Mme Charles grows and looks a lot like G. Nabonnand with prickles and more petals. The blooms open soft apricot and quickly fade to pink. The plant is a nice vigorous growers with lovely red canes. Rebloom is fast. We have no blackspot to speak of, powdery mildew being our Tea demon. The PM seems very manageable and in fact I can't say I've noticed it much on Mme Charles. Here is a link that might be useful: Mme Charles

Annabeth, scent detection varies tremendously from person to person. The way I understand it is that we each start out with a set chemical receptors and we don't all have the same ones. (That's what the sense of smell is, the detection of chemicals.) In addition, experiences such as smoking, illness, or plain old age can decrease the strength of the receptors we have. That is apparently why some people can detect scents that others cannot. A person with a superior sense of smell might end up as a perfume expert or wine expert. I would never be able to do either job. As for me, I simply cannot detect much of the tea scent in true tea roses. On the other hand, I pick up distinctly unpleasant notes in some beloved fragrant flowers when they are brought indoors and the concentration builds up. Paperwhites are one such flower. I love them outdoors and in the house find them unendurable. Roses said to have powerful scents are presumably pumping out lots of chemicals that lots of people are able to detect. It may well be this is simply a scent that doesn't work for you. Rosefolly

I've grown it in my coastal southern California garden - it's magnificent here, one of the Tea roses that opens in our often misty weather. The flowers are massive and beautifully colored, a sophisticated blend of cream and dark pink touched with burgundy tones depending on the weather. The bush is very angular and once it matures it becomes rather awkward - it needs support. I grew it for 7-8 years, it was an incredibly productive bloomer. I can't remember what happened to it, but I think it became unhappy after I attempted to shape it better - it really resented pruning and eventually declined. I had the same problem with an extraordinarily vigorous climbing Madame Cochet which had to be pruned so people could walk safely. It too went into a terrible funk after a couple years attempts to "control" it, and it never recovered. I would grow both again if I could find bigger spots! Both of these roses have extraordinary full flowers - wonderful!

I got one years ago from Antique Rose Emporium, under the name La Biche (since it was a found rose and has now been identified by some rosarians as Sombreuil). It arrived big and healthy like everything I've ever received from ARE. Unfortunately it hated conditions here and was an awful mildew magnet. Rarely bloomed. Grew backwards and died within a couple years. It seemed to hate hot, DRY conditions and craved copious amounts of water. Much more than my other roses, which doesn't fit in with my gardening style of featuring water misers in the garden. But if you have more humid conditions and either get lots of rain or don't mind heavily irrigating, then it may do just fine. Interestingly I have a rose that is known to be an offspring of the original tea rose, Sombreuil (aka Mademoiselle de Sombreuil), called Madame Georges Bruant. She's a rugosa. I bought her as an experiment because of my prior experience with La Biche. I was curious to see how this rose would behave, seeing as how the identity of the tea parent is on firm ground. As an aside rugosas do splendidly in my garden and make good companion plants for drought tolerant California natives. My MGB came from Pickering last year. Well, she behaves just like her parent--a mildew magnet AND very thirsty--both traits untypical for rugosas here. I bought 2 other rugosas from Pickering last year as well, Wild Edric and Polareis. Both of them have lovely, clean foliage, with Wild Edric's being some of the most beautiful foliage on any rose I have. He is also very drought and heat tolerant too. Madame Georges Bruant on the other hand requires lots of extra water in the heat or she wilts very easily (and her flowers fry in the sun). This is a problem as I have CA natives surrounding her and they can't take the floods MGB craves. She is soon to meet Mr. Shovel. Wild Edric however is thriving next to low water CA natives Bothriochloa Barbinodis (a grass) and Salvia Mellifera, and a South African salvia (Salvia Namaensis). Polareis is next to drought tolerant lakeside ceanothus (C. cyaneus). I attribute the poor performance of MGB to Sombreuil. If you have conditions she and her offspring favor, you may get beauties in your garden. If not, be prepared to give lots of supportive care. Melissa