Thank you, Feiy! We should compare notes as our Mariannes develop. It’s wonderful chatting with you since we both garden in the PNW in small urban gardens. I think one of my butterfly bushes 100% died during Portland’s crazy week of zero windchill. I may replace it with Marianne. The location could work (with pruning), but I need to slip something dark and sultry into the bed because Marianne would be sited next to Maiden’s Blush and the bloom colors need a deep companion to break up the pale pink and apricot. An obelisk sounds like a fun and practical solution! I don’t know of anyone who has trained her that way. I’m all about trying new things. In spite of her habit as a sprawler, I’ve got Jeri Jennings training up an obelisk to reach for the light in a shady bed. So far, so good. 🤞Carol

More Marianne—blooms standing up nicely to the rain showers.

The closest thing I have to a Gallica that is actually blooming is David Austin's Chaucer:

Gallica raised by Paul Barden from seeds sent from Cheryl Netter in CO. I oh-so-creatively christened this beauty “Paul’s Unnamed Purple Gallica”. Or PUPG for short. :) Growing happily in my parking strip with other vigorous companions such as Siberian and bearded irises, variegated bishop’s weed, lemon balm and Camaieux and Camaiex Reversion.

Still waiting on Marianne, Tuscany Superb, and Rosa Mundi, all will be blooming for me the first time this year, which is exciting 🙂

In the meantime my Belle Herminie has been blooming and beautiful as always but I moved her recently to trial her final home in the ground and it‘s a bit outside my normal preamble right now so my only picture is of her being a little bit crazy 😄 I’ll try to get over and get a more typical picture of her soon.

I also picked up Gallicandy, Orphaline de Juliet, and The Apothecary’s rose this year but I don’t expect any flowers until next year.

Beautiful bloom, Heather! She is truly a Mad Gallica! :) Do Gallicas smell lemony to you? I think I may be the only one who finds the scent to be something a little like sugared lemon with sweet perfumed rose. Gallicandy must surely be one of the most floriferous roses I’ve ever met. Even youn plants seem covered in blooms. A regular bloom machine! I also grow OdJ and Apothecary and am betting you’re going to love them! Our climate seems to really suit this class of roses, doesn’t it? Marianne, TS and RM are three of my favorite roses. Great minds…and gardening spirits! I am thrilled that another PNW gardener loves Gallicas! 🙌 Carol

Marianne and Reine des Violettes again. Both awaiting their permanent homes in the garden this fall.

Librarian, thank you so much for the Marianne shots and feedback! Your plant is spectacular! I love the self portrait with Marianne. It helps me gauge her size plus I love your mermaid shirt. :) Your photos really captured the variation in bloom color. Like sunrise in a series of images.

@bellegallica

Chaucer is welcome! What a lovely rose. Do you ever seat yourself next to the scented petals and read Canterbury Tales?

@Heather, I agree with Carol: welcome to the world of Gallicas!

@portlandmysteryrose

Thanks! Suzanne Verrier included it in her book Rosa Gallica so I thought it might get a pass even though it's not typical of the group. I haven't sat reading the Canterbury Tales near it yet, but what a great idea! I do always cut a flower or two to enjoy the fragrance inside.

Wonderful thread! The gallicas in particular make my heart is go pitter patter.

Here in Brooklyn, I have had the same problems with rank overgrowth and sticky bedstraw mentioned here. Overseas travel and recurrent health issues in the last few years have led to my almost total neglecting my back garden, which, even though tiny, is proving rather too much for me. Nevertheless both in front and in back, the roses look better than ever, even though some are unkempt and in need of drastic pruning or editing out.

Incidentally, when I checked out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday afternoon, I noticed mildew on the buds of a lot of the old roses, including Buff Beauty (oh, no!) something I have never seen in decades of visits there.

I'm still waiting on My other gallicas. Here's Marianne, always a delight.

@monarda_gw I am sorry to hear of your recurrent health issues! There seems to be a lot of that going around our gardens these days. I am sending healing thoughts and wishes for chores that are lighter than they appear! I absolutely neglected my garden for a stretch of a few years a few years back. My old roses seem to be the most forgiving of plants. I had a lot of deadwood to remove, lots of tidy-pruning to tackle, a fallen climber or two to hoist up again and lots of weedy ranunculous and dock to pull (and horrendous blackberry to dig), but overall, it’s amazing how old roses can hang in and hang on. It’s so nice to chat with you on the spring Gallica thread! Kindred spirits in urban gardens and appreciators of all kinds of antiques, especially roses. It sounds like you are having The Year of the Mildew. One year in PDX was The Year of Rust. That did NOT work for me at all! Carol

@librarian_gardener I can never get enough Marianne! Your photos are gorgeous! I love the way she fades from sunrise to cream bloom by bloom. She has SO many blooms. One thing that seems to be true of Paul’s roses: They are some of my most generously floriferous. And Marianne’s scent! Wow! Your full shot photo really helped me find a spot for my now 10 gallon plant. I had to rearrange my planting plan yet again, but Marianne finally has a spot on it. I’ll need to stay on top of her annual pruning, but I think I’m good to go for a post bloom planting now. 🤞 Yay! Thank you! 🙌

Marianne is one of my most rain-proof roses!

