Gertrude Jekyll has finally won my heart
fragrancenutter
8 years ago
I have wanted to grow this rose for many years because of the legendary fragrance she is supposed to have but she has many bad reports especially from warmer zones. I finally decided to get her 1 year ago and last year she only produced a few flowers in Spring which had no fragrance!! She did have loads of thorns and no repeat after Spring. I hacked her back as some people seem to think she repeats better when hard pruned but she still did not repeat bloom. I trained the remaining canes in winter horizontally and spiral the rest up stakes to force lateral flowering canes. Finally she has produced quite a lot of blooms this Spring and her blooms have been extremely fragrant this Spring!! She is most fragrant in my climate when I cut her at half open stage of buds and bring her inside to open in a vase. The fragrance is totally worth all the trouble! She really smells very very good, and I have many extremely fragrant roses to compare with. I finally understood what the hype is all about. She is now off my shovel pruning list.
There aren't many open flowers on the bush because I cut all the flowers and bring them inside so that I can enjoy their amazing fragrance!
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Sara-Ann Z6B OK
8 years ago
boncrow66
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Gertrude Jekyll
Comments (16)i.m.h.o.,"Gertude Jekyll" appears healthy enough to be grown with organic type sprays only, where powdery mildew is the primary fungal threat and where blackspot is only a mild to mildly-moderate problem, as it is grown in Berkeleys' Public Rose garden in California, where several plants grow up the sides of the tennis court fence, to more than 7 feet tall, and appear quite healthy. Berkeley is in a cool microclimate, and has summer drought, so b.spot can't spread much,then. G.J. is one of the few Austin roses that has Old Garden Rose ancestry on both pollen and seed sides, being bred from seed: Wife of Bath which has Gallica (Belle Isis) as a parent. X Pollen parent, "Comte de Chambord" a Portland rose. There are plenty of pink H.P.s that are as fragrant as G.J. to my nose. Luxrosa...See MoreGertrude Jekyll......just one picture from this morning
Comments (16)steve_gw Sorry to hear your Austins aren't living up to your expectations. I've never seen Austins in person other than my own. Just pictures. I never know what I'm doing growing roses and just learn as I go along so I can't give any advice. I've had Evelyn, Gertrude Jekyll and Abraham Darby for two to three years and this year added another Gertrude and Lady of Shalott. Gertrude keeps her blooms for over a week. Maybe even longer than Julia Child's. It's hard to tell because they both get so many blooms. Evelyn's canes are thicker this year. It will be interesting to see how they change as they get older. I would keep in mind what dublinbay says about Gertrude....See MoreGertrude Jekyll - how much shade can it really handle?
Comments (10)Well, I'm in Seattle, so my experience probably won't be very informative for your situation. For what it is worth, I have found Gertrude Jekyll to do quite well here against a south-facing fence -- full sun for most of the day, with shade in the late evening (due to the shadow cast by a massive Graham Thomas). I've read that she has an annoying growth habit for some people (lanky, angular) but mine (obviously with pruning) has maintained a good, bushy habit and is quite an attractive plant. I've wondered if the large amount of sun she gets is part of the reason for this, or if it is because she is grafted. I do a bit of self-pegging with her longer canes too, to keep her from reaching out and grabbing someone on the sidewalk. I've been meaning to move her, wanting to stick someone else in her place (a tea or a noisette, probably) but looking at this pictures, I feel kind of guilty for wanting to evict her. She is doing so well... She is one of my favorite roses to cut for a vase, as her fragrance is heavenly....See MoreGertrude Jekyll
Comments (48)Wow, I'm totally jealous of Krista's reports and photos of both GJ and The Generous Gardener. I have a tip-hardy GJ that has never once bloomed in 10 or more years I've had her. It's not in great sun but any other rose in that area at least puts out a few blooms. TGG is in a better sun spot and if I'm lucky will put out a single flush of blooms never to be seen the rest of the season. TGG is also notorious for losing most of its canes over the winter and taking forever to regrow them, more than most of my many Austins. I suspect the snow cover in NY explains some of this, but I'm also learning quite a lot that I don't know about rose growing in my zone (I'll post separately later), so take my input FWIW. Cynthia...See More
rosecanadian
8 years agofragrancenutter
8 years agoUser
8 years agoPrettypetals_GA_7-8
8 years agorosecanadian
8 years ago
mustbnuts zone 9 sunset 9
8 years agoboncrow66
8 years ago
Patty W. zone 5a Illinois
8 years ago
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