Wow, that is beautiful! I have never seen Jude the Obscure this light, almost white color.

Hmmm, I just looked up at the ones I cut 3 days ago and they're still lovely in the vase. Maybe cut younger bud /earlier in day?

Well I will have to see if this is true. This will be my Jude's second year and she didn't bloom much on his first year.

Psst... jjpeace... Jude is a "he" (and dang that was one depressing book...)

And so was 'Tess of the Durbervilles', Cecily.

What, you wouldn't name your baby Sorrow? Tess is also a very lovely rose.

Oh dear I have just realised from this post that Jude the Obscure was named after a book! I have just read it online and yes what a depressing story!

I guess it does fit the rose as just when you think the flower is beautiful and it's getting somewhere it shatters in front of your eyes which is like Jude's life really.

I was thinking why Austin would name such a feminine looking rose Jude, but now it makes sense.

I seem to remember that back when I had a cutting garden in the 1990s, the important thing was to plunge the stems into water immediately after cutting, because the stems would draw water up in those first few seconds after the cut was made. So if possible, take your pail out into the garden with your sharp knife or pruners. Cut in the early morning when the cells are turgid with water . Take the flowers to the kitchen or whereever you do your arranging, and make another cut, underwater if possible, or immediately before plunging into your vase or pail of water. The second cut can be just 1/4" or 1/2" off the bottom, or more depending on what height you want in your vase as you make your arrangement. (I had several of those tall cone-shaped flower arranger's pails that I would take out into the garden, and sometimes use for large informal arrangements; Amazon sells some "flower buckets" by Craft Outlet.) Also, there are keep-fresh products you can put in the water. And do I remember correctly that changing the water daily will also help keep the flowers fresh longer?

My Jude isn't a year yet and no blooms so very curious what color it will be. Karen said she's never seen it this light. Could it be a different rose?

The bloom does look somewhat different, though beautiful, with maybe more petals than most Jude blooms. But I'm just speculating. Diane

The blooms of more fragrant flowers have a tendency not to last as long, there is an interesting article about this:

http://www.rose.org/clippings-articles-from-janfeb-2015/fragrance-in-roses/

so from this perspective I suppose it's not really surprising the petals do not hold up well, since Jude the Obscure is regarded by some as the most fragrant variety of rose.

I don't think my Jude is all that fragrant, and I've grown it for almost 11 years. Diane

Thank you all, this is definitely a Jude. I bought it from THE DA agent rose nursery in town and I have seen their Jude in flower - looks the same as mine. It is peach sometimes and paler other times. Smells citrousy as Jude should do. Often it is more cupped than this. Less petals in summer and more petals in cool weather. Thanks for your thoughts but I think the poor vase life is not operator error as my Evelyn lasts 10 days in the vase and Happy Child will last 3-5 days. Both of these are also sweetly fragrant. Diane have you tried to use Jude as a cut flower? How does yours last?

Here is what my JtO looked like. As Diane noted, it does not have as many petals as yours. It is more cupped and your is a bit flat.

My Jude is actually very cupped most of the time:

And he is equally peachy if not even darker than the one in Karen's photo in summer. There were not as many petals when the weather is hot. Now that it is cold he has lots of petals and a beige tone, which is unusual as most roses have more intense color in cold weather.

These look more like JtO. Perhaps the weather and soil types or ph can result in variations of coloring and even number of petals! Whatever it is, I hope my JtO looks like yours someday. I much prefer your version over mine!

KarenPA have you tried JtO as a cut flower before? How does yours do?

At most 3 days. Sometimes maybe two days depending on when I cut them. When I cut them in the stage photoed above, probably 2 days. Now, I have not tried them cut when the bud just opens. I got mine as a band from heirloom. This year the rabbit did a number on it and it is not looking good. Can I ask is yours ownroot or grafted?

