Thanks! Jasmine, I really should have Oklahoma, not sure why I don't. Ken, I used to have Kardinal, it was a good rose for me too. I drool over minifloras and minis all the time, but haven't tried them yet. Sharon. Francis Dubreuil is a beautiful rose. Iris, thank you. Firefighter is a good rose, even though I know I've complained about its bloom production, that has improved a lot this year, at this point I wouldn't be without it. LFR can produce some gorgeous blooms, it's a good rose! Kate, I love your Baveheart and Eutins, beautiful picture of Oklahoma, I don't think including Red Intuition is cheating, or including Munstead Wood either, those are both gorgeous roses and close enough to red IMHO, besides I always love seeing those beautiful pictures! Also thank you for the kind words about my reds. Also Kate, I enjoy the bush shots, so beautiful !

After seeing your Firefighter Sara, I HAVE to have it! Perfect.

Hands down, the best red rose I've ever had is Veteran's Honor.

Mine is LD Braithwaite. It's a baby, not very prolific thus far, but the blooms have totally charmed me.

Thanks. Kublakan, now that VH is a perfect bloom, gorgeous! Ninkas, that's the second vote for L.D. Braithwaite, must be a good one!

So pretty Sarah, you have so many to choose from!

I just don't have a good red rose.

I would love to have one...but...Mr. Lincoln didn't have one bloom this year. It's just declining every year, and this is its last year here.

I had Veteran's Honor - but it died. the first year.

I have Velvet Fragrance. It stays small - but the fragrance is incredible. I don't like how it shows its stamens so quickly.

Alec's Red is showing some promise.

Oklahoma - blooms twice a season, and not much at that. Although it finally after 5 years has fragrance.

I would love to have an over the top fragrant red rose.

The roses shown here are all beautiful!! I would love to get Braveheart. Can't find it around here.

My vote is also for Veteran's Honor as an excellent red. I always look forward to blooms on this rose, not only for its beautiful color and form, but also for its refreshing raspberry scent.

I only have two, this is Vet's Honor and I have a Mr. Lincoln. They're both beautiful but in their first year. I look forward to seeing their blooms next year and getting some more reds.

Beth, you have gorgeous reds, American Dream is so lovely, and I especially like your dark reds. Karen and Dan, I must say Veterans Honor does seem to be just about perfect, both of yours are beautiful!

I don't have a ton of reds. For some reason a lot of them don't seem to winter well for me. I do have Oklahoma which is OK but not a prolific bloomer and very spotty.

And Veterans' Honor which is gorgeous and lasts forever but also a spot magnet.

I just got Black Baccara this year and it's lovely but the blooms are very tiny compared to other HTs, maybe only 2 to 3 inches in size. I have some minifloras that have larger blooms!

The only one I have is Munstead Wood (oops and also Maroon Eight)

Those are lovely reds Seil and mustbnuts

A picture of LD this morning :-)

I have three true reds, but to me the camera always seems to give them a slight orange cast .

Velvet Fragrance, a favorite

LD Braithwaite, another one I won't be without

Out of Rosenheim

Mossy, your reds are just lovely! I sure would like that Velvet Fragrance. That is one going on want list for next year.

Ninkas, gorgeous picture of L.D. Braithwaite! Mossy, your reds are beautiful!

My Velvet Fragrance (like you said - more red than that) has a most wonderous fragrance. But it is staying way shorter than any of my other roses. It didn't do very well this summer. I'm going to give it another year to shape up. It exposes its stamens pretty early in the bloom. Mossy - your VF looks way nicer than mine do. What a lovely form!!! I really love your Out of Rosenheim!!

Ninkasi - wow!!! Love the look of that - looks like Othello.

MustbeNuts - love your Munsteads. They look amazing!! How big are your MW's blooms? Mine (first year bare root) don't seem to be very big - maybe 2 inches.

Seil - I love your BB!!! What a lovely color!!! I hear you about the small size blooms, as that's what why Munsteads are doing. Your VH looks sensational.

Danuv - Another fantastic picture of VH!! Well done!

Karen - raspberry is my favorite rose fragrance. Mmmmmm..... VH sounds wonderful.

