It was a lovely lovely rose in our garden, until we got a day of warm, muggy, tropical weather.
Overnight, 'Midnight Blue' blackspotted from top to bottom.
By morning light, half of the leaves were on the ground, and the balance were preparing to follow them.
I removed the rest to the trash can.

'Mignight Blue' remains the only rose that has EVER blackspotted all over in our garden.
It is No Longer With Us.

It was replaced with a found 'Mme. Lambard,' who has done very well, and doesn't "do" blackspot.

Jeri

The color is unbelievable... The blooms on the small side... BUT, they don't last very long... The bush as a whole in full bloom looks outstanding, but deadheading it every night is quite a chore...

Hmm. Okay then. Thank you both. I have to say that I have a couple already that bloom well but are quick to shatter and yes that is a bit tedious. Also while we have never suffered appreciable blackspot since I've loved in upper California this year it is bad. Owing to our late spring rain I expect.

I'll think about those aspects of Midnight Blue and in the meantime check out Mme. Lambard.

Kate

I have Midnight Blue and adore this little shrub. It is healthy and always blooming. The dark, grape juice purple color doesn't fade. It does seem to blow quickly, but always has blooms and reblooms quickly. The fragrance is nice, too. It blooms in sprays of 2" blooms. It is upright and well behaved. I spray every 2-3 weeks. Very little BS and our weather is a humid, muggy mess!

Thanks Artemis. I did quite enjoy the gorgeous coloring seen on HMF. I'm really liking purples and reds this year.

Kate

Your welcome Kate. Funny...I am also liking the purples and reds this year. Or so I thought! When I finally got all my spring roses planted I find the majority of my orders are pinks, whites and amber. What the heck?

I also have Midnight Blue and am quite fond of it. I have it planted right in front of a Flutterbye and the two make a lovely pair. This is year 3 for it here and I have been using it in many of the bouquets I've been cutting for the women at a nearby retirement center. The dark purple sprays are a stunning contrast and usually garner the most comments.

I have a hedge of 4 Midnight Blue shrubs. They are the absolute healthiest roses I've ever seen. Never a speck of mildew or rust. I've never seen blackspot on them, but then only a very few roses get that in my yard. The plants stay nice and short. They bloom in flushes. The only thing that I could possibly complain about is that the blossom color is so dark that it kind of blends in with the foliage. Considering the quantity of bloom, the flushes would be more impressive from a distance if the flowers popped out against the foliage more.

Highly recommended.

Here's a picture that shows how hard it is to deadhead this plant.
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That it blackspots in the East doesn't surprise me.
That it blackspotted that badly here shocked me.

It had 3-4 disease-free years here, before erupting with generalized BS.
The odd thing was, 'Rt. 66,' planted 4 ft. from it, did not blackspot at all.
Of course, it also didn't bloom . . . )

Jeri

Its gorgeous. I'd buy it.

Well my gosh! A lot of very interesting information. Although this is not helping me resolve my conflicted feelings about wanting it one iota I am learning a lot.

I probably will go buy it. I have to go to the nursery for some non-rose shopping anyway so I'll see if its still there and check out the plant a bit more carefully. I'm so weak that between that awesome picture and the words of encouragement it doesn't take much to make me cave:) Plus I always like patronizing our local nursery.

Thanks all.

Kate

Similar experience to jerijen. My bushes were highly resistant for a few years and then just fell apart to blackspot.

PhillyGardener:

Are you in an area of high blackspot pressure or did Midnight Blue just seem particularly prone to it? Thank you.

Kate

Hi Kate,

Pretty much everything here gets blackspot. I would say Midnight Blue is not as prone to blackspot as my hybrid teas/floribundas but still needs to be sprayed. If you spray every couple of weeks, you will be fine. Even if you don't spray, it still seems to flower ok.

Even with the disease, I would never get rid of Midnight Blue. The color is just too beautiful and the plant is nicely shaped, perfect for a pot.

You said the magic words Philly namely, perfect for a pot. Since I have NO room in the beds whatsoever. We already added one more bed this year and now it is full:) I'll definitely take another look at this rose. Thank you.

Kate

Elizabeth Park has a nice bed of Midnight blue that has been blooming just in time for the rose show weekend. I've considered getting it.

Midnight Blue can be spectacular. It needs to be sprayed with fungicide just as much as my HT's. The color varies from a wine color to purple. In certain weather conditions, the blooms blow fast and dead heading is difficult. MB is not a vigorous as most of my roses.

