I bought Paul Bocuse last year and this year I purchased Sonia Rykiel, Martine Guillot, Chantal Merieux, Dan Poncet, Florence Delattre and Francis Blaise. So far Paul Bocuse has been easy to grow and has nice blooms. Francis has an intriguing fragrance. Others are ok so far.

I grow Paul Bocuse and it is by far one of my best roses. The hottest it gets in my area is 80 degrees, so I can't answer to heat. It is listed as not good for coastal areas, so maybe that means good in heat.

My friend grows Martine Guillot and mme. Paul Massad. They are both beautiful and healthy.

Good luck.
Eileen

I love Sonia Rykiel, Paul Bocuse and Martine Guillot they are charming roses.
Tinyrose and Predfern, Thank you for sharing.

In my mild coastal climate, Sonia Rykiel grew long, thin, floppy canes,
and bloomed very little.
Florence Delattre produced one exquisite bloom in 4 years, and departed, un-mourned.
Claudia Cardinale set whole new standards for rust.
Martine Guillot was healthy, but not very exciting.
Some rosarians considered her to be a bush form of 'New Dawn,' and complained of mildew.

Paul Bocuse has grown here with no problems for several years.
He has been disease-free, and blooms reasonably well, producing shapely sprays.
I can detect no fragrance from him.

Unf, I find his color less than inspiring, and I will eliminate him as
soon as I can get DH to dig him up.

Jeri

Jeri, Thank you for sharing. Do you also have La France? Is La France do well in hot climate?

AH! I do not grow La France -- I had it for several years, but gave it up because
the mildew was too much. And it wasn't very vigorous.

I am told that the only really good clones of La France are of the Cl. version.
Some of the folks from the Sacramento City Cemetery have recently collected what
seems to be a very good, vigorous clone of Cl. La France.
It'll be interested to see how this one develops.

Jeri

I only have Chantal Merieux and it is on its second year from an own root I received last year. But, it grew well and I have seen it bloom several times. So far, I would have to echo Jeri's description of some of the others - it is uninspiring. The clusters of cup-shaped darkish pink roses are pretty ordinary.

La France is doing well in my yard, It is susceptible to muldew, does ned TLC, and, in particular needs good air circulation. Might be a good candidate for a large pot. The blooms this year have been drop dead gorgeous.

My La France is an own root from Vintage. I'm happy to say that after a slow start getting established (3 years) it is now a bloom machine in sunset zone 23. At first it was just 3 lonely canes and the sprays at the tops would cause them to bend over awkwardly. I staked them securely. Year 3 I got impatient and cut it low thinking it would make lots of new growth down low. MISTAKE! I should have left it alone! It took a long time to get back the growth I cut off. 2 years after that, she looks really good and has grown more canes. I don't prune hard at all. The canes are robust and able to hold up the sprays. They don't bend over like they used to when the plant was young. I have mine in morning sun and the fragrance is first rate. If you want to try this rose, I would say just keep a waterin and be patient. The new blooms are so elegant! I'm glad I didn't give up on her in the early years.

I put Sonia R. in the back where I could peg the canes to get more flowers. When she blooms, the fragrance and coloration are magnificent. Not a heavy bloomer but well worth her garden space I think. I would like to find a virus free one for sale.

Martine G. is at my friend's house. Very elegant and almost pearlescent. I heard about "Gardenia" fragrance. Never smelled a thing! This rose throws some big canes in awkward directions and they are stiff and thorny. Still waiting to see if she settles in and blooms regularly. We changed the location so the sprinklers didn't get the flowers wet. This made a big difference in the quality.

Jeri, snowheather, nastarana and kittymoonbeam, Thank you very much for sharing me a useful detail.

I used to grow some French rose here in Bangkok but those roses are not by Guillot Roses. They are doing quite well in hot climate like you're said but not very vigorous like english roses. That why I don't see much people posting much photo on any website.
Guillot Generosa Roses that I very interesting are Rosomane Janon, Eliane Gillet, Chantal Mérieux, Amandine Chanel and Institut Lumière. They are very lovely deep color.

