Mine came from Sequoia ... which closed last year. :(

It's already on my list of roses to propagate for next year.

Connie

Annie's Annuals has begun offering it, along with some other very well-chosen roses. I have no idea how big their roses are - have been buying their annuals and perennials for years, and they are always good, unusual plants. It's not available right now - was listed as a favorite in a recent email and there must have been a run on it. $12.95. Their shipment to non-Western states is $28.95 for up to eight plants. The thing to do would be to pick some of their other really interesting things. Don't know which would thrive in other states, so you'd need to do some research, but I can almost guarantee you could find seven other plants that you would like to try.

My recommendation would be to put it on your wish list at both Vintage and Annie's and see how quickly you get lucky. What a shame that this wonderful rose isn't being offered more widely.
Anita

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Annuals

Thanks for the info, everyone.

Jeri, the pictures are very helpful. No wonder your husband likes it so much.

I don't suppose the Sacremento City Cemetery ships roses to Atlanta. Sigh. I'll just keep looking.

FWIW, This sold so fast, I expect Annie's Annuals will want to be making more.
But DH tells me that while some roses he has here root in 4 weeks, GH takes a solid six weeks to put out real roots. Just to give you an idea how long it takes.
The good news is that after that, it grows quickly.
I know we have had 5-G plants in 6 months.

Jeri

I've read some wonderful things about this rose. Can anybody tell me if it is resistant to black spot? I would especially like to hear from folks in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States.

Thanks,

Patrick

Grandmothers Hat had terrible blackspot here. I gave it away. Of course, I live in an area with a horrible blackspot pressure. YMMV.

Carol

Thanks, Carol. I always want to believe that disease resistant on the West Coast means disease resistant here in the Southeast. (I KNOW it doesn't but I want it to be so). I'm glad you shared your experience.

Maryland has even worse black spot pressure so Grandmother's Hat and its sports are definitely off the wish list. Thanks Carol for the heads up.

As a general rule:

West Coast = powdery mildew
East Coat = black spot

A good example is ICEBERG (Floribunda). I hear in California it is very resistant to PM. Alas in Maryland it is a total and complete black spot disaster.

Patrick, Yeah, I know but being the eternal optimist that I am, I always WANT to think that maybe this time PM resitance means BS resistance, at least for THIS rose. Sigh. I know better. Wishing it were true doesn't make it true.

For those of you still looking for Grandmother's Hat, Amity Heritage Roses is now carrying this rose.

Here is a link that might be useful: GH at Amity

I got mine at Amity Heritage. Carol has roses in SC that do not get as blackspot as bad as some I have and vise versa. She has convinced me through her trial and error and successes with roses, that you should try a rose and see how it works for you and if this one does not work, and you really want it, try another vendor whose clone may be different. Mine really did fine until it met RRD. It had some blackspot but did not defoliate totally but was not as pretty as most of Carol's roses, but then not many gardens are as pretty and as clean as Carol's. It's a must see if you get to the Carolinas.

I always WANT to think that maybe this time PM resitance means BS resistance,

*** Likewise, I have on multiple occasions fooled myself into thinking that BS resistance will translate to Rust/PM resistance -- and ended up with roses that were covered with rust and mildew at the same time.

Jeri

For those who are considering ordering GH from Amity Heritage, I wanted to say that they have absolutely beautiful bands, large, healthy, and thriving. I haven't bought from them for a while because I've really slowed my purchases of new roses, but their bands are very impressive. You will not be disappointed.

Rosefolly

Rosefolly,
I'm not sure whether to thank you or curse you! I was just at Amity, put GH in my cart, checked shipping charges (not bad at all) and decided to wait a few minutes before committing to buy. Urg. Now I might HAVE to try her. I really want to... but do I have room? Is she destined to be a BS disaster? Will my wife kill me for ordering yet ANOTHER rose? I hate these decisions. Maybe if I just slip her into the pot ghetto for a while, DW might not notice only ONE more...

Gardennatlanta, always happy to be of service!

Rosefolly

i broke down and bought her. If nothing else, the garden forum will be a richer place when I share my experience. Doesn't that sound noble? Maybe I should get some more roses so I can continue to unselfishly serve my fellow garden forumers. (kind of like Mother Theresa except for roses).

Wow, I amaze myself sometimes. No more guilt. I'm helping others!

Hey Gardenatlanta, I like that unselfish, sharing attitude! Maybe I can talk myself into the same thing. I'm trying VERY hard to convince myself that it won't be such a big deal to break my "no spraying" rule for this one special rose. Great fragrance and being thornless are worth their weight in gold, in my opinion. My husband's favorite words, besides "dinner's ready" are "it's thornless, dear". He isn't fond of being stuck by roses, to say the least. Does anyone know if this rose has been crossed with others, and maybe produced anything as nice, but more blackspot resistant?

Iceberg will black spot here in SoCal if it's pruned too hard. Allow it to grow all the leaves it wants and allow it to keep the stored food in the large plant by NOT hacking it to death, and it will give you a bit of mildew on the peduncles where that is a problem. By over pruning it, you cause it to become malnourished. Try not pruning it hard and see if the black spot improves.

Kim's caution about Iceberg applies to a great many roses here in my rather dank, foggy, alkaline environment.
If I want them to stay healthy, here, I need to let them get big.
The good news about that is that at their natural size, fewer roses are needed to fill space -- which saves water.

Jeri

Jeri -- lol, you are completely right: bigger = better = fewer. Fewer but larger healthy shrubs and shrub roses is the strategy I adopted after 15 years of gardening in dank, foggy & alkaline coastal California. -- candace

:-) Candace -- I bet it also took me a good 15 years to come to that conclusion.
Now, that's the advice I give anyone who's growing roses under Southern California's coastal conditions.
I think Kim was instrumental in helping Clay and I figure that out, and so I am, as always, grateful to him.

