I like my Basye's Blueberries. I have three. I live in Tulsa, and that may be a little cooler than you. My plants are quite tall and wide, but I do let them grow, and do not prune much. I think they are very pretty.

Sammy

Thanks, Sammy

Colleen

It really is a warm-weather rose, I think.
It did not thrive here in a coastal climate.

Jeri

It may have just been me, but Basye's Purple, which I was very excited to have, died a lingering death in my warmer climate in spite of all the care I gave it. Mr. Basye did at one time call it a "diamond in the rough" so perhaps even he was aware that it might not be the easiest rose. Many people seem to be happy with Blueberry but I don't know how much this is related to the climate it's grown in.

Ingrid

These two roses are as different as night & day. I love my 'Basye's Blueberry'. One of the few 100% thornless roses out there. Makes a nice, open shrub over time.

I don't personally grow 'Basye's Purple', but I've seen it growing around town on several occasions. It's deep purply blooms are beautiful, but the bush itself never seems to look nearly as good at Basye's Blueberry. The Purple usually consists of only one, two, or three very upright, unbranching, thorny canes.

BB in warm weather (this is how the blooms look 80% of the time here in Texas):
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BB in cool weather (looks this way only in very early spring & very late fall):
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FYI, this is my second time to grow BB. I grew the first one in a container also. After a couple of years, it got too big for its container so I gave it to a friend who had a spot for it in their garden. My wife chewed me out, because it's her favorite rose, so I got a new one. This rose gets fairly large, but she likes it up close & personal on the patio.

Randy

My roses are beautiful, but last year we had a very early freeze, and it hurt many bushes. These were hurt, so I did not cut them at all, but tried to allow them to get as much sun and water as they could.

I think that Mr Bayse was the predecessor to Dr. Stephen George, and Dr. Stephen George's facilities (school, agriculture projects) are in Dallas, right where you are, Randy. So they should grow better for you, and possibly for me than in other places. Before I spoke with Dr. George I thought that everything was in Texas A&M in Austin or somewhere else. But he lived and worked in Dallas.

He said that when they first developed the Earth kind roses, that Bayse's Blueberry was about the last to go. It made it until the final cut. That suits me just fine because my big complaint with the Earth kind roses is that you should not water them. When our summers in Tulsa are dry, they are very very dry, and I simply don't think that the water qualification to the Earth kind roses is fair. I think it is unreasonable to expect a rose to live without water in an area that might go 2 months with temps near or over 100, and never get water.

Sammy

Sammy, I didn't know that BB almost made the cut for being designated as a "EarthKind Rose".
Those EarthKind roses are tough as nails for growing in this area.
I've grown several of them, and they are very deserving. But I don't mind giving BB & my other roses that didn't make the list some water during summer droughts.

Randy