Hello (Sawasdee kha!) Nataporn and everyone,

I used to live in Thailand (20 years ago) and now I live in southern Mississippi. We have very high heat and humidity here too. I have 5 plants of Martine Guillot and they are some of my healthiest roses. They do not have problems with blackspot or mildew and I rarely spray. They produce many good flowers for cutting in the spring and fall and do not lose their leaves so much in the heat of summer like some of my other roses. They are great for cutting roses to take into the house because there are so many blooms. They have a good fragrance too. My plants can get large(5-6 feet in every direction), so I cut them back a lot in January or February. They are very thorny. I don't know why it is not more popular. I have had very good luck with it. :) Yours was the first rose posting from Thailand that I have seen, so I was excited to see that you talking about Martine Guillot! :) Good Luck!

In Southern CA, at Rose Hills, the Generosas all produced stingy lanky plants with small foliage. I don't think they've been tested enough throughout the US. So you get to be the guinea pig, should you decide to.

Amanda, that was true of most of them in my coastal part of SoCal, as well.
The only one that impressed here was Paul Bocuse.

That one annoys me, because I'm not crazy about it, and it's too good to dump.

Jeri

I have and love Mme. Paul Massad. I have just ordered Versigney, Paul Bocuse, Francis Blaise and Nicole Mioulane. Can anyone comment on these? Florence Delattre looks lovely but the only thing I have read about her is that she is stingy with blooms and throws long canes. The Guillot roses on helpmefind look beautiful - I am interested to hear how they actually perform. Thanks!
Judith

Judith, we had Florence Delattre for 4-5 years. In all that time, we got one bloom.
It was magnificent -- but STILL . . . !

Several others -- Claudia Cardinale, et al, had disease problems here. (Rust, in particular.)

OTOH Paul Bocuse is a dependable, disease-free workhorse of a plant, bearing beautifully-formed sprays of beautifully-formed blooms. I can detect no fragrance.

Sadly, the color of Paul's blooms leaves me cold, so he will soon go bye-bye.

Jeri

Jeri, thanks for the heads up on Florence. I love mauves and have ordered a bunch of different ones from Vintage [like Royal Airforce, Seven Seas] to try out. But to get one bloom in all those years! I will pass......Paul Bocuse's color I do like....and am glad to hear he blooms well. I heard very good things about Francis Blaise which is why I am trying him. If a rose intrigues me, I generally try it.....you never know!!
Judith

Jeri, was your Florence dL own root or grafted?

Carla

Carla, it was grafted to Huey (generally a reasonably good rootstock here, other than the virus issue), and came from Arena.

Jeri

Generosa Roses are bred by Massad in southern France so as a rule can take heat.
Massad's breeding work is more and more inovative and quite eclectic from large shrubs or climbers (lately even ramblers) to near HT or Fl ones, single flowered to full, small to big. Many with wonderfull fragrance.
And the generosas are a very varied lot. Not unlike Austin's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Massad plant list at HelpMeFind Roses

I have Florence de Lattre, still. I thought it was dead, but it sent up one shoot last fall. Mine has bloomed quite profusely at times, but the color is lavender only in cool weather. In the heat it takes on more of a tan color that to me does not look good at all. It looks like something is wrong with it. The plant is a blackspot magnet and won't keep leaves. It throws long canes and wants to be an octopus. There are other lavender roses that are better than this one. I plan to get rid of it.

I live in Monterey, CA. Our cool, climate with summer fog is not the best for growing roses. However, my Paul Bocuse has done exceptionally well well in the sunniest section of our garden for almost 20 years.

I grow Frédéric Dard by Guillot and it is the most prolific bloomer, with beautifully formed large white flowers that have the strongest, most lovely scent. It's about 4ft / 120cms high and seems to be in permanent bloom from about May. It's a magnificent rose to add to the garden.

@the_bustopher z6 MO I was heavily considering buying Florence Delattre until I came across this thread; which lavender roses do you think are better?

Good lavenders are not always easy to come by, but Blue for You, Lady X, Charles de Gaulle, Melody Parfumee, Blueberry Hill, and Twice in a Blue Moon have at least been survivors here. These are ones that I think are still available somewhere.