Hi again, I suppose rainfall here might make a huge difference. We have had plenty of natural hosing-down in the form of rains most of the year. Where our roses do get some mildew, we hose them down and that has always taken care of mildew nicely. But I don't recall any mildew this year on the roses located where the Duchesse de Brabant is, so Duchesse hasn't had that treatment. A rose as old as Duchesse de Brabant might also also have some different cultivars around. As nearly as I can recall, our Duchesse came from Chamblee's. We had much better than average luck with three Gruss An Aachens that came from Chamblee's too. That is, until the Rose Rosette Disease got them. As far as mildew goes, I doubt that having an all-organic yard made that particular problem vanish, so I don't know why we haven't had a problem in that particular rose bed with mildew. I do think a no-chemicals yard might correlate with less of a fungal problem in the long run, though. Anyway, for whatever reason, our Duchesse de Brabant is EASY to have good success with. Our Duchesse apparently loves the heat. It's in a spot where the ground is a very large berm that we created a long time ago from ideal mixed-up organically rich part-clay dirt all the way down to a sloping ground level of fertile woods dirt topsoil on clay. So the rose roots would have an easy time of it to go down about 3 or 4 feet to have a constant supply of moisture except in the very worst of drought conditions. I kind of think also that in weather that's as hot as we had this summer, the bit of extra shade for our Duchesse might have held some advantages too. Anyway, we didn't quite have a really bad drought here this summer. For whatever reason, Duchesse de Brabant is the easiest to grow healthy and prolific rose that we have. Ducher is healthy and blooms pretty well too, but isn't quite so prolific in the intense heat as Duchesse de Brabant has been. And the blooms aren't as pretty or fragrant as Duchesse either. Spice was prolific in the spring, but not once the heat really hit hard. It's plenty healthy though, and it sits in more shade than Duchesse de Brabant. Thanks to all who commented. I just was feeling so grateful for the good luck with Duchesse de Brabant I couldn't help but recommend this rose to others, at least to others with similar conditions to NC. Best wishes, Mary

Lilyfinch, thanks for your kind words and well-wishes. I'm hoping to be out of the hospital soon, to finish mending at home with the hope of supervising some garden work until I'm healed enough to resume myself. Ingrid, I got Duchesse de Brabant as a one-gallon from Chamblees. Your many posts inspired the purchase, and I'm delighted to have this rose, even if it only does bloom during cooler weather. I'm growing it in conditions opposite yours: only a few hours of the strongest afternoon sun, so I'm impressed it does as well as it does. Regarding the yucky stuff, I became a beached whale after a minor injury that incapacitated me. When I couldn't get an expedited appointment to take care of the injury, I floundered trying to take care of myself, and ended up with multiple fractures, torn ligaments in several areas, including one torn all the way off, three stage three decubitus ulcers, and a suspected DVT. So here am, still hospitalized, getting stabbed in the belly with injections every night, after almost three months, when I should have been up and running in a few days. Thank God I'm in the hands of exceptional and caring physicians, nurses, and therapists -- some of them friends, former classmates, and clients. The hospital is set in a lovely and serene garden, which makes me yearn to get back to my own gardens all the more --- SOON! And I'll have roses waiting to be planted when I get there! Sammy, I'll have to check out Miss Caroline. But I agree -- DdB is a very pretty rose and I'm so glad I discovered this one thru Ingrid and the forum.

I have twice known landscape maintenance gardeners who went out of their way to learn how to care for roses -- and the difference between types of roses with regard to care. Those people could command a significantly higher fee, from homeowners who wanted things done right. But for the most part, these weekly-visit maintenance gardeners are really good at mowing the lawn, and a disaster for just about everything else. The smart homeowner will tell them to leave the roses alone, and stick with mowing the lawn. Tea Roses, in particular, don't take much maintenance. Save yourself a lot of grief. Make the roses your project, and leave the Mow 'n Blow guys to their mowing and blowing. Deadheading of Tea Roses can well be done near twilight, as the air begins to cool, with a chllled glass of white wine in hand. It also gives you a chance to get to know your hummingbirds and (at my house) lizards.

I had similar question about my Duchesse de Brabant earlier this year. The buds looked similar to yours, though they were larger, but they wouldn't open. I thought it was botrytis, but the advice I got was that it was balling because the buds were not slimy or moldy. If yours are not slimy then it's balling and I was advised like you here just to remove the buds. All is fine now and new buds are already starting to form. Hope this helps.