Jude doesn't last very well in my bouquets, either, but length of time is variable, depending on weather and if I cut the bloom at just the right time. Evelyn and Brother Cadfael last longest for me, followed by Princess Alexandra OK (sorry, but I get tired of typing out that long name). I find that my wine red and purple blooms are terrible for bouquets, but I still use them because I adore those colors. My Jude is grafted on Dr Huey. Diane

Try cutting her at a little tighter bud. Also stick her in the fridge vase and all for a couple of hours after making the arrangement. I find this to be one the best things to keep them lasting long. My Huntington Rose wilts in just 24 hours if I don't do this, but will last several days if I put her in the fridge for a few hours just after cutting.

I will try that, SoFL. I've never thought to do that. Diane

Thank you SoFL I must try that trick.

Karen my JtO is also grafted - on fortuniana.

Diane, it was that picture of yours that enabled me to buy JtO! I find my PAOK not that long lasting either, may be 3-4 days. Big Purple lasts quite well for me though.

I don't think PAOK's blooms last even that long for me, but she's a continuous, huge producer, so I'm not complaining--I'll just use the fridge trick that SoFL suggested next time I use her in a bouquet--like tomorrow. I had two Big Purple roses, and I agree, the blooms last, were lovely, and smelled great, but there were so few of them in my garden, that I removed the two plants this spring. So big and healthy, too, but taking up lots of prime real estate in my small garden. I still feel bad about it. Diane

I am surprised to hear that you have a small garden Diane! I thought with the big Fred M and Brother C that you must have plenty of room.

It's small and crammed full. Poor Fred is working his way back to full size right now after being knocked down to about 2 feet tall by our Nov. Arctic blast. Jude is coming along faster, but still has a ways to go to reach full size. Bro didn't have much damage, so is in full bloom and size. Very interesting to see which roses can take the cold. My Ascots are as big as Bro, and didn't have any damage. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. Roses grow big here, as I'll bet they do you for you, fragrancenutter. Diane

I am surprised that your garden isn't that big as well Diane. Must be the illusion of the plantings. It is funny because we have the opposite problem. I want my roses to grow bigger but they don't in my zone. My most rampant monster so far is Golden Celebration. She has reached maximum maybe up to 4 feet and maybe 2 feet wide...lol.

I was hoping to grow Jude as a climber but I found out this year (ole naïve me) that Austins climb in warmer zones. I remember Jude has long canes last year but I don't expect a monster.

@ Cecily: thanks for the correction...lol. I guess I always refer roses as she because they are so delicate and called Queen of flowers.

Even though I don't get any arctic chill here I do hack my Fred M down to less than 2 feet every year as if I don't he will reach the sky. He needs a fair bit of warmth to flower I find. We don't get frost here even in winter but he stops flowering when the lower temps are less than 10 degrees C, whereas something like Felicia and Sonia Rykiel are still throwing basal canes at this temperature!

Frankly, I can do without the cold weather, and I am jealous of you, fragrance. This chill was the worst in twenty some years of rose growing because it came on Nov 15, 2014, when all the roses were not dormant, and things still looked quite nice. Temps hit about zero for three days and just messed up the roses. Didn't trouble much else. It's always the roses--what prima donnas. Anyway, there was a clear demarcation between which plants can take the cold and had no damage, or very little, and those that don't do well at all dealing with this strange, unexpected kind of cold. I've concluded that it's genetics, pure and simple. Didn't matter what part of the garden they were located in, or even how young they were. I hope this doesn't happen again, but two years ago, we had something similar, too, so an awful pattern may be emerging. Diane

My Jude is starting his 19th year in my garden, and I love this unusual rose, though he has his issues. I agree he is beautiful and unique, and I've thought so since I saw him in Heirloom's test garden many years ago. He was labeled with a number, and I knew then I had to grow "that" rose. Diane

Jude in 2020

2012 Brother Cadfael and Jude. They still grow together.

2022

The fence is 9 feet tall. Diane