Rain? No problem for Tuscany Superb and its chalice-shaped buds. Like medieval wine goblets of Arthurian legend!

By the way, meant to add earlier, thank you Carol and Melissa for the warm welcome! After years of lurking and admiring the roses posted in the yearly shares I’m so happy to finally be able to join in!

librarian_gardener, your Marianne is beautiful! Mine is still a baby about to bloom for me for the first time and your pictures are giving me a better idea of where her final home will be.

So many beautiful roses! Here is Belle de Crécy doing her thing.

Beautiful, Markay! My BdC sends regards to yours. :)

Tuscany Superb

Another PUPG bloom. PUPG is one of my maddest Gallicas! I never know what color to expect from ice pink to deep violet. Often one bloom is many colors, especially as it ages.

My first fragrant Apothecary’s Rose bloom!

My Apothecary is grafted because I don’t want it traveling into my water main. It is a tough and shade tolerant rose and will be moving from a big pot to a spot in my parking strip beneath 2 ash trees. Most of my Gallicas are own root. I contain aggressive ones like Charles de Mills in heavy nursery pots sitting on concrete. Less pushy ones: I plant them in my tiny urban garden beds and slice wayward runners with a sharp spade. I root and pass along starts of Gallica joy to others.

Tricolore de Flandre is budding up for its late spring show! My Damasks and Albas are in full bloom as my Gallicas get ready to bloom.

I am going to release Allegra from her 5 gallon pot this year. She’ll be an experiment in the shady back corner of my garden. I thought I’d post some images so everyone can get an idea of how I experiment with this adaptable class. Paul says Allegra is shade tolerant, so I’m going to try her in a bed of reflected light beneath a plum tree. I’m betting that she’ll be healthy and offer a lot of blooms. In my experience, Paul’s Gallicas produce so many flowers that even if the shade knocks back Allegra by 1/3, she’ll still be covered in powder pink- apricot petals.

In her pot.

Her pot placed in the shady bed. in my teeny, tiny garden.

A longer shot of the shady bed and my collie, Nova. Jeri Jennings, Gloire de France and Capt John Ingram on the left. Pardon the weedy lawn! I am in process of ripping it out to make gravel pathways.

My darling Tuscany Superb.

And 3 more of Marianne. I just can’t restrain myself! Look at those apricot-citrus-cream petal colors! No filters. I am taking photos with a very basic iPhone camera. This beauty is pure Marianne. Illuminated from within. She is strongly fragrant and is blessed with one of my favorite scents in the garden. Her fluffy, full blooms invite my nose to dive in and sniff every time I pass her!

Another shade tolerant Gallica budding up: Gloire de France on the right just behind the dog fence. It has a gazillion buds! Friends on the left are Capt. John Ingram and Jeri Jennings. This Gallica can spread, so I’m testing it to see if it is too pushy for my small back bed.

And also shade tolerant Rosa Mundi with a bunch of buds. RM lives cozy with lacecap hydrangea Libelle next door and hardy geranium Wargrave Pink and lemon scented daylily Ariadne at its feet.

Umbra this morning.

Wow, Josg! Everyone's photos are fantastic!

Came back from a week on the Oregon coast to my first ever Rosa Mundi blooms!

Still waiting on Marianne and Tuscany Superb but they should be soon 😊

Well don’t I feel silly 😄 Completely forgot I had moved Marianne before my trip and came across her blooming while watering - she is amazing! A bit weak necked at the moment but she’s still very young since I got her as a band from RVR in July last year and these blooms are big!

I always really enjoy these OGR threads and I think the Gallica one may be my favorite.

Marianne made me want to stay home today but I did have to go work at the library.

And Belle de Crecy is starting!

Always love this thread. Here's my PUPG.

Thanks again Portland Mystery Rose (also thanked on another thread) for reassurance that Buff Beauty presents with whitish buds that are not mildew but just a distinctive characteristic of the variety. Good to know -- and very interesting.

Also, Marianne is beautiful and the picture of Belle de Crecy is to die for.

