The fragrance is wonderful....before it opens it smells like pink bubblegum (that's all I can think of) but later it smells like an old perfume little old ladies wore years ago(like yardley maybe?)....the blooms are huge....my hubby said, "wow", when he saw it....This spring I put fish emulsion w/seaweed on it this year, for the first time, and the blooms are the prettiest I;ve ever seen....before I think I just put some synthetic fertilizer on it. I would like to try to root it....if it is quietness, HMF says it roots easily. I'm hoping to find out this year if the fish emulsion helps it bloom more than just once....last year it just bloomed once, but I was not really fertilizing it.

If a new plant was kinda wimpy and showing some BS, I might spray it lightly to help it along, but by the time it puts out an actual bloom and new leaves, I generally hold off a bit on spraying so that I can determine how disease-resistant it will or won't be in my garden. Of course, I have sometimes had a plant that stayed wimpy the first couple years--they needed help for that time with BS, but by the 3rd year they took off and I held off on spraying. However, most roses will start putting out stronger growth at least in a couple months after being planted in your garden. (NOTE: The plants I'm talking about were called disease-resistant by multiple sources--I don't buy them otherwise.) Two things I've learned about spraying my roses. 1) Most of my roses only need a couple sprays in the springtime and a couple times in the fall. They are, indeed, quite disease-resistant. Only about 8-10 of my roses need more spraying in the springtime and fall--maybe 4 times each. 2) When it gets really hot (July and Aug) I don't usually need to do any spraying. It's too hot for BS to develop in most cases. Your conditions may be different than mine, but my point is, find out which ones need more or less spraying, and then limit your spraying only to those that really need it. Don't spray everything just because a spray was scheduled for that day. Hope you can make sense out of all of that. LOL Kate

Carrie, I have a few of these. Chrysler Imperial was one of my first roses and it really does have fairly good blackpot resistance in my garden. Keeps most of it's leaves. Huge blooms that are very fragrant. I love it. William R. Smith is a favorite. The blooms are large for a Tea and beautiful. The bush is huge. Seriously. He doesn't seem to mind some pruning. I try to keep him at about 6-7 feet. He would easily be 8-10 feet if I let him go. Gets some BS here but keeps most of his foliage and regrows the leaves he loses. Mme. Jules Bouche is new to me so I can't really give you an assessment yet. So far, the blooms are very pretty, a few blackspot leaves. Mrs. Charles Bell takes a while to get established on her own roots but she really took off last year and has formed a beautiful bush that was over 5 ft tall this year. The rebloom and number of blooms increases as she gets established. Blooms are a pretty peachy pink color and of course she is fragrant. Again, some blackspot but keeps most of her foliage. CdB is only 3 years in my garden from a small band and she is over 5 ft and blooms a lot. She was fairly clean all year but started dropping leaves and having blackspot problems this fall. Still has a fair amount of foliage and has a really nice fragrance. Gloire won't keep a leaf here. I have two plants, one grafted and one ownroot. I'm glad she does well for you. I've seen BdO but not grown it, and it is beautiful! Carol

Hi there Nothingness, what part of the world do you live in? Perhaps someone else who lives in the same county or shire bought the same rose and you might find them at a local rose society. Also, if you live in a cold climate, I believe your rose may possibly be less likely to be a China or Noisette, though it could be related to one of those classes. I've grown or cared for in a public garden, all the roses mentioned so far on this thread and am of the opinion that, your rose isn't any of those. Although the foliage and pedicals are quite different, the bloom shape and color makes me wonder if your rose is related to Mlle. Cecille Brunner' which has been in commerce since 1881, perhaps someone might do a search on helpmefind.com of roses bred from Cecille Brunner, or open pollinated seedlings of it. Anyhoo, I went to the vintagegardens.com website which is a very good reference, though the nursery is closed. I looked at all the photos available on Polyantha roses and didn't see your rose there. by the way, I have a few questions that might help i.d. it, How old is your rosebush? -what is the largest it has ever been? which climate zone do you live in? is your rose fragrant at all? -is it sweetly fragrant? -or does it have a spicy scent, or a combination of the two scents? I love your rose and sure hope you find out its name, I like the thought of a study name; I'd suggest 'Grace', for it is full of grace. Good luck and best wishes in your endeavor, Lux.