He's a great (and underappreciated) plant. Always in bloom and lots of them. I grow him and I also saw him last weekend in the "AARS Walk of Fame" rose garden in Carlsbad which lines up plants of all the AARS winners since the beginning of AARS, and that was in peak bloom for the year. He blew all the other AARS winners of that decade away.

Kathy

Excellent "oldie-but-goodie". Only drawback is no fragrance. Zip, nada, nothing in the nose, but otherwise outstanding.

I killed mine. :(

Well worth growing. This is one rose that will take a little bit of shade and keep blooming. A very nice rose IMO.

I love my Gene! I wish it did have fragrance, but its healthy, free-blooming nature more than makes up for that.

Molly

I found this rose three yrs ago in a package. I planted it
and was amazed how well it performed. Had no idea what to expect. Luckily, I found more this year (happily :):)....
and they're in pots and on their way. As the ladies said..
no fragrance, but so strong and dependable with the blooms!
I wish it were in every color LOL!
Margaret

My Gene was down to a one cane wonder in a pot , then I replanted him in a bed that gets only about 4 hours of sun but this rose has adapted to shade and done very well. This year Gene B is just covered in blooms.

I wish I had a pic of the bush but I don't but here is a bouquet I made out of my Gene Boerner, This bouquet is a complete ball set down into a wide mouth vase it is a pave' type bouquet. There are a few cecile brunner blooms on the side (you can see them in the upper left corner of bouquet) but it is all Gene Boerner. This plant is a bloom machine. You will be very happy with this rose. I don't recall any scent but the blooms it puts out makes up for no scent. I had a Gene Boerner 2 years ago but have since moved and left the bush. I only picked 10 rose bushes out of 96 roses to bring with me since I scaled down here at my new home, but thought I would share this.
Carrie

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I saw one in full bloom at Descanso Gardens, it was striking, ... just totally covered in beautiful flowers.

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I have 15 of them mass planted. There is no fragrance, but they're the show stealers. The blooms last forever - its been 4 weeks, and not one of them has fallen off despite the strong winds and breeze. And the new ones keep coming in.

I like the look of the country roses, I love my Pat Austens, - they look prettier, and smell heavenly, but they fill up the bush one day and by day 3 they're gone, leaving me with the tedious task of deadhealing a 6 ft bush. These last more than 3 weeks without a problem, and are 3' in height so deadheading is never a chore.

If you let me know how to post a pic here, I'll post the one I look 2 weeks ago, and another one I took today. And its still got millions of buds. They make my garden look like a park...

I'm not pedantic, and i can't fuss over my roses, and this one too grows and blooms profusely without any help at all from me...

Ok, here is mine....

I don't DO anything to deserve this, but I am grateful for the splendor...

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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/4604476810_4b095d63ae_m.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1306/4604473798_003231da03_m.jpg

PS: How the heck does the picture get posted?

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of mine

Well, I am convinced! I am off tomorrow to get 3 of these handsome fellows! I hope he looks half as good for me as he does in your pictures.. Thanks everyone..QB

Great. I posted the picture (successfully) on the wrong thread

The big picture looks cool:

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Bitooli! OMG! That is one gorgeous rose! How many GB do you have in there?... I might need to add more than the three I had on my list...LOL.. Thank you for sharing...I can't stop looking at your pictures..

I have 13 in all....in a double row.

This was two weeks ago - its more spectacular now - the old flowers are still holding on, more new ones have unfurled. Great holding power - the flowers last for 2-4 weeks here.

bitooli ,How tall x wide are they, how long x wide is your bed... Would you come back and let us know how long your flush lasts--if this was taken a couple of weeks ago and they are still going..It must be a really wonderful picture...

My bed is oval. Along one curved edge are cherish rose trees.

Right thru the centre go these two rows.

And the other edge has china dolls.

I am planning around 6 tall sages between the trees and the gene b's.

My flush is still intact. Only a few of the buds remain unopened now, rest have all unfolded. Some flowers have faded a bit, as is expected, but are holding the form. And yes, I will return with a pic when the flush starts to fade.

That picture was taken about a week ago. Here's what I took a minute ago - 2 of them died due to automatic overwatering in winter, and you can see the space, so I am going to have to find new ones to replace.

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How disease resistant is this rose?

Deanna

Gardenfanatic....in Louisville, KY. this rose is no spray. I have had it six years and never a problem. I do spray , but not Gene. Wonderful rose, always in bloom. Lesley

I'm in CA. I've had some spotting. Leaves do turn yellow, but this is the lowest part of my garden and water from the lawn sprinklers often collects there, and the soil is extremely lumpy and non porous, so the water will sit there for days together - hats what killed the two GBs....so I don't blame the poor guy for that sporadic spotting....but it survived and thrived...

I don't spray it though...and I rarely feed it (only when I have time !) but it seems to thrive pretty well under these adverse conditions...

I grew this rose in Virginia and Washington state, and it performed great in both. I love the quilling of the petals, the main attraction for me. This rose is a keeper.

I promised to post new pictures...

The blooms are STILL not gone. Some deadheading was required because it rained and some just rotted on the stem, so the blooms/blush has thinned out a bit, and some have faded as you can see, but they've held their shape. A few new ones have popped up in between, so it still looks pretty impressive first blush. I think its been > 3 weeks - almost 4 !!!!

The colors are muted because I took the picture in the evening as against the first one which was taken in the morning, and the later one which was around midday...

Here is what it looked like this evening...great rose I must say...

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Cheers to a great rose created by your great uncle!

Stephen, your uncle did some great hybridizing work and introduced several classics to the rose world. It's a shame some of them are no longer available. But we still have his namesake, and First Prize, John F. Kennedy, and a few others. I hope you grow a lot of his roses! lol.