Beth - Oh come on now!! Sooooo many reds!!! And they're all gorgeous. :) Koronshu (sp?) took my breath away!!!

Thanks everyone for the red lovelies!

Carol

Carol - is your Velvet Fragrance maybe own-root or on Dr Huey? Mine is on Multiflora from Palatine, is in it's second season with me, and is generally 4-5' tall, a good bloom producer and pretty healthy. I'm loving it.

Everyone's reds look gorgeous here! Thanks for the kind words :-)

I either got mine from Hortico or Palantine - so I think they both use multiflora???

Mine is about 1 foot high. Sigh.

I'll see if it improves next year. It was to meet a cold winter outside - left for dead. Now, having seen yours, I'll keep it safe in the garage, and give it another go.

Thanks!

Carol

So many beautiful reds! But I am particularly taken with Velvet Fragrance -- sounds very much like what I'm searching for for a particular place in the garden.

Those of you familiar with Velvet Fragrance, can you give me more info. I've checked HMF, and would like input on the following:

• How disease resistant --that is BS resistant-- is it, compared with other HTs?
• Is the bloom a red red--or does it get a bit orange-red at times?
• How does it do in heat--compared to other HTs?
• How cane-hardy is it?
• Do the blooms tend to fall apart after several hours of blooming? Or after a rainstorm? Weak necks that bend before any kind of stress?
• How is it on re-blooming--compared to other HTs?
• How tall? I actually prefer a rose for the selected spot that stays between 3-4 ft tall--although I have a couple around there that get somewhat taller.

Fragrance is very important for where I will place this rose, but I already know it has a good strong fragrance, so no problem there. : )

Thanks for any input.

Kate

Rosecanadian, my Mustead blooms are about 3--4 inches across. I have had the plant for three years now. Your's could be smaller due to your climate and how old your plant is. My Alnwick rose has small blooms (about and inch across) while others that grow it seem to have much larger blooms. Hopefully yours will get bigger soon. Oh, my Munstead is on its own root as well.

Thanks mustbnuts! I'm hoping next year will be better. :)

Kate - the color here is a dark red. Necks are strong. Blooms last a long time, but here they open quite quickly.

Carol

Since we are expanding red to include Munstead Wood--my favorite Austin--I just have to include a pic of mine.

Munstead Wood--don't you just love that dark, dark burgundy red?

Kate

Oooohk Kate!! That's wonderful!!!

Carol

Kate - my Velvet Fragrance is one of my more disease resistant HT's - I've seen 2-3 yellow leaves at the bottom of the plant , never more, and I spray when I can talk myself into it, but not nearly as much as I should, maybe 4 times this year.

It is a true dark red to my eye, sorry the photos don't get the right color, but it is never pink or orange toned. Sometimes an old bloom turns rather purple.

We don't get as warm as you probably do, but we had a lot of high 80-low 90's this year, I didn't notice it effecting on VF. Same thing regarding coldness, we don't get too cold most winters, maybe altogether a week in the teens, and a few weeks in the 20's. Didn't bother it.

The blooms open like most HT's, not too fast, and the blooms last what I consider quite awhile, at least a week or more. I don't see many stamens, it has too many petals.

So far the bush is staying about 4' high, next year could be a different story since it is grafted on Multiflora. I hope not.

There are quite a few buds starting to open right now, I will keep track of their progress speedwise and let you know. It really is one of the best roses I've grown.

Thank you rosecanadian and mossy for the info. on Velvet Fragrance. I'm very seriously considering getting it to replace Oklahoma which doesn't have much endurance though the blooms are a beautiful dark red. It would be at the entrance to my Perfumed Path--even the name seems appropriate, doesn't it!

I hope a couple more posters comment on the cold hardiness of Velvet Fragrance. Most of my HTs have to be early-spring pruned down rather low, due to winter damage, but then they jump into gear and bloom fine for the rest of the season, so my main concern is do they suffer so much winter damage that they can't really revive well after that.

Kate

In my yard, Velvet Fragrance's fragrance is waaaay stronger than Oklahoma's. And much nicer too.

Carol

Favorite red rose is Mr. Lincoln, but also have Alec's Red and Love's Promise.

And the particular color hue of Black Cherry floribunda, I do not know how to describe it, it's really something special. It's almost like it has a subtle black undertone.

