Carol, I hope your Yves Piaget has a magnificent year. Mine took a few years to get going.

Beth

Beth and Mary - thanks!! I really want to love this rose!! :) Good thoughts. :)

Carol

First bloom today on Charlene. I have one from a local nursery and one from Edmund's. The nursery one is quite a bit further along and in the ground. The size and form is as expected but the bloom is quite a bit paler than pictures I'm seeing here and elsewhere and I don't detect any scent at all. It's early times yet and there are plenty of buds. Despite up and down weather I don't see any signs of disease.

Mine is still a water hog, no buds, no blooms and fried foliage even though I moved it to a place where it's more sheltered from the heat (before the heat set in). I will give it time, but I'm not impressed by this one at all so far.

Oh no. That's not a good sign. Mine were somewhat sheltered in the afternoon when the heatwave hit. I know the potted one was over fertilized by the nursery because the person who checked me out warned me not fertilize it. I'm surprised about the fried foliage. The "florist rose" designation gave me pause but I've had other Meillands with that designation that have done well. Hope we all have good luck with her as time goes by. Maybe I'll reconsider placing the second one in an all day sun area.

From everyone else's photos and descriptions, it seems to be a great rose for most gardens. Mine is very hot and dry. This one just isn't impressing me so far, but I can't fault the rose. It's a rough climate. The roses near it are doing great though. :-(

(the roses near it at Peach Swirl and Raspberry Cream Twirl.)

The roses I moved into the spots my PCdM were in are all doing great too... so I don't think it was the previous place either. (The roses in the spot my PCdM used to be in are: Stainless Steel, Florence Delattre, Neptune and WWII Memorial Rose).

I think PCdM just doesn't like anything over 90 and needs a lot of water or a more humid climate.

I'm excited to see these pictures! I bought PCdM at Home Depot a week ago, it's only bloom was crusty and tired and I have not found as much info as I generally can.

What a pretty rose! I love how frilly and romantic it is.

Hot and dry here too. I don't expect much of any of my roses after May. It will be in the mid 90's and above until October. I do expect them to stay alive though. I have a few Kordes roses that keep blooming and St Patrick and Lava Glut are always troopers.

I moved my PCdM to a more sheltered spot from sun (still gets a good amount of sun though) and it still gets crispy foliage and is a water hog. :-(

I hope mine ends up looking like all of yours! It did get damaged in the windstorm we had a month ago or so, but it's been the slowest one to recover. It was growing fast before when I had it in a hotter position, but the leaves kept wilting. Now the leaves don't wilt as much, but they're crispy. Not growing very fast at all. No buds. :-(

Here's one of mine now...

The rest of the roses and the espaliered Cara Cara orange along the fence line here are all doing great so I don't think it's the conditions.

PCdM just may not like dry heat and the intense sun in my yard. It may need even more dappled shade. It's staying where it is now though. I'm giving it a few years to make it. :-(

I waffled back and forth over wether or not to buy this one, but when earth angel failed to show any life this spring I knew I had two spots to fill, and then my local garden center had them all nicely potted up and full of buds so I just had to do it. Might be the first time I have ever paid $40 for a rose but looking at this first bloom makes me think I made the right call. Its hard to argue with all those petals...

These pics give me hope. My first bloom was very very pale but the form was the same. I bought two of these so I'm hoping that as they grow up a little they will assume the proper color. The bush is very healthy and I have not had any sunburned leaves even on the hot days. I think half day sun may be the best spot for these in my hot dry climate.

Romogen ... gorgeous! You too ebharvey! If it ends up not being the right type of rose for my yard I'm sure I can find someone locally in a little cooler microclimate that would love to have this rose.

Beautiful pics of gorgeous roses. Here's hoping mine performs as well. Our tour took us to Monaco and the royal palace yesterday, where we saw Prince Albert walking through the street to the Palace.

