Hi there! I grow Mel in Z5. Cold here, little snow cover. This is year 2, it‘s been through 2 winters. I have it on an arch.

I thought I remember you had it. How tall does it get?

Here’s a pic -

Wow! Thank you for the visual I'm going to show my baby your picture for inspiration! Here is its first flower. I've disbudded a couple more, but will let it do its thing next year. OK issue with phone. I'll post pic later.

Burlington roses has Mel’s Heritage for fall delivery. Only in band size, though - I was hoping for 1 gallon. I’ll be happy to add him to my garden soon.

BirdsLoveRoses... BELIEVE me, Mel's Heritage GROWS QUICKLY. A band in SoCal is ALL you need!

If someone offered me a rooted twig of it in a thimble-sized pot, I'd take it! It has the kind of vigor most roses can only dream of.

And that really is correct. My soil and particularly the quality of my water make many plants dreadfully unhappy. 'Mel's Heritage' is one of a handful of cultivars that just don't care how bad it is.

I have mine in a tough spot and this is about a one year old.

This was a cutting/band from Burling.

I would bet Mel's Heritage would make a GREAT rootstock!

But that would be a bigger waste than using 'Gloire des Rosomanes' as rootstock!

OTOH, it's possible that its use as rootstock is why GdR survived . . .

"But that would be a bigger waste than using 'Gloire des Rosomanes' as rootstock!

OTOH, it's possible that its use as rootstock is why GdR survived . . ."

I just imagined what it would be like to buy a grafted rose and after the top plant died, discover that 'Mel's Heritage' was was I got from the roots! That sounds like a good deal to me!

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR

Cheer up, it should perform much better next year!

Wow, everyone, good news indeed! I’m so excited!

Sheila - really? One year?

Yes, Birds. I'm thrilled already so I'm not sure what Paul could mean except stand back.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR

"I'm not sure what Paul could mean except stand back."

Pretty much that, yes :-)

I got Mels heritage from Rose Petals nursery. He is not as happy as I would wish in the spot I put him (in the hot afternoon sun only most of the year except in spring). But Houston can challenge even the roses that do well here, esp. in the first two years. I wanted Mel to engage with Maggie on an 8x5 trellis. Maggie has grown faster than Mel, though she had a year's advantage; Mel threw one long smooth limber 18 foot cane which wound through Maggie's more upright branches and last April both Maggie and Mel (that one long cane) had a decent spring flush at the same time and they were drop dead gorgeous together. But Mel did not bloom after spring. while Maggie covered the trellis and flushed several more times. I am worried that my idea of mingling them in that spot might not work. Maybe Mel would be happier if they got a divorce? Should he move out and get his own place?. But if he is not thriving he is also not declining, so I'll wait another year. He is so lovely I would be quite happy if he bloomed only once.

@starmade Do you have any photos of the blooms? Even in Houston, it is very unlikely that 'Mel's Heritage' would bloom only in the spring. I wonder if you got the right plant.

I did not take a photo, but its the right plant; all parts of the plant speak to it, and the smell is pretty unmistakeable too.

It did throw the odd bloom; it just did not have anything that could be called a flush.

I love all these pictures. My Own MH plant has a nice bloom in the spring but the rebloom is nothing like what you folks are showing. I pruned and tied it up this spring because it was turning into a messy sprawl, so maybe that's why. I've been growing it for five or six years and keep telling myself to be patient.

Maybe next year will be the year.

Folly, I've never let it sprawl, and I usually do prune it. In fact, it's one of the few things I prune very firmly.

Is this rose hardy in zone 5?

@bellarosa: From @Dingo2001 - Z5 Chicagoland

"I grow Mel in Z5. Cold here, little snow cover. This is year 2, it‘s been through 2 winters. I have it on an arch."

Bella it has been hardy for me so far. I’m interested to see if it will have surviving cane next spring - who knows what our winter will be like this year? ❄️ I seem to remember that you live close to me (I’m in Island Lake), you are welcome to a cutting next year, it’s a little late in the season this year I think.

Hi Dingo, thanks for the offer. I ended up ordering it online from RVR and they sent me a HUGE plant. I'm so excited. Just got them today. I'm hoping this weather will cooperate and I can plant it out tomorrow. Now to find a spot for it!

That is awesome Bella! Have to admit I’m jealous though, my RVR roses have never been huge 😂

Sorry to hear that, Dingo. How are you winter protecting Mel?

Bella I just mulch heavily around the base, nothing fancy. To be honest I’m not sure he got mulched well at all last winter. I’d love for someone in z4 to give Mel a try just to see how hardy he really is.

As always when I see this rose I hope someone brings her to Europe. On top of my wish list. I have zero space in my garden, but sure there are some of my roses which do not perform very well. And I can say bye to them. Oh, there always is a hope,..