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Thank you Zach and Harry. Good info and gorgeous pictures. Harry it looks like yours is in the ground yes? I would have to grow mine in a pot indefinitely. So far I haven't been back to check on that rose at the nursery. I am still thinking about it though:) Your pictures do make it mighty tempting I must say..,

Kate

Kate -- Do yourself a favor, and plant International Herald Tribune, instead.
It WON'T blackspot, won't rust, and is a spectacular bloomer.
Every time I turn around, DH has planted another one somewhere.
Just remember, when deadheading, do NOT cut into the cane. Just snip the blooms off the top. The rose will take care of the rest.
(Or don't bother to deadhead. It'll bloom again anyhow.)

Jeri

I, too, live in NOCAL, and it has taken Midnight Blue three years to come into its own. Of course, I don't have the best soil, so most roses are slow taking off, even tho' I amend the soil at planting time. We have a shorter growing season than Jeri's and our summer temps are in the triple digits. Blackspot won't survive if temps are above 85 degrees. I generally lose the first flush to rose curculios, but after their damage period, the temps are high enough to protect the rose from disease.

Smiles,
Lyn

Jeri you are such a wise lady. I bought International Herald Tribune at this years Open Garden Sale! So far I love it. Yes so far a very nice bloomer indeed. It has naked ankles but I'm feeding it so I'm sure the foliage will fill in with time. Very good recommendation.

Thanks Lyn. Hmm so a little slow to develop eh? Ours can be also with all the snow we get over winter. I have to remember to breathe and be patient at times:) But gardening is good for me that way.

Appreciate you both.

Kate

Kate and/or Jeri,
How tall does your International Herald Tribune get? I've read conflicting information anywhere from 2ft to 4ft. I would be growing it in the SF Bay Area.
Thanks,
Pearl

Mine isn't terribly old having bought it this spring from the Sacramento City Cemetery Sale. Right now it is about 1.5 feet tall. Planted in full sun it seems happy but I believe still getting comfortable in its current location. I expect that Jeri will be able to give you a better answer since your climate is more similar to hers than mine. Here we have snow and an appreciable chill period that keeps my roses smaller. I love this rose though. The one and only thing I might change is it has naked ankles:) Been feeding it fish fertilizer though to try and contend with that.

Hope this helps.

Kate

I'm not Kate or Jeri, but I can address the size of IHT in the Bay Area. I had been pruning through the inflorescence instead of below the inflorescence until the plants matured. My three plants that have grown to 5 feet tall within 3 years. The canes are always naked at the base, and the habit is rather stiffly upright.

This winter, I will both transplant them and start pruning and deadheading below the inflorescence to enhance bushiness. Mine are in ideal dark rose conditions: morning sun, afternoon shade. They bloom continuously. This is not a front-of-the-border rose unless much harder pruning will both reduce size and greatly increase bushiness. I kinda doubt it.

Kate......

I have Midnight Blue planted next to International Herald Tribune. It's a beautiful combination. Unfortunately, I don't have the afternoon shade Cass mentions, so the blooms on both roses fry quickly in our triple digit summer temps. Both roses come through winter just fine with no winter protection, but I think we have less snow here than you do in your location.

Lyn

Lyn:

That sounds really, really pretty. How neat. hard to watch them bow to the heat though isn't it? And we don't get hot like that but for a very short time during the summer. For us 101 is super hot.

Thanks.

Kate

Kate..........

I have kind of solved the heat problem. I just spray the plants down some time in the middle of the afternoon. The plant can't draw up enough moisture to the top of the plant on its own and it will take in moisture through its leaves. With the afternoon shower, I generally don't see wilted new growth or crisped blooms ... only if I miss a day. It takes about 10 minutes to go through the whole garden and it seems to help the roses.

Smiles,
Lyn

PS.. our temps are running right around 105 daily for the next few weeks.

Berndoodle,
Thanks so much for your response. That's very helpful and makes me think that IHT will work for me. I plan on intermixing it with Bonica along a 3 1/2' high white picket fence. I wanted to make sure it would be tall enough to peek over the top of the fence. I plan on putting it on the "back side" of the fence, ie away from the street view. The location gets morning sun and some afternoon shade, so yay! I just read about pruning thru the inflorescence to increase size of rose, so I'll try that the first couple of years, then maybe go back to pruning the old fashioned way, below the inflorescence to a bud. Hope I got that right.
Thanks again!

Kate,
I just saw your post so thanks for your information as well. I didn't realize we had a Zone 7 in California! So much for my knowledge of zones and geography! If naked ankles is the biggest problem with IHT, I'll be very happy. It'll be part of a mixed border, so I can just grow some perennials at its feet to give it some modesty.