A few more comments on mine:

In our hot and dry drought conditions my two plants acted a bit differently to each other. The one planted in the soil did not do much - partly due to the fact that a frangipani tree nearby sort of grew all over the plant and as it was so hot and dry, I just let it be during summer. ( I am intending to dig it out and pamper it in a pot for a while before finding a better spot for it in the garden). The one that was planted in the pot really took off like mad. The pot is placed right next to the house wall with some reflective heat although the spot only gets morning and early afternoon sun. Her foliage was very healthy up to now and I did not see leaf curl like Cori Ann mentioned. No mildew or black spot (she is next to Butterscotch and Augusta Luise which was purchased at the same time (AL is a blackspot magnet!)). Very tall and no crisping of flowers. We did however have a few severe wind storms which blew off the petals completely. I think another year or so and the plant will be exceptional. Cori Ann, I really hope yours improves with age, it really is a lovely rose!

Disclaimer: Please excuse the weeds and cracks in some of the pics. We had some damp issues and the pics were taken before we could get the experts out while the other pics were taken in the midst of the sudden showers we had so nobody could go out and weed.

Looks very healthy in the pictures. It's 101 today and Charlene is blooming. After the first very pale bloom, this time around I got blooms that look like the pictures that have been submitted here. The fragrance is very nice. I'm not seeing the tall shooters on this bush yet but my one still in the pot is starting to shoot up so I agree it will be tall. So far I have six buds on a rose that went in the ground not too long ago so I'm happy with the vigor as well as the bloom color and form.

LG, it looks like it could be trained as a climber. I will have to check on how my friend's Princess Charlene de Monaco rose is doing.

LG yours is so tall! That's what I planned for mine... and that I would train it laterally. Looks great. It's a bummer mine are not doing so well.

Marymm is your foliage looking good in the 101 heat? Mine crisps. The leaves are so thin. I'm going to give it time... but I have already kind of resigned to giving both of mine away to someone in a cooler part of the Bay Area if it doesn't work out here.

Well it's early times yet and it's still short so it's not getting the full brunt of the heat yet. Once it clears the little three foot fence it's next to it will be in six hours of sun. I have a number of roses that get leaf burn on their new leaves after the heat hits. It never kills them and I just wait for fall. Sometimes I think about figuring a way to provide a little shade in my all day sun side yard but haven't figured out yet. It's really brutal but they survive.

I bought this on a whim and then saw this thread so I placed PCdM in very bright shade and she seems to love it there! We've had a week of 90s here and she's still pushing out blooms. Anyone know if she is resistant to disease/blackspot?

My new this year in the ground Charlene is blooming well and not showing any blackspot or leaf burning in our 90 plus days. My Kordes and my later editions of Meilland roses have been free of blackspot this year as have my Julia Child and Easy Goin'. I don't usually have blackspot but the weather was up and down this year. My bareroot Charlene that hasn't gone in the ground yet is also free of blackspot and in full sun with no leaf burning. My climbers Don Juan and Pearly Gates have been hit heavily with blackspot even though they were completely leaf stripped at pruning time. They are never perfect but this year has been bad. Frances Meilland and Sunshine Daydream have been completely blackspot free, not a leaf. it does seem like the breeders are making an effort to produce more disease free roses. Good to know that Charlene does well in bright shade.

I may move mine to bright shade too then. Still no blooms, but a bud or 2 might be forming. We have had some weather less than 100 for the past week or so, no recent burning leaves in the past week. I hope I can find a spot it likes in my yard because all of yours are gorgeous!

In my area which is very similar to Sacramento I always figure I won't get many blooms past mid-June, except the small fried ones. They fire up again in September and bloom until December. Two exceptions are roses like St Patrick and Fourth of July. My friends in old neighborhoods who have limbed up their very tall trees and grow roses under them with morning sun and mid-day shade have better luck in deep summer.

Ok... my Princess Charlene de Monaco(s) are finally starting to resemble some of yours! Not sure if it's just a few extra months, a few applications of silica (Protekt by Dyna Gro), a combination, or something else... but something seemed to have really helped my two Princess Charlene de Monaco(s). The fragrance is one of the absolute best I have ever experienced!

The new leaves do still seem to be very thin on mine, and slightly bent in that holly like fashion, but they seem to become stronger with each application of overhead watering with silica (Protekt).

