And the last ones...

VICTORIANA - another oddball and one of my faves. Unfortunately it died a few yrs ago. I have one on order at RVR, for over a yr now! I sure hope it's going to be one of the ones they restock this month!

WORTHWHILE - now this one is the tallest one! Gets almost 6ft and the blooms are phenomenal. Huge and beautiful!

I also have HARRINY, but it's not doing so hot. Doesn't bloom or grow much. Might be in too much shade. Altho I have a lot of teas in that bed that are monsters...

Ok so, everybody show us your LeGrice roses!!

WooHoo! Great pictures. I have pretty much the same ones you have, but I'll put them in order and post them soon.

My Choice is a great big grafted rose from Cliff's moving sale. Gorgeous big blooms.

News is another own-root rose that does quite well without grafting.

Nimbus is another of my favorite roses. It has no problem growing big on its own roots and it keeps changing color, so it's entertaining. These three are all Nimbus, at different times of the year and different stages of bloom.

Ripples is a medium-sized own-root rose from Vintage. It's getting weaker each year, but I've had it for about 10 years now.

I killed three Tom Browns from Vintage before buying a good one from, of all places, Heirloom. This rose is a gem. It's small, but all the blooms are beautiful. I'd kill for a grafted one.

It looks good from any angle.

Vesper's another rose that changes color. Sometimes it's almost beige and other times it's peachy-orange.

Victoriana is another one I killed three times in the own-root version before buying a grafted one from Cliff. I cherish it.

Beth, It would be a dream come true to walk through your garden! All those odd coloured roses... Nimbus, Tom Brown, Victoriana, Lilac charm, Vesper, Grey Dawn... I would love to see them in real life! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you LG! Zuzu's got 'em all too!

Gorgeous pics BTW Zuzu!! You're right about VESPER. It does get a nice range of colors. Sounds like we're having similar experiences with these roses, even tho you have cooler temps over there. After posting my pics last night, I emailed RVR to see what the status is on my backordered VICTORIANA. I don't expect to hear back til Monday, most likely. I also have PAPI DELBARD included in that backorder.

That Nimbus and Tom Brown are stunning! Wow! Gorgeous coloring. I like unusual coloring.

Vintage Gardens, Sequoia, and Hortico used to be such good sources for LeGrice roses, but now they're increasingly hard to find here. I wish Ludwig's would carry them. Wouldn't it be great if some of those Ludwig's roses we can't find on HMF turn out to be alternative names for Legrice or Dot roses?

Miss Vintage and Sequoia... and all those "sometimes-available" roses from Hortico.... I think those Ludwig roses not found on HMF are mostly their own hybrids

So sorry Zuzu! I completely missed that some of the photos were from your garden. You and Beth are very fortunate to be able to grow all these lovely colours! I thoroughly enjoy your photos. By the way, if you tell me which unknown Ludwig's rose you would like more info on I may be able to help (a little bit!) as I grow quite a number of them and watched many others grow as I visit his nursery at least once a month just to walk through the rows of blooms and to leisurely study them - better than any spa or coffee shop.

Beth, for several years Vintage had a retail store within walking distance of my house. I used to walk over there and load up a big shoe box full of bands. Sometimes I wasn't content with just the amount I could carry and had to call a neighbor with a car to come and get me. The bands at the retail store were $7.95 in those days, and there was a 50-cent table for bands that had lost their labels.

What a great offer, LG! The most intriguing one I can think of offhand is Fragrant Peace, which has a denomination code linking it with Jan Spek Nurseries, but HMF has no photos of a Spek rose that resembles Ludwig's gorgeous picture. I've been burned before when I've ordered a rose based on nothing more than one glamour shot, so I'm hesitant. Is it really as pretty as it looks on the website?

Another is Amber Panarosa. The photo reminds me of Apricot Sky, a Barni climber I wanted for a long time. I bought one from Roses Unlimited, but it has stayed short and "runty" for the last 5 years, so I'd love to replace it with a stronger one. Ludwig's does carry some Barni roses, so I'm wondering whether Amber Panarosa might be the same rose as Apricot Sky.

Here is my one and only Le Grice rose... Pearl Drift

Only one, but a really nice one.

Very pretty!!

Lovely roses! Might have to search out a "my Choice"!

Beautiful! I don't have any LeGrice roses. Hmmm...maybe I should fix that!

I have mostly the same LeGrice roses as Beth and Zuzu, though mine don't necessarily look or act the same. For instance, I was sure that Amberlight would be short (2-3') so I put it out by my mailbox. Wouldn't you know, it's one of a few mailbox roses that routinely wants to be taller than 3', and in a cold zone to boot? In fact, I might wonder if my plant from Vintage is mislabeled, since it has not the barest hint of apricot or butterscotch in the blooms. Here's an average shot:

In fact, some Amberlight blooms later in the fall faded to a lighter pink but they had noticeably fewer petals and "eyelash" kind of stamens:

Weird how LeGrice roses can differ so much by conditions, but he's kind of champion of the "oddball" rose colors anyway. In fact, My Choice tends to open up to those eyelash stamens too when it gets going, like below (there are more petals hidden behind these open ones that you can't see well):

I dearly love Nimbus that I also got from Vintage and each year I have to breathlessly wait to see if it has survived my zone 5 winter. Surprisingly, since a lot of Le Grice oddballs aren't very hardy, Nimbus has been consistent over 5-6 years, but it almost never has surviving cane. It's one of the classic roses that typifies that indescribable in-between color of "greyge" when it's feeling mysterious...:

...though it masquerades as pink many times.

Ripples is one of the few Le Grice roses still actively available (Rogue Valley), and it's a nice usually lavender color (not a great photo, but this was a new rose for me last year):

Jocelyn only survived one summer with me (very winter tender) and she never got beyond the brick orange tone that a lot of russet roses can get in the heat.

I also tried Goldgleam, Grey Dawn, Tom Brown, Vesper, and White Spray, but none of them survived more than a summer for me. At least Tom Brown is available from Heirloom and Vesper from Rogue Valley (sometimes). I have Tom Brown back on order this year even though he's a long shot in my zone. He did survive one average winter only to die from gardener error (grrr), so he's worth at least another try.

Lovely photos folks! I definitely need to give Vesper another try as that one has that haunting Le Grice color!

Cynthia

Wow, do I love all your Le Grice roses, Beth, Zuzu, oldrosarian, and Cynthia, including the so called oddball colors, which I think are my favorites. The ruffles and flourishes are just frosting on the cake. Your photos really do these roses justice in their many subtle changes of color. Thanks for posting such interesting rose photos. Diane

Super pictures, Cynthia. The difference in those two Amberlight blooms is amazing, almost as though two different cultivars were budded onto rootstock.

I love those eyelash stamens. Kathleen Mills has the most prominent ones in my garden.

I do not need anymore roses but Nimbus is really really pretty. Y'alls pics are soooo pretty!! Judy

Beautiful pictures Cynthia! I hate to tell you this, but I'm pretty sure that is not AMBERLIGHT. I've never seen it look like either of those colors. It's interesting tho, whatever it is.