Romanticas are the French firm Meilland's reproduction roses, modern roses with an oldfashioned look, like Austin's roses. Other series are the Poulsen Renaissance roses from Denmark and the Generosa roses from Guillot in France. . Kordes in Germany calls their roses in the same style Maerchenrosen (Fairy Tale Roses). They may be HT's or shrubs.

In other words, it's a marketing term.
Doesn't really "mean" anything in terms of the roses or their breeding -- just that Meilland thought romance would sell.
A few of them have classic hybrid tea form e.g., Paris de Yves St. Laurent, but most are more ruffly, e.g.
Yves Piaget. Yves Piaget and/or Traviata are the most popular and widely available of them in the U.S.

There are many so-called Romantica roses, and Meilland adds a few new ones every year: Meilland Romantica Roses Site.

Aha....thanks both of you. That makes it make much more sense to me. I was afraid a new "class" had simply slipped right by me....(which would not have been surprising, but would have been depressing....)

Susan

I have one, Leonardo da Vinci, which is a floribunda. And I got it because it was so different looking than the other floribundas. It has a really appealing growth habit--one of the most densely-foliaged roses I have ever seen. Leaves on canes all the way to the ground. Plus the flowers are to die for--gorgeous, old-fashioned, crammed with petals and a button eye, and they appear on the plant all the way to the ground too. It is however only lightly fragrant.

I got it at Eurodesert. Saw it growing among the other floribundas, and it was just so eye-catching that I simply had to get it although at the time I was shopping for yellows, and LDV is pink! But every time I was there, this rose managed to get my attention. Couldn't pass it up. I couldn't read the label either.:) So Cliff Orent came out in the gardens and read it for me.

Foliage is dark green and shiny. It's blooming now in the blasting heat we've been having in Southern California (hurray today is a teensy bit cooler only 98 degrees!). Also the blooms last a long time on the bush. Haven't tried cutting them to see if they last in the vase.

I've got some photos of it at Eurodesert, but it is such a pain to post photos here. There are plenty on Help Me Find though.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Leonardo da Vinci on Help Me Find

I've grown a lot of them (anyone remember the utterly wretched 'Auguste Renoir'?); some are pretty good, others not, but the pick of the litter has to be 'Bolero', if only because there is no white Austin that comes close to it.

yup, hoovb, everytime I've seen Auguste Renoir at Descanso it's been mostly balled and ick

Leondardo da Vinci looks LOVELY though.

Like Tessiess, I grow and love Leonardo da Vinci, which is surprisingly hardy here in Northern Michigan. I have more green cane on Leonardo in the spring that most of my roses, and he is a consistent re-bloomer throughout the summer. I love the form of the blooms - very 'English Rose' or old fashioned type of form. I also grow Eden, which has been hardy for me (more winter kill than Leonardo, but does spring back every year). Eden's blooms are very beautiful, but she doesn't have the re-bloom that Leonardo does. I've grown Paris de Yves St. Laurent in a pot for many years and it always comes back nicely. None of these roses have much of a scent in my garden.

The only Romantica have really liked is Pierre de Ronsard (aka Eden), which was added to the group retroactively. Last fall I planted Polka in a bed of warm colored teas, shrubs, and climbers, but it is too soon to tell if I will like it or not.

Rosefolly

I was given Auguste Renoir, and, yes, its blooms are mostly ghastly, balling at a hint of rain, but occassionally, they are superb.
Steve

The Romantica roses were pretty good for me. Isn't Fredrick Mistral in that group? I grew that one, Guy de Maupassant, Jean Giono, Toulouse Latrec, Piaget, and the wonderful Traviata.

These thrived right before the voles attacked. Before I realized what was happening, I lost quite a few of them. Traviata was very magestic, and stood in the middle of a huge bed of delicate tea roses. For awhile I got a kick out of him, then moved him, and he didn't thrive. He couldn't have been a "he", but to me he was a heavy weight wrestler in the middle of some Pom Pom girls.

Guy de Maupassant is in a neglected part of the yard. I keep forgetting about him, but he thrived just the same. Jean Giono is ok, and two or three others were attacked. I had two Boleros, but they didn't thrive for me. It seems that those roses that do well in Californina have trouble here, and mine don't thrive well in California.

I had forgotten about those roses since I purchase most of mine from Texas now, and they don't seem to have those roses.

Thanks for the reminder.

Sammy

In garden I have two Pierre de Ronsard/Eden growing and both do very well. To me this is the ultimate romantic rose out of the Romantica series. I really want to try out Bolero...

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

I bought two at Regan Nursery last fall - Bolero and Lunar Mist. Both had PM when I purchased them and I was a little reluctant to bring them home, but was enamored. Now that they are starting to leaf out after their brief dormancy, they both still have quite a bit of PM. I don't spray any of my other roses, but did grab some light Neem Oil spray and have treated them twice over the past week. Don't know if they generally tend to be PM susceptible, or I just purchased two individuals with the issue. Both had a few blooms before winter and they were lovely.

I was seriously considering Bolero but read it was subject to rust. That did it for me.

I tried several of the Romantica series about ten years ago, but eventually took most of them out. Either they didn't have the health I wanted or they looked very modern in my old-fashioned garden. In my personal vocabulary, 'modern' is only a compliment when it is followed by the word 'medicine'.

I do still have two. 'Pierre de Ronsard', also called 'Eden', is tried and true in my garden, and it is one of the three roses my DH Tom particularly admires, and so it safe from the shovel here. It is described as a climber, but I prefer to grow it as a large shrub. He also admires the gallica 'Tuscany Superb' which he encountered in several gardens in England, but which is not a great rose in our climate. As long as it stays alive, I'll keep it for him. The other one is the Austin rose 'Leander', which he greatly admired in Mendocino Rose's garden one year. We now have two, one climbing in the front of the house, and the other climbing on the back fence.

The second Romantica I currently grow is new to my garden, the climber 'Polka'. I heard good things of both this rose and 'Colette'. Since I found 'Polka' first, that is the one I planted. Last year it slept. This ought to be its creeping year.

Rosefolly

FYI - I've reduced the number of roses I grow (water shortages) and Polka did not make the cut. But Pierre de Ronsard is still thriving.