Such a gorgeous rose -- I'm interested as well. Hopefully somebody knows.

Gorgeous blooms Ann! That's good news, hope mine does the same! Thanks.

That's good news for mine too! There are soooo many blooms, that I'm really looking forward to this bush maturing.

Ann - those are lovely!!! I want mine to have strong stems like that. Just gorgeous!!

Carol

Thanks Sara and Carol. I almost didn't buy this rose because of the weak necks but I loved the fragrance so much I decided to give it a try. By the second year, I was cutting flowers for indoors and forgot this was an issue. I didn't think by year four that the stems would be as strong, or as straight as they've turned out to be. Also, I didn't know what a grandiflora was when I bought GD. Despite my ignorance I planted it in a good spot where being 7-8 ft tall and 4ft wide isn't a problem. Good luck! Ann

I'm okay with waiting 4 years for this beauty to mature. :)

7-8 feet tall?? Wow!!!

Carol

Hope I'm not going off topic.

Is the strengthening of the canes apparent in other weak stemmed roses as they mature? I'm wondering particularly about Abraham Darby. Grand Dame is on my wishlist though, so good to know about her.

So does grandiflora mean big, as in tall?! I thought it meant they had bigger blooms. Tall is good for me!

Ann, your Grande Dame bouquet is beautiful. I wish I had room for GD in my garden.

Mbz, just chiming in here, but grandiflora is kind of a made up name for extra large hybrid teas. The ones I grow are not only tall, but tend to flare out at the top of the plant. I haven't noticed the bloom size is any larger than standard HTs. Twilight Zone and Ascot are grandifloras.

I have an Austin that's never grown out of its weak stems, with every heavy bloom hanging almost straight down--it's Young Lycidas. I have to say I can't recommend that rose for several reasons. Diane

Thanks Diane, So much to learn.

Ann, I forgot to mention, your bouquet is beautiful!

Mb

I have never had problems with stem strength on Grand Dame. And actually, she's kind of a big horse of a rose -- likes to bloom above my head. Mine is grafted on Dr. Huey, however, which might make a difference on all that.

Yes your Dr Huey rootstock makes a huge difference because that rose has been field grown for two years so you have a relatively mature plant. I planted two own root Grand Dames in November last year, 4" pots (not even industry size "bands"), they wintered over fine and this year grew slowly. Then about a month ago they finally started growing fast and now, one of them, the one that gets the most sun is 3 feet tall with 6 buds about to open. The stems are still weak and I expect they will get strong by next year.

Grand Dame was registered by Tom Carruth (the breeder) as a Hybrid Tea, not a Grandiflora, though it came from a cross between a Grandiflora and a Hybrid Tea.

A lot of people think (me included) of the grandiflora as just a big hybrid tea. I don't believe the Europeans recognize the grandiflora designation. Diane

The very first Grandiflora, Queen Elizabeth, was a cross between a hybrid tea and a floribunda. That's why the ARS considers them a different class from hybrid teas, which are crosses between two hybrid teas or a tea rose and a hybrid perpetual. The floribunda make up of a grandiflora in the vast majority of cases gives it more hardiness than most hybrid teas and more frequent bloom power - most grandifloras will bloom almost as much as floribundas and much more than hybrid teas. They also tend to have flowers on single stems but due to their floribunda make up, they experience cluster flowering more often than hybrid teas and also their stems are typically not as thick.

All the above is by "pure" classification. Many breeders don't strictly abide by the pure principle in classifying their roses but most try to.

...I've never heard of the term 'Grandiflora' used as a rose classification, not over here, as Diane says... that would be quite foreign to us I think... although I don't dislike it, and perhaps it should be a class but it's just not applied here.... Queen Elizabeth is simply a floribunda.... and we sort of understand it that way...

...I think it can get a bit confusing if different countries use different classifications, don't you?... I think so, and we have too many confused roses as it is... which perplex us all....

Oh I understand where you are coming from, but breeders in the USA use ARS classifications, so it is what it is.