Was this a bare root or in a 5-gallon pot or a band? I'm surprised since my band of Charles Darwin that I planted last fall has just now in the summer heat had five buds that I removed in order for the bush to grow more quickly. I would have thought that a new introduction would be superior in every way.

Ingrid, bare root.. I bought 3 of them. The spring flush was amazing.. but since then no blooms. Maybe she needs more water? or more feedings.

Picture from Spring

More water in the summer can never hurt. This is a pretty rose but doesn't seem so different from other pink Austins. Since you're seeing it in real life, does it have any outstanding characteristics?

I do like the bloom form and fragrance... you know how DA sucks you in with their pictures from the catalog...

Mine is huge and trying to compete in size with Lady of Shallot who is 12 ft espaliered in 2 directions horizontally on a fence. Olivia bloomed non stop all spring but now that we are into the rainy season (like thunderstorms almost every late afternoon and into the 90'Fs) it is hardly blooming. Not surprising because most of the other roses seem to be taking a 'siesta' during this time here lol. I have her in full sun all day in a 10 gallon pot.

She is showing a little black spot now whereas the rest of the year she is very healthy. I have extremely challenging conditions for black spot here and I never spray, so I don't hold this against her too much.

Olivia is a much better rose this year than last. I got her grafted on DH. She was really throwing out some gorgeous blooms. I hope she picks back up this fall. I really like her now. I didn't like her so much last year when she was making piddly tiny flowers.

Here are some Olivia blooms with one darker pink PAOK bloom in the front. They open kinda cupped shaped.

~SJN

Almost instantly vertical habit with flowers that don't seem particularly impressive to me personally (as I remember it was advertised as low growing with great flowers).

One thing I have learned is that certain roses can take a few years to develop their full beauty and that often seems to be the case with the Austin roses, some of them not really coming into their own until year 5. The tea roses tend not to take nearly as long, and neither do the polyanthas or Chinas. I'd rather wait a good long time for other people to try the new introductions before I subject them to my problematic conditions. Even so, I would take an old rose like La France over anything Austin has to offer every time.

First year on own root Olivia doing great. She's on her third flush and she does appear very vertical growing with big clusters of blooms that tend to White out slightly in the heat but definitely no Crispin or balling. No black spot that I've seen . It apears to be a really wonderful Rose for being its first year.

I love the look of her! I'm such a sucker for pink, petal packed roses. My biggest hesitation is always that these DA's become water guzzling monstrosities in my climate. I wish I knew of some that would top out at 3x3 here. Too bad I can't order Olivia and give her an injection of "no more grow" or some such nonsense:) Just for the bush, of course. I'd want full size blooms, and lots of them. As long as I'm talking nonsense, I might as well go all out:) Seriously though, she looks beautiful in the above photos, but Sultry's comment about her growth is enough to warn me away. This is only due to my lack of space, however. If I had the space, I'd try her. Heck, I'd try them all! Lisa

Beautiful Kristine.. I hope my OA becomes a better repeat bloomer.. I have her in morning shade and mid-day to afternoon sun.

Lisa, please let us know when you find a beautiful, fragrant, large bloomed plant that tops off at 3 feet tall! I'm having the same problem with everything being WAY bigger than the specs say.

I'm happy with mine. I planted it spring of 2016 as a bareroot rose from DA. I then moved it this spring, and expected it to sulk, but it went on the bloom very nicely and is growing well; it's a nice bushy 3'x3'. I can't say how well it reblooms, considering it's young and has been transplanted once, but it does have a nice handful of roses on it right now. I think the flowers themselves are cute, but not spectacular. I'm treating it more as a landscape rose, so more interested in the overall effect. It's beautifully healthy with no spraying here. The only thing I'm not in love with is the nodding blooms. Does it do that for everyone, and will that change over time, or is that just a permanent characteristic?

-Chris

Oh boo, poor Olivia has some powdery mildew.

I've been extremely impressed with her disease resistance - that is her greatest virtue IMO. The blooms are nice but I have to admit they're not my favorite but she blooms a lot so that's been a plus. I don't like her dense growth, though - reminds me very much of a Knockout. I agree she is more like a landscape rose. No final verdict yet.

Ooopps, not Olivia, Savanah has pm

It is the Crack of dark and I am spraying her

Mine is in her second year and is also a nodder.

Mine is also in her second year. Last year she made healthy growth to about 3' x 2', but did not bloom at all. This year she had a reasonable flush in May, not loads of blooms, just average. Since then nothing until this week, when she is putting out a handful of tiny, minuscule blooms which look ridiculous.

The scent was not very strong. I must say I expected more from this rose.

Daisy

Maybe she is not a heat lover

in my zone 8A she does really well maybe it's just too hot for her there