Rekha.... this is a 'Desdemona' bloom after 24 hours non stop torrential rain... I'd say it holds up rather well.. I'm not sure about humidity or frying though..

Beautiful...i have her in the cart, just needed to make sure she can handle our wet climate. How large does she get for you?

Thanks!

I’m in Tennessee where 100 percent humidity is pretty normal ( ask my giant hair ! Lol ) and it does not ball . It is beautiful, like a shimmering white color . I say go for it !

Seems to be about 4 x 3 foot but I keep it pruned that way, a little lower as it's against a low 3 foot fence and I don't want it to go much above that... but you should bear in mind that the occasional plant may throw up a climbing cane, like some Austins do... of course this is my climate, so I've no idea about Houston... I'm surprised you get so much rain, I really didn't know that... and your heat and humidity would be something I probably haven't experienced here... although my roses - I have a short hedge of them - held up well in 3 months of drought and 80's and 90's temps last summer without watering.. full sun.. so it's a good do-er by my standards even in extreme conditions [for us]… this may be nothing for Houston though..

It's a beautiful creamy white rose, here's one of them behind 'Anne Boleyn'..

Thanks Lilyfinch and Marlorena, I'm going to try her.

Yeah, we get pretty high temperatures, june, july and august we stay in the 90's and we get spells of 100 degree weeks. Average rainfall is 53 inches, not sure if that is high or not, but it seems like it always rains, summer/winter. Very very high humidity. Just for fun:

https://weatherspark.com/y/9268/Average-Weather-in-Pearland-Texas-United-States-Year-Round

53 inches?.. goodness, I only get 22 and we think it's wet... your link says long, hot and oppressive... be interesting to see how this rose does in those conditions... do let us know sometime... seems ok in Tennessee...

Oppressive, miserable...several adjectives come to mind. Everything comes to a halt during summer, and picks up again late august. Some vegetables seem to keep going. But in general its too hot to be out anyways.

i would not mind the summers if I could grow tropicals, but no, once in a few years we get a severe winter that kills everything. 2017 we actually got snowed on 3 times.

Most houses only have knock outs.

Great! I've ordered it, will update on how it does.

I just got her too and put her in part shade because i was afraid she would be toasted. We’ll see how it goes!

Beautiful. Maybe I need a taller white. I've only got The Tooth Fairy, Bolero and a couple of short polys. Hmmmm. So pretty. Oh yehr, I have Sugar Moon, but she defoliates all the time. I keep her for those gorgeous fragrant blooms. Dianela, what is the gorgeous red with her? Is that Dark Desire?

Hello Vapor, yes that is Dark desire. Dark desire is a beautiful rose with a great scent to my nose, but it is a monster rose in my garden. I had to prune it 3 times last year to keep it from overwhelming Desdemona and everything on its path. In my garden Dark desire is almost 100% disease free also which makes her a keeper.

Well, I dont think she can handle our heat. She is growing backwards and I have two canes a few inches left. I will have to move her to give her some shade...

Mine is doing ok in shade so far, i just had to move my lichfield angel out of the blasting hot front yard too.

...this isn't a rose for extreme heat it seems, without shade..... let's be honest, it wasn't bred for it... and even here I had one day of 100F this summer and the blooms fried all over the plant...full sun... it's ok up to about 90....

Mine is in a very large pot, getting about 4 hours of midday sun. It blooms constantly. They don’t last very long in the heat, but it sheds the petals cleanly and makes more blooms rapidly. Being in a pot, it needs lots of water. :-)

Mine is in a large planter too, but in kind offull sun, will move the planter a bit to see if I can get a better position for her. Flowers rea pretty, but mine were tiny. So many in my garden are just twiges now, it's very disheartening. Most have to be moved to part sun I think. I am thinking of having these in containers so I can move them around.

Mine is in morning sun and afternoon shade. Our summer temperatures range from 90-98f, very rarely will go up higher than this. Still 93 degrees today so she likes her afternoon shade, she bleaches to white quickly.

Despite movin her to give her more shade, she has declined to a point that I dont think she is going to make it. My own root from DA was a small plant. OTOH, Boscobel was a larger plant and she is in a sunnier location and doing ok. Stays small, but blooms on and off and retains most leaves. Oh well, I dont think this one is for very hot climateclimates.

Eta: I bought Desdemona, Boscobel and Scepter d isle this spring all own root. Boscobel is small, but doing ok,. Scepter is doing very well, bloomed for me all through summer in clusters, always had bbubudbuds or blooms, in full scorching sun. Desdemona is dying. Of the three, Desdemona is the one I put in a location that got a break from the sun after 3pm or so since its leaves were getting burnt.

Desdamona for me has been white

I have 4 of them and they are all white

kristine_legault's ideas · More Info

kristine_legault's ideas · More Info

I see a bit of a blush

My Vanessa Bell died and Austin had no problem sending me a new one, maybe email them now so you can get on the list for next years bare root

Thanks Amanda, I reached out to them, let's see. I wonder if it is that particular plant, or the variety. If they do replace, I'll have to think about where to put her.

DA has a five year guarantee. You could always get another variety of rose.

I want her so much. Every time I look through my David Austin handbook I stare at her for hours. She’s zone five and I’m zone four but I can get away with a lot of zone five things with winter protection. But I still haven’t decided if I want to risk it.

She’s doing great here in our heat, and smells so lovely!

Perma, yours looks lovely. Mone never took off since I got it. It was a tiny lil thing, did not put on any growth and dwindled away. Is yours in full sun?

No; I am surprised it’s done well, but it’s in morning shade, and about 4-5 hrs afternoon sun.

I love the color; the outer petals pale as they age, creating a glow in the center. It’s been surprisingly healthy, getting only rainwater & a bit of well-water all summer. :-)