I am not sure about your rose, but it is not unheard of them sending the wrong rose, have had that happen to me a couple of times, but also pictures dont' always convey the true color of a rose. My almost black red rose looked just plain red. the second bud and flower is actually twice as dark and this tells me it is just a matter of time for some roses to get their full color, and in your case enviromental effects may apply here.

I would give it time, I believe that mr lincoln is a dark red to crimson color, but I am not totally familiar with it. pictures I have seen the flowers were a darkish red color.

RR

Welcome to the quirks of Mr. Lincoln! Mine has even had a light pink bloom. Besides being stingy with his blooms, the color fades quickly to an apple red or red/purple. Go figure. I much prefer the color and bloom frequency of Papa Meilland or Beloved.

Here is a link that might be useful: Papa Meilland

Yes, Mr. Lincoln is not uniformly red. Depending on the weather it can be deep pink at times, or have bluish edges. When the color annoys you, just close you eyes and take a whiff, it still smells good!

I bought a Mr. Lincoln at Home Depot, and it was a deep burgundy pink. My neighbor told me it couldn't be one because the ones she grew up with were a bright red. Either way, it smells wonderful, and the blooms last for up to 2 weeks in a vase.

Plus, with a new rose you should give it time to establish itself. A year or two. But, Mr. Lincoln is known for some color variations as the other posters have noted.

Nancy, you fell for that picture too?

Mine is red on the purple side. Last fall I had some blooms that were a gorgeous amethyst color. If it would always be that way, it would be a very popular rose.

Still, it's a great rose, enjoy.

I have Three Mr Lincolns From Three Different Stores. One From K-mart, one From the Supermarket, (A Bagged Rose), And one from Walmart. I get a little purple out of the Walmart one.

I hated my Mr Lincoln. The color turns nasty looking after the bloom is spent. Here in Seattle it always had BS and mildew. I SP it. I have not replaced the red in my garden. There are more clear reds..Ingrid Bergman.

How is your Mr. Lincoln this year? Mine is purply.

My new two, after deer had demolished my last, are wonderful. Fragrance alone does it for me. But I happen to prefer blue reds to other reds anyway. Just each to there own.
Pauline - Vancouver Island

Mine is still purple.

i thought the same thing but they have a bad tendency to blue out. the heat is the culprit. when it gets hot and you see a bloom you better hurry cause they will open real fast and turn blue

That you didn't tell us how wonderful the fragrance is.....makes me think that maybe it's not Mr. Lincoln.
The nose knows.

I always called mine Mr. Pinky. I never get a deep red except in winter. And not always fragrant either. But always a lovely rose on a beautiful long stem. I put in an Oklahoma too to see if both brothers turn dark pink for me or just Mr. Lincoln.

I always thought it was funny that Mr. Lincoln's Mother was a Chrysler Imperial! I love that rose too and it's kind of pink in my yard as well.

I remember somewhere back in the 90's going to one of the Sacramento Rose shows one yr, and Baldo Villegas won Queen of the show with a drop-dead gorgeous MR LINCOLN. It was humongous... like 8" in diameter and the color was a deep crimson-purple. So, yes, MR LINCOLN does get those pinker, purpley-er shades. In fact, mine rarely gets a really "true" red.

Mr. Lincoln in Florida (for me) turns a yuck shade of purple "red". The buds are beautiful, and he is very fragrant, but I feel his blooms turn a rather ugly shade here. Very seldom does he ever stay a true red, at least in the south. However, for a hybrid tea, it is a very disease resistant bush. I took mine out so I could plant an OGR in his spot.

Nancy.......My Mr.Lincoln was never a real red....but a deep dark magenta.....although it was a pretty shape and had a nice fragrance.....several winters ago it died and i didnt replace it....i agree that Oympiad is a very nice red red rose.....and i would also suggest Veteran,s Honor.

carol in ks

In the 5 years I have grown Mr. Lincoln, "pink" has never entered the conversation. ML is a rich, deep red here. It does get a purple hue after a few days in the sun, but that's when it is nearly spent. It took this rose a few years to show its stuff, but now it is a vigorous and hardy HT which would probably reach 10 ft. tall if I didn't prune it 3 or 4 times each season.

Mine usually get to be a deep red. The only trouble is that this year they bloomed once and not again. Nor did they grow to their usual height. It's been a tough year for Republicans.

Mine is typically magenta. But I have gotten a few red blooms this week. It seems to be more red when the temperatures are lower.

I'm having a similar problem. I grew a potted Mr Lincoln from Lowe's late in the season last year and got phenomenal results in color and fragrance.

