Mine has been in the ground for 6 years-it spent a year in a pot. It was slow to take off as climbers usually are-maybe 6 feet or so at first(it is grafted) but now it is probably 12-15 feet. It blooms on laterals which tend to be short and is fairly bushy. When in bloom it is loaded with flowers and the bloom here is really long. When not it is nice and bushy looking. It roots easily and I am going to root another one to have in another part of my garden. It is a keeper. patricia

Maureen, My interest in Hybrid Chinas comes especially from a rose that I have in my garden that is classified as a Hybrid China: The Bishop. This rose seems more like a gallica than anything else...except that it is much more lanky and can be trained to climb over an arch. It blooms profusely, smells wonderfully, and is disease resistant. Another rose that is similar to The Bishop in growth is Hippolyte...but, it's classified as a gallica, I believe. I've also got Alice Vena (which is wonderful), Alexandre Laquement (still young), Malton (still young), Velours Episcopal (still young). Lori, thanks for the comment on Coupe de Hebe. Robert I also have

Oops, that's not Mme Lauriol de Barny. She has been a once bloomer thus far in my garden. Mine is a vivid pink and solid, not striped. This post was edited by mauvegirl8 on Tue, May 6, 14 at 23:00

It's kinda something you have to figure out for your particular area. I have a few Bourbons here, and they vary with respect to blackspot resistance -- but that also has to do with the particular strains of blackspot in my area. The cleanest for me is 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' but this is, unfortunately, no longer in commerce. If you look it up on HelpMeFind, the most recent pic is of my plant. Here, it doesn't get spotty leaves until about October, and then only on the lower 1/3. But honestly, by then it's of no concern to me, since everything is getting ready for sleep anyway. I'm hoping to propagate this in Spring, so if it catches your fancy, I'll put you on the list for one. 'Mme de Sevigne' is the next cleanest for me. Think of it as along the lines of 'Mme Isaac Pereire', but with even more of a climbing habit. So far for me, its canes are stiff enough to be basically self-supporting, so in my garden it's like a free-standing climber. If it gets too heavy with the first flush, I just prop it with a tree branch stuck in the ground. 'Honorine de Brabant' is a close third for me. It will get naked legs by mid-Summer, but the leaves it keeps are barely affected. The ones it loses seem more due to it growing up and out than disease -- those lower leaves just seem to become "no longer necessary" and are shed. But this is just the lower two feet or so on a rose that topped six feet by the end of the season. "Maggie" is a Bourbon often touted as being rather healthy, but mine is too young to comment about it. Mine came less than a year ago, and is all of 12" now. It kept healthy leaves so far. I also have 'Souvenir de la Malmaison', and it is also very clean here as far as blackspot goes. But mine is in a bit of a challenging spot right now, and it does get a touch of mildew when it's cold and wet. Here, that's just a bit in Spring before blooming, and again in Autumn. It's nothing major, and clears up on its own when it gets either drier or warmer -- or both. For me, 'Mme Dore' and 'Mlle Blanche Lafitte' will go naked in mid-Summer, then refoliate. But keep in mind that I don't use fungicides, so if you do, they'll likely be fine. For me it's not worth the trouble or the side-effects. There are three which come to mind as being notorious for blackspot issues -- 'Mme Pierre Oger' and its sport-parent 'Reine Victoria', and 'Louise Odier'. You didn't mention having them, so I'm just throwing that out there if you were considering them. But keep in mind that many people say the same about all the ones you did mention, except for 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. So if those are doing well for you, perhaps you're not in an area as prone to blackspot. There are also a few Hybrid Perpetuals which lean toward the Bourbons in appearance. The class is really a hodge-podge -- basically, if it rebloomed at all and wasn't clearly one of the other types from that time, it got the Hybrid Perpetual label. So if you line them all up, you see how variable they are. One I'd recommend to someone looking for a "healthy Bourbon" would be 'Pierre Notting'. Note that there is also a Tea called 'Souvenir de Pierre Notting' -- I'm not talking about that rose. The one I mean is a somewhat like 'Mme Isaac Pereire' in habit and bloom form, but smaller in plant size and a deep wine-red in bloom color -- and also very fragrant. My plant is very healthy -- almost as clean as 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau'. But as I said before, keep in mind that that's how it is for me. One thing I'm finding with blackspot-prone roses is that if they are kept well-fed and well-watered, they will quickly replace shed leaves. In my garden, it's as though their first set of leaves is made for Spring conditions -- perhaps enduring some late frosts -- rather than Summer conditions. If blackspot makes those first leaves fall, the second set seems more "Summer-ready" and will last through the season. Of course, there are a small handful that seem to struggle anyway, and I just may give them a little help with sulfur this year. And I want to try giving everything a wash-down with Castile soap in a hose-end sprayer. Supposedly, it both washes off the spores and leaves a residue that prevents new spores from germinating. We'll see if that works. If you're not sure what will work for you, I'd suggest growing them in pots around the garden for a year or two before deciding to stick them in the ground. Of course, you'll have to deal with those potted roses for Winter. But I find it easier to dump a poorly-performing plant when I don't have to dig it out of the garden. :-) ~Christopher