Ben, Sorry Olivia didn’t bloom a lot by 1 1/2 years. I think the 3rd year is considered the mature year, at least for own-roots. 3rd year is tge charm! Lol! My Moonlight in Paris does bloom non-stop huge flushes all the time!!!! MIP may be my best bloomer next to Walking on Sunshine. MIP has blooms all over all the time-she’s a floribunda. Plum Perfect & Kimberlina are blooming all the time all over, too! And a few bush roses like The Fairy are blooming all the time, too. @CeresMer Zone 7a NJ , I am excited to hear that your Olivia bloomed non-stop 2nd year. I think next year will be my Olivias full 2nd year-hoping for lots of blooms!!! Our weather is similar. If I have her in a sunny enough spot she will perform well! We will see! I may get another & put her in a sunnier spot! She has no BS-so she is a super winner for me! Out of my 120 roses, Olivia is one of the few with zero BS ever…. pouring rains damp soil in fall ongoing. Ok, I think Olivia is gorgeous! I have one similar that blooms kinda like Olivia, called Vicontesse Decaux, (a cross of Earth Angel & Winchester Cathedral), but Vicontesse doesn’t have as beautiful a foliage or bloom as much as Olivia.

I have both and I'm in zone 5, but I can't tell you about hardiness since they're both new roses for me this year. In general, I wouldn't worry about Olivia Rose being hardy in zone 5/6, since it's a rare Austin that doesn't survive that zone. Princess Charlene got my warmer spot of the yard just in case, but she looks like she has a good shot at winter survival. Like others have posted, she's already much bigger than Olivia in her first year. Not the 8' that you get in California, but she might get to chest height in a year or so which for me is really big. She's so far a middle of the bed rose, but not small like Olivia. Like others, I'm no help on fragrance, and Olivia hasn't bloomed in her first year as many of my new roses don't get that far in their first summers. Cynthia

rbains5, They did VERY well!! I also think using great potting soil helped me out. Very airy potting soil and the addition of air-pruning via grow bags had fantastic results. I used Happy Frog soil. It has mychorrizal fungi in the soil and helps roots to develop. I highly recommend putting them on top of STURDY pot caddies or rollers (whatever they are called). I had them sitting on concrete and not only did mold to grow pretty quickly on the bags, but water seems to just sit around the bottom of the bags. You need sturdy ones since a 20gal grow bag plus a rose is gonna be HEAVY. That being said, I don’t think it’s possible to completely prevent mold from growing on your bags. You have to consider replacing them about once a year if you don’t like the mold. I personally don’t know how it affects the plants (if it affects them at all). If you don’t care about mold and just don’t want to see it, maybe consider black grow bags? Grow bags are not going to last as long as actual planters, though. Be careful if your rose is not winter hardy, their roots will be exposed to temperature changes more than a rose in the ground or in a thick planter. My DAs are hardy to zone 5 and they did fine in grow bags over the winter in zone 7a. Don’t know if that would have been the same had I actually been in zone 5. Sorry for bombarding you with all of these things! I do think growing in grow bags- especially if it is a young rose, is fantastic!

I spray with spinosad which is approved for "organic use." (Although I still suit and mask up.) I tried for several years to let them go and let my garden "balance" out hoping they'd bring in what ever eats them. It sort of did--but I'm even less of a fan of wasps which are their natural predator and that barely made a dent in the problem. And while a little damage is not particularly harmful I had two huge New Dawns losing all their leaves shortly after the flush--which may be why I had such a poor rebloom later in the summer. Manually squishing them off of a New Dawn involves a lot of blood. No thanks. I have found a couple back to back sprays a week or two apart does wonders. You just have to make sure you are really getting into the bush and getting the backs of the leaves wet with spray. It is the only spraying I do, and while I don't like it there are a lot worse thing.