This year I decided to go with a bareroot from Lowe's, thinking bareroot might give better results. Today was the first flush of my "supposed" Mr Lincoln rose, and I'm not impressed. The color is not right and there's little to no fragrance from any of the blooms.

(first flush from bareroot 2016)

I'm thinking this might not be Mr Lincoln. But then again, this is the first flush from this plant and it was raining when it bloomed. Plus it does look similar in form to my Mr Lincoln from last year.

What do ya'll think? I'm in zone 7a in NC just like the Op. Sorry about the rainy pics. My flowers always seem to open right when it rains....

I'm a rose newbie (I got the fever last year and now have 24 and counting...oops). Here is a picture of my hopefully-not-mislabeled Mr. Lincoln. Maybe it will help. This is his first bloom, which was a rich red bud that just exploded overnight with a wonderful damask fragrance.

-1 1/2 mo. old bare root in good soil/good drainage/afternoon shade

-cool nights; days have just started to heat up to the 80s-90s

-steady water supply and he just got a dose of iron (I'm maybe a little over-zealous with watering and fertilizing, being a nervous newbie).

Maybe some of these things contributed to the color difference? Or, I just have a mislabeled rose, we'll see...

(more of a dark fuchsia than the photo captures)

Picture of the ML we once had... He died over the winter in 2014-15... His blooms were mostly red here. Seems maybe climate etc. can change his color and maybe even different soil types etc.? But our ML always had a strong scent! It even penetrated my bad smeller...

I once put sugar and something else into the water of a vase bouquet of ML and the bloom colors changed from red to Minnesota Viking purple fairly quickly...So anythings possible...

iowagner, yours is probably ML...

Thanks! You gave me hope! I'll try to remember to post if they change to red and try to record what the variables were.

ok cool iowagner...

I think something got skewed with the genetics of Mr. Lincoln over the years.

I remember it cuz we had one when I was younger and I have had one or 2 myself ('m 66)..it is a dark color red/magenta. Not pink..even when it opened and was fading it was not pink. It also is a vigorous bush that grows big and can with stand punishment and keeps growing..I can testify to that..I just bought a new Mr. Lincoln..was walking by the bush and loved the color and fragrance. I was shocked when I read the tag..Mr Lincoln.

Other people have commented to the retailer that it doesn't look like a Mr. Lincoln. It is from Weeks. I did buy it cuz it is a lovely rose what even it is. Still think something has happened to the genetics of this rose.

I've had many Mr. Lincolns and not one has been red. All have been deep pink. Mine were always very fragrant. I always thought it was my climate. There are many true reds out there if you want them. Olympiad is good but no fragrance. Another very good one with unwavering color is Veterans Honor. Crystler Imperial has great fragrance, but it's just like Mr. L, it's more of a purplish red.

Here is a bloom that looks medium red that I photographed this evening. I has small white color faults. My plant is tall and lanky--it was somewhat awkward taking the photo without a ladder. I got it from Pickering Roses in 2005, so the plant has been in my garden 12 years.

I've grown Mister Lincoln on and off for many years, and more often than not it takes on magenta/bluish shades. Those of you that posted magenta pink pics of Mister Lincoln...In my opinion, you definitely have the right variety, sometimes that's just how it looks. It's the marketing for 50+ years that's always described Mister Lincoln as the quintessential red, in truth it's not always that red.

Back in the late 60s when it was introduced, I think it was rightly considered very red. But the standard is higher now, with the introduction of roses like Olympiad and Veterans Honor, which are a far purer, true red. Mister Lincoln also opens too fast and doesn't last as long as those newer reds. It is still probably the best of the old 'reds' , a strong grower with very good fragrance. I think Firefighter is the best compromise between old and new reds...it is quite red, still very fragrant, and very generous in bloom.

Some red roses seem to produce better looking blooms in partial shade, so many of my reds are planted in the back yard, which gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Unlike Gemini, which does best in full sun. In shade, Gemini blooms look washed out.

Funny that this comes up.

My friend had a potted ML grown from a reliable own root Nsy. This rose grew one huge cane and several smaller ones. When he tired of it, I said I would try planting it as a standard and so we'll see what happens. I planted white salvia all around the base. The Huntingtons ML looked very good this spring and so I thought I'd give it another try. The old body bagged ones probably weren't the true ML anyway. I put it in half day sun so I might have mildew......but the color was better in half day for my friend. He moved the pot around until he found the best location. My Chrysler Imperial does better out of the midday sun. Firefighter has no problem at all. I used to be annoyed by pinkish or purple red roses but not anymore. Winter comes with temps in the low 70s and voila! Red roses.