Nobody talked about Olympiad.. Don't have a picture of it now but I love it!!!Mr Lincoln is in my list for next spring;)

I would agree, Olympiad is a beautiful red rose, even though it's not fragrant, the blooms are just about perfect. I'm thinking about getting one for next spring. Velvet Fragrance sounds wonderful!

I should be banned from this thread because I really dislike red roses. However, let me qualify that by saying that, while I do not like the true reds or those with an almost orange cast, I do like the richness of the purplish red roses, of which a few are shown here. Kate, I have to ask, what is that beautiful pink rose behind Munstead Wood. I'm guessing it's another Austin but I'm dying to know which one.

Have an Alec's Red blooming right now. The smell is different from all the other red roses, it has a very delicate slightly sweet almost strawberry-like fragrance. I mean the smell has a strangely "pungent" quality to it (more the 'intoxicating' type of pungent than the bad type).

Chrysler Imperial smells strongly 'rose-like' (damask fragrance) but sharp like alcohol perfume. Everyone has their own preferences but I much prefer the true red hue of Mr. Lincoln to the more mauve hued undertone of Chrysler Imperial.

The smell of Mr. Lincoln is sweeter as well, and not sharp, though from my experience not quite as strongly scented as Chrysler Imperial (although Mr. Lincoln is supposedly considered "very fragrant"). Mr. Lincoln has more of a pure damask scent, somewhat sweet, in my opinion.

Ingrid, I absolutely love dark red roses they are my favorite. It's the light yellows that for some reason have never caught my attention. My moods are always changing though so who knows.

Jasminerose4u, that Olympiad looks so red red, I think I might need one of those. I bought a Veteran's honor from a nursery this spring to be my "true red" but it was in a pot and ended up not watered and drying up when I had to go overseas. I never even got to see it bloom.

Dan, I don't think my camera captured the true color of Olympiad very well. It isn't quite that orange. The photographs on Help Me Find Olympiad capture it better, but reds are so difficult and can only be appreciated in person. You are right. It is red-red. Olympiad is a rose I very much enjoyed even when it was not in bloom.

I love red roses and wish I could grow all the ones on this thread. The gardenweb is my virtual garden. Here is Black Magic:

That's very pretty. I agree, I wish I a space where I can plant a big variety of these different reds in a group. One day!

Ingrid, you asked about the pink rose blooming behind Munstead Wood in my pic above. Yes, you are right--it's an Austin. His The Wedgwood climber. The outer petals are whitish, the center light pink. It is lovely--and quite BS resistant also. I was in the hospital earlier this summer, so it didn't get any attention all summer--but seems to have done fairly well all on its own, I think.

Here is last year's pic of The Wedgwood:

I like to show off the beautiful purple-blue clematis also. : )

Kate

Love your Wedgewood!!! And the combo with the clematis is amazing!!!! What a sight!

Carol

I brought a bunch of roses to the last rose club meeting--the rose that got the most attention was Dolly Parton, a fragrant red HT rose.

Does anyone have a picture of Dolly Parton? I've never seen it in person.

Yeah, I almost got Dolly Parton this year. Just wasn't sure if it would be different enough from Fragrant Cloud, it's parent which I have.

Carol

I got Dolly Parton this spring. It's been OK but I'm not thrilled with it. It doesn't have the form I was expecting. Usually the centers are really messed up and it could use a few more petals too. It blows rather fast so it would be hard to get to a show. It also black spots quite a bit.

Hmmm...good thing I passed on it. But maybe yours will improve over the years if you keep it. It does look pretty though.

Carol

Thank you Seil. I've been told it is a difficult rose to grow, but the color and fragrance have intrigued me. At this point there are roses I want more, so I don't think I'll be getting it any time soon. Your picture looks pretty, maybe it will improve for you, I hope so.

Oooooh!!! Lovely!!! I love it!!

Carol

What beautiful roses! I highly recommend Firefighter. In addition to be a great red, the fragrance is outstanding. I cut one bloom and had it in my house and it's scent took over the whole first floor.

I tried it one year, and it died!!! I've never had a rose do that before. Didn't even give me one flower. I must have left air pockets in the soil or something. I should try it again.

Carol