Jeri

Grandmother's Hat arrived from Amity and WOW! was I surprised. The plant was HUGE--WAY bigger and any other band I have ever seen. She is bigger than many other gallon sized plants that I've purchased.

I'm going to wait until the weather cools off a bit before planting in the ground--I have several gallons that are waiting right now. Should I repot into a gallon sized container for a month or two or would it be better just to leave her in the little band pot so she is disturbed as little as possible?

No, I'd put her in the 1-G. If it's possible, I'd keep her in it until she has roots out the bottom.
Use a fairly thin-walled pot, so that, if you have to, you can cut the pot very carefully for planting, so's not to disturb roots.

FWIW, it is possible that she may not bloom much for you until she establishes herself a bit.
Then, she mostly won't stop. :-)

Jeri

Thanks for the input, Jeri. In the pot she will go!

Can anyone tell me the comparison between Grandmother's Hat and Annie Laurie McDowell? I believe both are thornless, very fragrant, pink with repeating bloom. I guess I'd like to know which is less blackspot prone, and any other traits that anyone would care to share. They both seem to be incredibly good roses. Thanks muchly!

Ask Roseseek.
He bred ALD, and also knows GH well.

HOWEVER, neither he nor I can advise you about blackspot, which is uncommon in our area -- and most-particularly in his desert-y environment.

Jeri

Thanks, Jeri...
I'll check with him about these roses. I'm down to such a small amount of available space that I'm getting more and more picky about what I'm getting, and don't want any mistakes.
Barb

Ah, don't worry about it Barb.

If there aren't MISTAKES, there will still be changes.
After a while, you get to where, when something comes in, something has to go.
It's always a balancing act.
:-)

Jeri

Just another little note about regional differences-- advice not to prune is hard to follow if your repeating roses commonly get frozen down to stumps each winter.

True, Iceberg is fairly hardy, and I usually didn't have to prune it much. However, blackspot and Cercospora spot remained worse than average even when the plant was several years old. It was a mess even with regular organic fungicide that was good enough for most hybrid teas.

I wish I could tell you about black spot, Grandmother's Hat and Annie Laurie McDowell, but that's not a problem where I live and grow roses. I can share that if you study Grandmother's Hat, Glorie des Rosomanes and Annie Laurie McDowell you'll quickly determine they are related. They have very similar foliage characters, new growth scents, fragrances of blooms, etc. Somewhere in there is an article germinating, but until then, look closely at them. You WILL see a familial resemblance.

When my parents bought Luther Burbank's doctor's house in the late '60s, GH was trying to climb telephone poles in the easement. This rose was my introduction to heritage roses, still called by us the Barnhouse Rose. We have found her to be susceptible to blackspot, but it has never slowed her down, she just sprouts new leaves and keeps on. She is also impervious to my husband's occasional Marine haircut-style pruning. I carried her on my wedding day and cannot imagine a garden without her. When cutting blooms, I've found it works best to cut them last, cut them long and get them into water ASAP (cutting the stems underwater, of course). Otherwise, she droops and dies.

We've found that, if we cut them tight, we can get almost a week in a vase.
Of course, if picked fully-open, sayonara.

But I am very interested to hear about the rose's presence at a home connected with Burbank.
Do you have photos you could share?
I think a lot of people would find this story interesting, and I'd LOVE to include it in an upcoming issue of the Heritage Roses Groups "Rose Letter."

Jeri Jennings

Jeri, let me see what I can do. My parents sold the house 30 years ago, but it's possible the rose is still there. I have no idea if they took photos of GH during their tenure. Note that we have no proof it was Burbank's doctor. However, that was what we were told. My feeling is that he had been, but was no longer. If you lived in Santa Rosa, wouldn't you have a doctor nearer than Novato?

If it IS still there, I'd sure love to see a photo of it.

Jeri

I am in Novato, so if you'll give me an address, I'll take my camera and go in search of the rose. My GH is still a baby and I would love to see an old, established one!

Pattie

JeriJen, topping this to ask if you'll be selling GH at the El Cerrito event? I've been a few times in the past but never get there in time to see the few items for sale. I'm leaning toward GH for my western facing wall (see my post about thornless climber)....

If not selling, is there anyone selling this in northern Cal?
Thanks,
Kmama

Most of the selling at Celebration (hey, that rhymes!) is done by vendors, and other than Vintage, I don't know which vendors will be there.
I know that the local HRG group is going to have a "Miriam's Corner," where they will be selling some roses, but I don't know which roses.

We're usually around the membership tables, and Gold Coast HRG sponsors a Silent Auction but to be honest I don't at this point know what roses we will be auctioning.

We'll have Grandmother's Hats to sell at the Cemetery's Open Garden tho (Sacramento) I DO know that.

Jeri

I know that open garden is coming up. Nexy weekend?

New2roses - Open Garden is April 17. Hope you can come!

Laura

Also, you might enjoy seeing the catalog.

Use the link below. Click on the link to the catalog, and voila!
This is not all of the roses we'll have to sell, just those that we had 3 or more plants of. A number of wonderful things will be there in "onesie-twosie" quantities.
We'll have Grandmother's Hat, but also should have her very rare white sport, Tina Marie -- and a lot of other neat stuff.

And I also hope you can come!

Jeri (who will be selling roses)

Here is a link that might be useful: Gold Coast Heritage Roses Group

Vintage Gardens has Grandmother's Hat available as a band.

Look forward to the 17th Open Garden and sale.

Diane

And Vintage would have a good clone of it.

Jeri