose, but the photos of Aamir have emotion, atmosphere and something original in them, that makes the person looking at the photo imagine a story or feel something happy or melancholic. I sometimes can smile or shed a tear or have goosebumps when I look at such moving photos. And as lesdvs said, the colors of the second photo is really astounding, so unique and beautiful. I think Aamir's colors in his photographs are the best colors I have seen on photos of flowers - really mesmerizing. Thanks Aamir for this moment of happiness you gave me browsing your photos.