I got it yrs ago from J&P. It ended up not doing anything for yrs because I had planted it and a bunch of shrubs and DAs up along the west-facing fence that has the neighbors' tall shrubs towering over. With our septic system re-do back in early 2015, we had some trees cut down and I've moved most of those roses outta that area. Good thing. I almost lost quite a few of them (did lose several). GZ died back to the bud union, but I planted it in a new spot and it's trying to recover. Still hasn't bloomed yet or grown much since then. I hope to see it do something one day. I seem to remember it blooming the first yr I had it, but I don't see any pics in my current files.

Moses, I was attracted to this rose as well, but couldn't find it last Spring so I got Bella di Todi at instead when I was at Ludwig's Roses when they were still up and running. BDT is a lighter yellow though, but with a similar number of petals.

I may look to get GZ too, because I like the darker yellow hue.

Cynthia- How is your Golden Zest doing this year? I read another post that says she doesn't do well on her own roots. RU seems to be the only grower who offers her though. I love your photos of her. She's such a beautiful golden yellow and has the Austin form which I love.

Sharon

I forgot how beautiful this rose is. What a gem. Hope to have it soon. With my Julia Child's, Irish Hope, and my hope to get Karl Ploberger soon also, my rose garden could be bent heavily toward yellow blooms. This brings me to a good question for my fellow forum members I plan to post shortly.

Moses

Cynthia, how is the disease resistance and shrub habit of GZ? I love yellows but I haven't been very pleased with Golden Celebration - awkward shrub and not very disease resistant. I don't know the parentage of GZ but it appears so similar to GC - I was hoping for an "improved" version.

So far this year Golden Zest has survived yet another winter (its third) and that alone is enough to recommend the rose to me own root as opposed to grafted. Having said that though, it seems to be slow to regrow from the ground. Like most of my HT and floribunda roses it dies to the ground each winter and this one seems to rebound slower than some. It also means the bush is shorter than advertised (around 3'). Still, I like the rose and I can wait till late summer/fall for blooms when it's this short.

I'm pretty tolerant of BS Dave but I recall this bush being pretty good at avoiding the worst of BS. I'll attach a photo from August last year and you can see that not only are the leaves at the bottom of the photo absolutely clean in BS-heaven time of late summer, the color is still the dark golden that we're looking for. I've had poor luck overwintering Golden Celebration and you're right that most of Austin's yellow fade to cream pretty quickly in the hot sun. Better ones to stay yellow are HTs or floris such as Ch-Ching or Henry Fonda, but they don't have that great Austin shape.

Bottom line is that this falls into the "very nice when it blooms but not a powerhouse" category of roses in my zone. I suspect that even a zone warmer she'd keep canes over the winter and be a much more impressive rose. I'm tempted to get a second plant to try in my protected area because the blooms are so lovely.

Cynthia

Thanks, Cynthia! Great info - I'm going to have to get it next spring.

If you like Austin blooms, why not go for an Austin yellow--Molineux, for instance. It does change colors, true--sometimes apricot highlights, sometimes pale yellow, sometimes even with a hint of pink in the center, but most of the time I think of it as a good yellow or golden yellow. As a bush, it looks a bit narrow, growing vertically up to 2.5 ft or a bit more, so it doesn't have the typical shrub look to it.

Molineux--as a first year bush--quite yellow.

Here is its more golden-apricot look:

Right now, early August, cool rainy spell, it is blooming more like the first picture.

May have a touch of BS problems on occasion, but never a BS magnet, by any means. Takes hot weather well also, and I think Austin says it is cold hardy to Zone 5.

Kate

Lovely Molineux, Kate - I'm definitely replacing mind this spring since I think the graft simply failed on mine after about 8 years. Your photos increase the urgency of replacing this one.

I realized I forgot to attach the August picture of Golden Zest - my bad. Here it is and you can see the clean leaves at the bottom of the picture.

Cynthia

Kate - That's funny, I just planted two bareroot own root Molineux this spring from DA. I like the apricot moods it has at times. I'm nervous about its winter hardiness as DA admits that it is one of his least hardy roses but glad it's been healthy so far. Love your pics!

GZ is looking wonderful, Cynthia!