I grew 'Mme. de la Roche-Lambert' long ago -- and it was obliging enough to bloom fairly well, even in my conditions. She was a beauty. And her disease-resistance was good. She was mildew-resistant! A big deal for a moss, in this area.

Thanks Jeri, that's good to know... I had never heard of this rose before.

Hoping the fire risk has subsided somewhat for you all there...

Mme de la Roche-Lambert was also good in the Zone 9a mid desert Newhall garden. There was some mildew, mainly on the stems and peduncles due to the dense prickles trapping the spores and moisture and to the very frequent water stress it endured there. In good years, there was repeat, but that depended upon longer "spring-like" conditions and better water availability. She's is definitely one of the mosses I would grow again, if I had the room, water and energy.

I love the colour of Roche- Lambert to me it looks like very deep rich Fuchsia color .

Congrats Marlorena you got 3 and I will be so happy to see pics as they grow as time passes. This is so fascinating and now I have to check the other 2 you got..

Jin

Kim, thanks, that's good information. I didn't think this was a warm climate type of rose, so |'m delighted to hear that it did well there, given the low rainfall. I'm hoping I get a half decent repeat out of it here.

Jin, thank you, yes I hope to share my experience in due course.

Marianne... oh that's lovely, I ordered it especially because of it's reputation for scent, but it has a pretty enough bloom too.

So far, I'm feeling quite pleased with my order.

You're welcome, Marlorena. I didn't consider her a "warm weather" rose, but rather a colder weather survivor who would tolerate my warm conditions. By far, though, the absolute best moss for those conditions was Deuil de Paul Fontaine. With enough water, he performed like a dark colored, scented, mildewy, mossed Iceberg. Any time I could expect any other modern rose to flower, Paul had flowers and they were sumptuous. Gabriel Noyelle was another which flowered all the time there. I probably should add that calling Paul "mildewy" isn't cursing him. Where aridity causes extreme water stress, even with copious watering, mildew is chronic. Particularly when no chemical treatments are used. I didn't use anything to control diseases or insects there due to the aridity, heat, wind, wildlife and massive number of plants. There were usually between twelve and fifteen hundred plants in that garden, depending upon the year.

Many of the 'Gloire des Mousseaux' in Europe are actually 'Mme Louis Leveque'. The latter will have very light pink petals, buds that are only lightly mossed in green, and repeats -- being that 'Mme Louis Leveque' is really a mossy Hybrid Perpetual. The true 'Gloire des Mousseaux' is a pink of the same shade as the original 'Centifolia', heavily mossed buds with reddish-brownish tints, and is once-blooming. I don't know which one is at Mottisfont, but take a look at pics for 'Mme Louis Leveque' and see if that's the rose you're getting. If so, it's better to just check it by its real name.

There may be a similar situation for 'Mme de la Roche-Lambert', which is possibly the same rose as is going around as 'Eugenie Guinoisseau'. I don't know which is correct, though the former is supposedly "strongly fragrant" while the latter has a "mild fragrance".

:-)

~Christopher

Such aridity and heat, I wouldn't know too much about, but otherwise It sounds wonderful that garden, but you must have had your reasons for moving on, downsizing and all that, and some place cooler I hope.

'Deuil de Paul Fontaine' I've just looked up, oh what a colour, I might consider that one at some point, but the one I wanted most was 'Rene D'Anjou' which | was too late in ordering for this year, so maybe next season. I think it repeats quite well apparently.

'Gabriel Noyelle' is not available here in England. So many others to choose from, it's perplexing, when inexplicably, you've only grown 'Henri Martin' of this class.

Thanks again Kim...

Christopher... yes I read something about that so I wanted to be sure I'm getting the right one... David Stone former curator at Mottisfont wrote an article for the Heritage Roses group here and mentioned that the one they have in that garden is the correct variety, and not 'Mme Louis Leveque', which he says is quite inferior and usually sold in its place. My supplier got their stock from the Mottisfont rose, which is why I'm ordering from them. I shall have to take that on trust, but I might be able to compare photos later on...

I shall do the same with the other rose, which I hope is fragrant, otherwise I might be disappointed. Thanks for your advice here though.

I should add they list both 'Mme de la R-L' and 'EG' and they appear different, so I hope I get the correct one.

Henri Martin does well here too. Who knows, if I should try more Moss roses? When will it end?

I was wondering whether you would be getting GdM or MLL, too: I've ordered the former and gotten the latter (I eventually concluded) twice, from Schultheis and Petrovic, but understood that GdM is still in commerce. I want to protest the notion that 'Mme. Louis Leveque' is an inferior rose. Of course I don't know 'Gloire des Mousseuses', and so can't compare it with my known quantity MLL, but I do think she's a great rose, one that has given me a lot of pleasure over the years.

I remember you saying you had that rose Melissa, one or the other. Perhaps we can compare notes later on, on this matter, but it's good to know that 'Mme LL' is not so inferior after all. It looks nice in photos.

The "inferiority" of 'Mme Louis Leveque' is likely its many thin petals, which would be prone to balling in the cool and damp conditions common to many parts of the UK at various points during the growing season. Since many of the books were written from a UK perspective, roses were judged in those conditions. I doubt the rose would have the same troubles in Italy.

:-)

~Christopher

I wish Conditorum would be more widely distributed. Sigh. I only just learned about it from reading in recent years and would love to see it. You'd think with the revival of interest in cooking ....