The pictures are stunning. I'm on year three with Desdemona and been really pleased with it. In my opinion it is the best white English rose. A few particulars. I garden in the Mid-Atlantic, USDA Zone 7a. High air humidity with hot summers and cold winters (though nothing like what New York and Pennsylvania gets). Rose came bareroot from David Austin Roses Ltd. Why I like Desdemona: 1. First rose to bloom in the spring. 2. Big, beautiful globular blossoms that open to show the golden stamens. I LIVE for this kind of flower form. The blooms also cover the plant, giving it great "presence" in the garden. 3. Blooms don't ball, a significant improvement over EARTH ANGEL, which I'm going to replace. 4. Strong stems (no nodding) and decent vase life. 5. Medium bushy growth habit with nice foliage. 6. Good, reliable rebloom. Now the bad: 7. Needs spraying to control blackspot, but no more than any other English Rose. 8. Color is cream, not white. If you want a pure white rose then get POPE JOHN PAUL II. 9. Not a fan of the myrrh fragrance. 10. Thorns, it has them. About medium and not terrible, but I prefer low thorned roses (ala Heritage). 11. I still think FAIR BIANCA's flowers are more ravishingly beautiful. The myrrh and vanilla fragrance is certainly more pleasant. I've got a wimpy BOULE DE NEIGE (Bourbon, 1857) that has been sitting in the same bed and never gotten above 2-feet. Tiny, pure white, exquisitely shaped blooms with rapturous fragrance, but is it good enough enough to earn a permanent spot? Not as is. Thing is even more prone to blackspot and defoliation. This is year 4. BdN had better put on some plant size or else DESDEMONA is gonna push it down the stairs like that dancer from Show Girls (film 1995).

I know exactly what you are talking about HT! My neighbor suddenly decided he wanted to grow roses and he's do beautifully with 0 black spot. Of course they're in full sun position all day long so I think that accounts for a lot of it. He even grows Chrysler imperial blackspot free no spray. He's currently growing 7 lady of shallot having added 3 more this spring. They were constantly in bloom last year along with Rouald Dahl.

That hot pink/vermillion colour is so odd. The one bloom I've smelt at a nursery reminded me of pears and so I had to have him. Benjamin is coming this year from DAR-USA and your photos and videos are so inspring. Thank you for sharing! Steven

Very lovely, as usual Hoang Ton:-) Your roses are always so healthy! I think we talked last year about how shocked I was that my Molineux was so very tall. I was expecting Molineux to be a smaller plant. I do love it, even though it’s bigger that expected and the blooms don’t make good cut flowers. BenT, mine is in bloom right now and it’s very colorful each bloom is saturated with colors. I do sometimes get that pale yellow, but I enjoy seeing what Molineux will do each flush. Life of the Party has been one that I’ve been eyeing for a while. It’s just that I don’t trust it to stay compact. It probably really would be the “Life of the Party“ in my garden. With my climate it would probably grow enormous and its new name would be something like “Raging Wild Party”. Thanks for the pictures and videos! I do enjoy them so. Lisa