The List

So I have compiled a list of potential roses I want to order this year. REALLY need to cull it down to about 5 potentials. I would love everyones opinion on them. I love colourful and fragrant roses

Louis XIV
Jardins de Bagatelle
Holtermann's Gold
Fire & Ice
Commandant Beaurepaire
Victoria Gold
Margaret Merril
Crépuscule
Ruby Celebration
Firestar / Easy does it ?
Chartreuse de Parme
Blue for you
Ebb Tide - My last one died
Route 66

Teesh, if Audrey Hepburn were a rose, she'd be Jardins de Bagatelle. Beauty, perfume, elegance, gracefulness, the perfect lady in a vase (Lalique, of course ;-)) Great make-up, too: Snowy, with a faint blush.

Well , Rosy , i would give Chartreusse a miss , yep lovely, fragrant blooms but the bush well , baahhh , mines coming out when i get a replacement , i think Silky has had more luck with it , you might have more luck too and i have read that Ebb Tide takes about four years to come to its best potential .... Betsy which one do you prefer Jardins or PJP11 ?

Jardins as a flower, maree, hands down for me. More classically shaped, with reflexed points more graceful and nowhere near as prissily piped-out of an icing bag as PJPII which, to mix metaphors, unfortunately brings to mind the phrase "tighter than a cat's bum"

Scent? JdB is so far ahead of His Holiness for sweet elegance that it's like comparing Chanel No 5 to a lemon peel.

For bush shape, though, PJPII is the winner for shape and fullness. JdB is no twiggy trash, though. All mine have been very pleasing to the eye, very reliable in rebloom, too. Just love it.

Lol , Betsy , thanks , i know what you mean about PJP11, going to try Amazing Grace in a pot , hope that has got a bit more charisma and allure ...

Rosy I know Chartreuse gets a bad rap from most here but I just love it. I'm glad I persevered, and believe me I was sorely tried to ditch her, but I held on and kept my fingers crossed. This year is her 3rd and I gave her a bit more attention and she has rewarded me well, with lovely blooms and healthy foliage. Gets some early afternoon shade but gets full bore late afternoon.
This was taken the morning we had 41C temps, thinking flowers would frizzle. Nope, just kept powering away.
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Silky and there is the difference i think , mine gets the morning sun and a little bit of afternoon sun , maybe it is a hot weather rose , maybe i should try it in a full sun position , oh dear !!! , i cannot fault the blooms , they are beautiful ...

Three years of patience Silky, well done

That rose (Chartreuse) is soooo on My List.

Mine is in its third year too and still a runt , i'm afraid !!! Can we swap Silky?

From what I can see on HMF it's only a small bush anyhow?
Does anyone know who is selling it?

Swanes have it Autumn

Rankins should as they are the agent(Delbards) from memory

I understand Swane's has pretty much lost interest in the Delbards. . Don't think you'll have much luck there, but roseman is on the money. Here's the CdP link
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It is not cost effective to be an agent or sub agent to many of the overseas companies, some of them want you to sole agent to them.

I have been to the Rankins nursery , they are nice people , they have other roses besides Delbards as well , they also distribute their Delbards through Bunnings and have a mail order service , they used to have a open day once a year , where you could buy roses and see demonstrations , which we went to , but i think they have stopped ... Betsy , do you have a photo of Perfume Passion you could post , so i can see the colour , cause i think it could be a goer, for the front of the house , and websites are never true to colour , thanks Betsy

Thanks for putting me on the right track, folks.
I know a small nursery that stocks Rankins, near my brother's place...

Autumn , i'm starting to think my Chartreusse is just in the wrong spot , although it gets plenty of sun i would have thought , i think i'll try it again , in another spot , oh well , here goes another three years lol Good luck with yours !!!!

Maree, for once I can say that the catalogues and real life are in sync, when it comes to Perfume Passion. I've got two buds left that weren't fried at the neck by the 43C heatwave here Friday, but they have a way to go before they open. I will take some pix when they do. In the meantime,Treloars and Tesselaars both use a Kordes pic that seems to be the semi-official portrait of PP; it's absolutely spot on for colour and form. I reproduce it here

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Thanks Betsy , i think this is the way to go , non fussy , healthy, fragrant roses , wow 43 degrees , we had 40 degrees here Thursday , how did PP, fare , most roses would fry in that heat , Autumn roll on !!!

Maree, Perfume Passion did fantastically well in the heat as far as her foliage went, but enough is enough even for tough ladies, and her eight baby buds were desiccated completely.Frankly, it was inevitable in the blast furnace condiitons here. Worse tragedy: Valencia's 15 buds crisped at the neck, which looked very odd, like they had been pinched and left to wither) and pretty Ice Girl's entire bush fried. (One Sweet Intoxication did too, but I tossed it out without a pang.) Parole's buds survived with a bit of shade, ditto Daybreaker's and Love Potion's.

The others have varying degrees oif burnt leaves and fried buds. I'd say PP is very good at surviving, a B+/A- rating

One word of caution with PP: possums lurv the flowers. At night you can hear them crashing around, ignoring other blooms and heading straight for the pink buffet.
PS: maree, I know you are considering re-trialling Big Purple, and I can report that he came through beautifully, with minimum burning, and then only to the tender new red shoots.

Thanks Betsy , i don't think we have possums here , my mum and sisters do , and they are not far away , i am having so much trouble deciding on what to plant , and then after pulling out the camellias , i didn't check if the bed got enough sun duh !!! So now am monitoring that bed for how much sun it gets , one thing for sure though Fragrant Cloud has a berth , her spot is dug , dug , dug lol !!

Haha Maree, no swaps. Yes maybe she needs more sun. You would think that such a highly perfumed bloom couldn't take strong sun. I'll admit I'm surprised as in the past it only had a few blooms sparingly through the season and I can't remember if that coincided with extreme heat. Those blooms are still good and standing up nicely today. They do last a long time on the bush.
Autumn it's not a large bush, about a metre high maybe.

Thanks Maree & Betsy - I have taken Chartreuse off the list. Also, maybe I won't give Ebb Tide another go .. It was a sad little plant then died. But I will keep JDB!

Silky - Your photo reminds me A LOT of my Blackberry Nip. Exact same colour!

Still need to cull down to about 5 (or 6.. or 7 hehe)

Louis XIV
Jardins de Bagatelle
Holtermann's Gold
Fire & Ice
Commandant Beaurepaire
Victoria Gold
Margaret Merril
Crépuscule
Ruby Celebration
firestar / easy does it
blue for you
ROUTE 66

Where are you getting Firestar/EDI from, Teesh? i have been thinking about this one for a while as a candidate for my Short Fat Ladies Club. It was trialled here, but that's the last I heard.