The old burnt leaves are still there, but no recently burning leaves. The stronger, less diva-ish Raspberry Cream Twirl is photo bombing here. :-)

Even if it is in my head, I'm going to keep applying silica to these. The fragrance and the bloom is worth a little extra TLC. They're still water hogs in my yard, but a bit of overhead watering with silica is helping that too. It is rightfully a "princess," needing extra care, but it is absolutely lovely. Yay!

Wow just beautiful. They are so peachy. My two new ones have really shot up. They are going to be quite tall bushes in my garden. I think I’ll prune them gently this first year though. Also they have been disease free here.

Jade - gorgeous and wowza!!! :)

Carol

I sure love mine! Lisa

I love the form. Mine are pinkier or peachier depending on the time of year. Beautiful arrangement with the blue.

Lisa!!! What a wonderful arrangement!! Gorgeous!

Carol

Thanks. I just love her for cutting. She’s VERY tall, and her blooms will fade in the harsh sun. I almost always cut them, so they don’t get a chance to fade. lol She also has a wonderful fragrance. One of my favorites. Lisa

Wish I could smell the fragrance!!

Carol

Such lovely photos!!

I was considering getting Charlene de Monaco as a tribute to my mother (named Charlene). I didn’t know nearly anything about the rose and only saw photos of how beautiful it is. I will DEFINETELY be buying it come springtime!

Note: my mom is still alive, I just think it would be a nice thing to think of her every time I’m in the garden, or for her to see “her rose” every time she comes over

These pictures are stunning!

I just went to order and saw that the flowering season is just the summer. We are spoiled with late February to mid December blooms and I wonder if she will have a short blooming season here? Only three months of blooming will definitely damper my enthusiasm!

Lisa and Cori Ann, are yours still blooming now?

Yup. :-) I’m not home right now, but here’s one from last Sunday. Foliage from lots of others in there too.

Nor cal also, north of Sacramento. The rain here didn’t knock them out either. They seem pretty much done blooming for the year but they were just planted in the spring. One was bareroot mailorder and one was potted from the nursery. The bareroot caught up to the potted five gallon by mid summer.

OK Cori, SOLD! I'm going to try half a dozen or so and see how they do, thanks!

Just scrolled up and read how tall some of yours are, oh dear. But she's so beautiful, reminds me of Diane's Augusta Louise that isn't available anywhere.

I need to take a deep breath and THINK before ordering this year, LOL!

LL if you can grow then as climbers, or if you have a place for a tall rose, I would really recommend it. The height is perfect because it’s right there to enjoy the fragrance, which is fantastic. The only thing I should warn is that I notice mine need more water and more attention (feeding, etc) than others to be their best. I don’t feed my roses normally, but this princess gets fed.

Thanks for the tips! All of mine seem to want to be climbers here unfortunately. 85 degrees today and they're all still blooming but unfortunately still growing...

I'm so looking forward to getting this rose! I ordered from Edmunds for next spring. Last year I hemmed and hawed, wondered if it would go on sale, and then it was sold out lol! Sunset Dreams from Palatine also looks similar to Augusta Louise if anyone is looking :)

So it needs more feeding, good to know. One of mine came from Edmunds and it was as vigorous as the potted one from the nursery. I can see how it could be a limber. Glad I put mine next to the fence, back of the bed.

She’s tall alright! Mine is still blooming today. I love this rose! If I could make her about 3F tall I’d grow a dozen! Lisa

Dingo that's exactly what I did with Charlene de Monaco this past year! Then kicked myself for not getting her sooner. Definitely getting her. I like tall and climbing roses here because the chickens pull off the flowers on the lower growers lol.

Found this old thread and just love the shape and color of this rose! thinking about getting it as a short climber. and I just called Regan today to add more roses on my order... OMG if I call them again they probably will think am crazy. Do you have this rose? Thoughts?

Both of mine are tall and lanky so I really think this would work.

What happened to romogen (whose photos, above, are outstanding)?

And, any update on Cori Ann (who also commented, above)?

I think Cori Ann mentioned she was going back to school so maybe busy studying? lol