https://www.houzz.com/discussions/roses/query/Dark-desire/nqrw

Darren,

In the USA it's called Dark Desire. Sorry to say, it did not do well for me under my carcare, and under my growing conditions: winter lows down to -20C., 100cm. rainfall equally distributed year-round, and intense black spot pressure with hot, humid summers.

The growth was leggy, one cane wandering this way, the other going askew, and another, bolt upright, all in a disorganized pattern. Its scent was not particularly strong, but still good. The blooms were smallish, dark winey colored, and receeded in the rose bed, neither prominent nor bold. The blooms themselves had consistent, numerous white streaks on their petals. It was shovel pruned some time ago. On the positive side it did have very good disease resistance, and winter hardiness without any protection.

Geeze, if mine had looked like yours Sara Ann it would still be there

Sadly , mine was more like Moses and it met mr. Shovel

I live in South Florida it zone 10. Here it gets really really tall. I use to try and keep it whacked down, however, when I did that I did not get many blooms..... but by accident it got bent over and I did not have time to set it up..... it started putting out laterals.....

The blooms are nice.... I detect some scent, but not a lot.... but be forewarned I do NOT detect any scent with Fragrant Clout or Mister Lincoln.

It is a VERY healthy bush. It dose not get blackspot even if I forget to spray.... I have swore that I would like to try and propagate it for root stock, but I haven't.... the reason I think it would be good is that my plant is own root and it does GREAT even though I am in nematode country.... in fact it out performs some of my other roses that are on fortuniana root stock. Chili thrips seem to ignore him as well....

The only draw back that I find with this rose is his thorns.... I swear that I can be 10 feet away and he will find away to attack.

Sharon, mine is also own root. How long have you had yours?

😍😍😍😍😍

thank yyou everyone! I’m growing it in the UK in a HUGE pot. Hope it thrives.

Happy Valentines xxxxx

Wow those are some long and healthy roots you've got there Darren. Wish Peter Beales didn't prune mine so hard :l

Aww I’m sorry to hear that. Mine was a valentines gift .... bought from the pic above ^

Mine is also a huge beast here in zone 7b. No disease without spray and nice scent. I am not sure how mild your winters are Darren, but here this plant gets canes 7 to 8 feet tall. I slowly bend the canes to make arches and get good bloom cycles. The blooms last a long time, but the bloom cycles are not as fast as my Austins.

All the blooms are from laterals of the main "pegged" canes

Spring 2019 · More Info

My Roses and clematis 2018 · More Info

My Roses and clematis 2018 · More Info

sara_ann I have had mine about 15 years.... I got it from Chamblees before I knew about fortuniana roses.... I just knew that the Dr. Huey didn't do very good.... so I thought I would try own roots.... I got four different varieties... but the others died.... This one almost died too.... but it wasn't from the nematodes... The royal palm trees roots were strangling it and stealing all of the nutrients and water..... so I dug it up and moved it about 5 years ago... It really took off and is quite healthy now.

What a difference a zone makes. Mine gets killed back most winters and has BS by mid-summer and NEVER has the two-tone colouring shown here and elsewhere. However, its tall stature and reliable bloom make it easy to shoe-horn in where its bloom show above other lower roses, so it stays. Its fragrance is strong at times, but not always.

Thank you Sharon, I got mine from Chamblee’s too. Dianela, your Dark Desire pictures are gorgeous! Your roses always look lovely.

Thank you so much! I’m too excited for summer ahhhhhhh 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Lots of love everyone x

Thank you very much Sara_Ann. Your Dark desire looks like it is loving your garden too. I remember your beautiful Munstead Wood also and wish mine looked like yours. I think I have 3 spindly canes on mine. Dark desire and Darcey bussell are my only decent dark reds.

Dianela, do I take it to mean that you don't have Falstaff or Tess or even Heathcliff? For shame!!! : )))) Those are great Austins. You should grab Falstaff before they discontinue it. MW likes the best of care, btw. It will repay you for it! I'm collecting many reds, but won't be able to report definitively until spring. I can't believe things are really leafing out over here. Uggh. I'm just raking all my leaves from the Fall.

Ohhh wow Vapor really? I assumed those older reds were BS magnets and have never tried them. I purchased an Ascot from palatine but no red Austin’s. I planted Munstead woods on an area that only gets morning sun and it isn’t looking very good. interestingly I also planted royal jubilee next to it and it also looks terrible =( maybe something is wrong with the bed, but I’ll give them another year before making drastic changes. Which red Austin would you recommend the most? Falstaff ? I am hopping to spray less in the future. This is OT but I planted 7 Charlene de Monaco and two are already black black and super dead so I am having a bit of a rough start this year. I did find plum perfect locally and that was a good surprise =). I have not finished raking out my fall leaves either lol. I have been feeling a bit low energy when I should be super going in the garden duties.