I don't see any stripes on the bud, so I don't think it's Chiuly. It might help to add that it had 67 buds on it at last count yesterday. I counted five times because I thought I was crazy. On each stem, 4 or 5 smaller stems appear with one bloom each. Does that make any sense? I don't know how to explain it so I'll take another picture tomorrow and post, weather permitting.

I have a mystery rose that looks alot like that one. The color is the same as mine and it has long stems, those pale green leaves and isn't very thorny like Chrysler Imperial is. I saw the roses at Home Depot this year and noticed they had Chrysler Imperial and Christian Dior reds for sale. I bought my rose at Wal-Mart and it was supposed to be a Mr. Lincoln but I bought two and they look different. One was a Mr. Lincoln but the other looked like the one in your picture. They had Olympiad and Christian Dior roses as well as Mr. Lincolns. Makes me wonder if it might be Christian Dior. Can anyone tell by looking at your picture? It is a puzzlement... tennesseerose

Thanks for the additional photos. But you still haven't answered my suggestion that you check additional ID-clues. For example, "petal-count-average" is a very important ID-clue. (To get a rose's P-C-A, count every petal from five blooms, then divide that total number by five.) I see the reverse-side of your rose's petals is distinctly a lighter color than their "main" side. That's an extremely important ID-clue. I grow another rose which sometimes looks like your bloom-photo ...and it has lighter petal-reverse. It's Octoberfest. But that rose doesn't grow even close to 12 feet tall. Plus, the ARS says Octoberfest's petal-count-average is 17-25 petals ...and your rose clearly has way more petals than that. Here is the description of Folklore in the 2006 Edmunds Roses catalog: "Folklore - hybrid tea - petals 40-45. Slow pening, high-centered form of warm salmon with a rich golden-orange reverse. The tall, slightly spreading vase shaped plants bear long stems covered with reddish tinted waxy [meaning semi-glossy] foliage that is extremely disease resistant. Every year several of our customers report a Climbing sport, but this isn't true - it's the nature of the beast [...]" The customers' reports that their Folklore bush has produced a "climbing sport" seems to match up with your "fast-growing, 12-foot tall" report about your rose. So until you give us several additional ID-characteristics about your rose, I'll have to stick with my PRELIMINARY guess of Folklore. (HMF says its petal-count-average is 44, Edmunds says 40-45). Regards, JohnReb

Thanks, Christopher. A gardening friend has the parent plant growing in his garden; it belonged to his late wife who liked old roses. My friend thought it had a woman's name, but couldn't tell me where the rose came from. So far, the roses I've considered as serious "contenders" are 'Mrs B R Cant', 'Leveson Gower' and 'Marie Ducher'. I now have a 'MBRC' that was a gift so that I could compare it, and I see some similarities, but also enough differences that I don't think they're the same. I ordered 'Leveson Gower' for comparison's sake two years ago, but mysteriously, it had root nematodes and grew backwards, so I tossed it. It didn't ever make enough progress for a useful comparison. 'Marie Ducher' is theoretically in commerce in the U.S. (although I haven't seen her actually listed as available), and while the HMF photos are similar enough to make me curious, they aren't detailed enough to allow for any degree of certainty either way. I see that she is considered to be strongly fragrant, and that would fit. Also from the HMF 'comments' that she resembles 'MBRC', but with hooked prickles, and that would also fit. I looked at 'Marie d'Orléans', but her flowers seem to be of the quilled sort, and I don't see that here. The coloring is often similar, though. 'Le Vésuve' does have the rich veining, but does not look very similar in other ways. I recently disassembled a smaller-than-usual bloom, and it had more than 80 petals. The plant roots fairly easily. Thanks again, Virginia