Soncha . . . Someone posted here that they have it in Scandinavia.

I see someone in California is selling a plant of 'Mel's Heritage' right now on fleabay, if anyone is interested.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mels-Heritage-rambling-rose-plant/264948341184

Their photo isn't wonderful, but it's the right rose. GO FOR IT!

That's nearly twice what Burling sells it for, just saying.... AND you have to add delivery on top of that.

It might be larger. The seller says it is a bare rooted plant. No age given.

Unfortunately, the auction doesn't state the size of the plant offered. It does, however, state it will be "bare rooted" without pot or soil. This same person is also offering, according to the photo attached to the auction, Spray Cecile Brunner as "Bloomfield Abundance".

@roseseek I expect its the plant shown in the last 2 photos.

I didn't say it was a great deal, but its an opportunity, since there aren't many chances to buy it right now. Certainly if Burling has plants, you'd be better off buying from her.

ABSOLUTELY. I'd regard Burling as the best source, but heck, in a pinch, if I wanted it, and couldn't find it elsewhere, I'd go for it.

Just want to submit that I grow MH a bit north of Houston, and it gets better every year.

This is heartening. I think I might need to move mine to a little more sun, his crown is more and more shaded by a hibiscus I perhaps mistakenly planted nearby.

Burling didn’t have it ready when I ordered a few weeks ago, but rogue valley did. I have a tiny little band right now - hard to believe it will grow into something like the photos here! How quickly do you think I can plant it in ground? I planted the band in a 3 gallon pot 2 weeks ago. So far no new growth or hints of buds...unlike the 1 gallons I got from heirloom which took off like shots...

@DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA)

If you pot up a band sized rose into a 3 gallon pot, its not going to make any top growth until the roots have expanded to take advantage of the increased root space. Its not unusual for that to take 4-6 weeks after repotting. Take into consideration that its December as well - not exactly the ideal time of year to prompt a rose into new growth, no matter where you live.

What Paul said. Heck, even in coastal SoCal -- it's winter. Daylight hours are short, and temps are down. It's sittin' there, growin' roots.

Okey Dokey! I was hoping to get it in the ground as soon as possible -- maybe when I've finished pruning in January. Will that be too soon?

We all do things differently, and if your garden is really well-groomed and you don't have pets or varmints, you could.

HOWEVER, if you've put this in a 3-G container, the plant will not have had time to grow roots, so the root ball won't hold. If you are really really determined to do that, you could "plunge" the 3-G pot into the ground, and let the rose grow there in the pot.

I have slid a nonconsolidated rootball out of a pot (that it was not in long enough like 6-8 weeks) and plunked it into a prepared hole to plant in ground and the rose did fine too. This can work during the wet and dormant season. Of course, this is not as recommended. Mel's is so strong it would probably work just fine.

Well -- update here -- I misspoke above - I had put my band from RR into a one-gallon pot. But it never did grow. I finally got rid of it just two weeks ago. BUT. I made the trip to Visalia about ten days ago and bought a band from Burling Leong, which went into a slightly larger pot and already has lovely new growth. It is still a tiny little thing, but seems to be happy. I think maybe the heatwave when RR sent my band last fall killed it before it got to me. It never even put out one little shoot. Just a stick for months. Anyway -- now I'll wait for this little Mel's Heritage to grow! Only problem is that I gave his spot away to Polka last spring, when I'd given up on MH. So now I need a new spot. Maybe I'll let him flow down a sunny slope like Lisa's. I have lots of those! My only problem now is that I'm fighting deer tooth and nail. Haven't seen this kind of pressure since before the Tea Fire over 10 years ago...

Also bought Connie's Sandstorm & Climbing Butterscotch. So I also need a spot for the butterscotch! And can't figure out which colors would clash/complement...

Some more sunny spots became available with the polar vortex that killed several citrus trees last February. A couple months ago I moved my struggling Mel's heritage to a spot behind the skeleton of a dead orange tree to see how it did. I twined the one long cane around the orange branches where it could have sun all day. The cane almost immediately sent out laterals that are now starting to bloom, so i think it was just in too much shade competing with Maggie and the hibiscus and needed more light and air. The skeletal orange tree is rather unsightly, but I plan to chop it and give Mel a real trellis against the wall at some point. I bought a second plant from RPN (as insurance, in case the first one died in the move) and set it near the spot of the original one, but a bit farther away from Maggie's roots, and a bit more into the sun -- afternoon sun, but it is growing like crazy. it too will need more trellising .soon, but I feel lucky to have two that might soon be thriving in the manner of Jeri's pixtures. Mel's Heritage is the only rose I have two of.