Librarian, I wouldn't want to leave your exquisite Marianne for work, either. And she's a huge bloomer, too. Belle de Crecy is beyond exquisite. The coloring is so complex, and the bloom is just perfect.

Portlandmystery, I've enjoyed the gallica share so much. They are my favorite OGRs, It's got to be the colors. Oh, that Tuscany Superb. What an elegant purple. She's a favorite of mine, too. Diane

My poor BdC gets practically full.shade from May-November and yet sets a decent amount of buds. This year some of the buds have withered and dropped before opening. I'm wondering if I need tofeed her. I have not fertilized her since I planted her 4 years ago, poor thing. Her blooms are enchanting. Thanks, everyone.

Gallicas are so special. I look forward to more photos from you all here! I can't grow all the ones I'd like (lack of room) so I look forward to everyone's shares here!

First bloom on Marianne

And more PUPG

Gloire de France

Jenny Duval

Tuscany

Oeillet Flammand (Oh Yeah, Flame On)

The rain has been shattering Belle de Crecy so in she came. And on top of a cake, too.

Mad Gallica, your gallicas are gorgeous! Especially Gloire de France.

Librarian, you need to frame the second photo. I would like a big piece of that cake and a bouquet of purple and lavender roses. Thank you. Diane

Diane, if only we were all neighbors! It would be the prettiest street and we'd have the loveliest afternoon teas together🤗

The cake is rhubarb with brown sugar buttercream.

Really gorgeous photos, everyone. So beautiful. Squirrels have eaten every single bud on Henri Fouquier and Hippolyte long before they opened, and Marianne is still in year one, so no gallicas blooms for me this year again 🥲 I do really hope next year I can get some.

That Belle de Crecy sure is something 💜

I'm sorry about the squirrels, Magpie.

Late to the party where I’m in a colder zone but here are a couple blooming right now. Love the others everyone has shared. Hopefully I’ll have more to share soon.

Belle de Crecy

Belle sans Flatterie

What lovely roses, Dave, and excellent photographs, too. Thanks!

My Gallicas, a class I love, are long gone for the year. However, with our late-running rains and remarkably mild temperatures for the season, the Noisettes and Teas have continued a modest flowering. It's a rich, rich garden in those parts where we've managed to get the weeds and grass under control (not much of the area, it's true).

I thought I was pretty satisfied with my small Gallica collection but Belle de Crecy is on the shortlist now after seeing all the pictures here 😄

"I believe it is to the gallica parentage that we owe most of our grey-lilac and murrey tones and here among my favourites is ‘Belle de Crécy’. It has all the soft tints, from warm cerise to pale lilac-grey, is well scented and a reasonably sturdy grower." -- Graham Stuart Thomas

An oldie but goodie: Cardinal Richelieu from 2016. I took this photo in the evening in order to capture its color:

I had bought Belle Hermine because Vintage said it was equal to or better than the Cardinal, but I did not find it to be the case, though it was very long blooming -- and vigorous. It seemed magenta to me, and the blooms were not as shapely and didn't have lighter reverses, besides, it suckered. I gave it away but kept a sucker to plant in the terraced back of the garden. There it has become a big plant and some of its canes want to be climbers. Much later, I discovered that as a cut flower in indoor lighting it does indeed appear dark purple. Nevertheless, for me anyway, the Cardinal takes the prize for grace and distinctiveness.

Here is Belle Hermine this year with Jeanne Lajoie behind it. Both are in need of severe pruning, a task I dread.

Below Belle Herminie looking purple indoors with Ispahan and a green radium glass sugar bowl that my husband bought on Ebay -- supposedly harmless, but I don't know. His mother collected blue plates. The vase was made by a gardening friend. Photo from May 17, 2023.

Lovely flowers and photos, Monarda, and I certainly am impressed with your climbing 'Belle Herminie'. Roses will do surprising things if they're given support and forced to go up to get to the light: is that what happened with your plant?

I love jungly gardens.

Yes. My garden is shady. Or rather semi-shady. It gets morning sun. Thing tend to grow upwards. And with all the rain and cool cloudy springs, all the plants are reaching for the moon, especially the weeds. Belle Herminie has no support except its own bushy self at present, but I'd like to turn it into a climber on the fence. I don't have the stamina I used to due to the ailments of old age, namely arthritis and other lower back issues, to name a few. I am going to physical therapy (again). Not to mention other doctors for other things -- that have to be monitored. And now we have this awful heat. Just have to do a little every day and not get discouraged. And there are compensations. Namely, we now have two adorable grand daughters born in the last two years. They say that people are happiest in their 70s, and I can believe this is true.