I love it. I've found it hardy and easy to grow. It blooms continuously and the blooms have delicious fragrance.

I prune it to shape it so it arches/spreads a bit, but doesn't sprawl on the ground.

This was a rose that I had always dreamed of having but I was somewhat disappointed when I finally did acquire it. It's difficult to explain but to me the rose just didn't seem as beautiful in real life as on the many pictures I'd seen of it. It's possible that my So. CA location didn't allow it to reach its full potential. It was pale, also very thorny, the blooms seemed limp and vase life was nil. I wouldn't order it again.

Ingrid

It likes cooler weather and it takes a while to establish itself as an own root. Even grafted it takes time to build itself up. I'm talking 2-3 years. After that it is stunning but will look shabby during a heat spell and then will quickly recover when the temps turn cooler.

I don't think it is a Kordes rose. (sorry Jim, couldn't resist LOL)

Hi Jim...
I'm with Krista on this one....I love Stanwell. His strengths are that he is hardy, carefree, floriferous, fragrant, and tough as nails. I knew up front that with his thorny canes he wasn't going to be a cutting rose, but with all the roses I grow I don't need more cutting roses...I need TOUGH, hardy roses....and I suspect you do as well. Roses that don't have to be "babied" to make it through winter, drought, disease and insect infestations.
There aren't many repeating old roses that are as carefree as Stanwell.

Sometimes Stan's blooms are white and sometime they are light pink on my bush. It's new for me so I agree with Paul Z. that it takes a few years to build up some bulk. Mine is still a fairly small lad. I like his little leaves and the way the blooms peek out from them at me. Mine hasn't stopped blooming all summer.

I am appreciative of the blooms and think they're charming in their own way....sometimes the simpler, less fussy roses endear me in ways the fancier roses don't....and not having to be a "slave" to a rosebush is the most endearing quality of all. He's a keeper here in New Hampshire.

Celeste

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when he's tickled pink....

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If you want it, come get it. It's about 15 years old, grafted onto canina, and totally unimpressive. Significant dieback many winters, poor repeat, absolutely no substance. The foliage gets strange by this time of year. Admittedly it's in a tough place near the pine trees, but the real tough roses don't seem to mind.

If you have a space where you need a very thorny groundcover rose, with a very high premium placed on potential repeat, it might work.

I adore my SP. The bush is arching and carefree. The leaves are small and many. The flower form is as the pictures above show--soft and billowy with a button in the middle. The fragrance is divine. It is in bloom all of the time here in Northern CA. They start pink and fade to soft white; slower in colder weather; faster in the heat. My SP resides in heavy clay soil and does not mind the poor drainage a wit. I certainly would not be without this rose. I highly recommend it.

I have grown hundreds of varieties and as I tell my friends...if I could only grow one rose it would be Stanwell. Mine acted like a groundcover the first year but now it is fountain shaped, upright and heavenly (does have nasty little prickles though).

My Stanwell was also fountain shaped. It was own root originally from Antique Rose Emporium, and it was already a rather large plant when I bought it, and took off growing vigorously without much delay. I liked it very much for the same reasons mentioned by Celeste and Foodie. Mine did not bloom constantly, but it was in part shade.

Now there is a mixed opinion!

Well fortunately I live in a zone where it's traits are needed. Especially the tough part.

Paul, not a Kordes but a Tantau! I've broadened my scope. Who knows one of these days I'll climb on the Austin band wagon. Whew, who said that!

Definitely grow it in as close to full sun as possible - much less than that and it won't repeat well. It grows here in DC and tolerates high heat and dry soil without sacrificing its constant bloom (i.e. you can find a few on it at any time), although I will say after several independent observations of different plants that the fragrance is not as rapturously strong as many descriptions would lead you to believe. I have one back in Minnesota in part shade that grows as an octopus and has had dieback issues (2-year-old wood mostly, the younger stems seemed unscathed, so I would hesitate to call it a hardiness problem) and does not repeat, but puts on a wonderful spring show regardless. That plant is an own-root from Sequoia. The plants I'm familiar with here I'm pretty sure are grafted from Pickering, so probably on multiflora. I think it's a plant you should try.

I know this rose must do really well for some people, but not for me in zone 4 on it's own roots. After 7 years it's never gotten above two feet tall and wide. For me it repeats once in the fall, which is nice to see at that time, but I am probably moving it to the rose graveyard soon. (That's a place where I transplant my unwanted roses---I can't just kill them, but they don't get any care there.) But if you are curious I say go for it---you never know how a rose will do for you until you try it.

I had 2 Stanwells and they were one of my favorite roses but I moved them a few months ago and they died. This would have been their 3rd summer in the garden. He was one of my first roses to bloom, and the plants were smothered with lovely fragrant blooms. Repeat was good. Mine came from 2 different sources, one own root, the other grafted and both performed equally well. Now since I miss this rose so much I just got a band sized Stanwell from another source. I'm sure it will take a while before he's as large and beautiful as my old ones were, but it will be worth the wait.

SP is winter hardy in my z4 garden. The only problem I have seen with SP in my garden is spider mites so I need to remember to give the foliage a frequent spraying of water during the summer.

I had forgotten this one! It's on the neglected slope facing west, on north side of house which for nearly five years has been the ignored side. I just went out to see if it's there. And it is ! Hiding behind a few 2' weeds, some 6" white pine seedlings, is a healthy SP, with two withered blossoms and lots of healthy foliage. It is about 2' wide, and 1' tall. I bought it many years ago, not sure but maybe from Roseraie at Bayfields. I guess I'll go out with appropriate clothing tomorrow and clean up around it, give it something to eat...

It was Gertrude Jekyll's favorite rose. No small recommendation.

I adore this rose. It is a quiet, unassuming jewel. It's not the kind of rose that stops you in your tracks, but few roses are as faithful or rewarding.

All a matter of taste, I suppose.

Rosefolly

I love Rosefolly's description: "a quiet, unassuming jewel" and I love my Stanwell Perpetuals! I have grown two here in zone 4 of Michigan for 8 years now, and there is rarely a time when there are no blooms. They require no fancy fertilizers, pruning, deadheading, winter protection or spraying of any kind and even though mine are own root, they do not sucker. They're simply lovely shrubs in the garden - but yes indeed, you must give them several years to show you what they can do. (Nice photos, Celeste!)

It spreads and lives in a fairly shady are of our Garden not a quick grower by any stretch not always the nicest foliage the leaf cutters love this one but fragrant beautiful blooms. Never has had BS in 3 years
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It's so fascinating to see how much a rose's performance can vary depending on climate etc. Not surprising, of course, but very helpful to have various people's experience summarized in one place. I have SP in on a north-facing slope that gets full hot sun in summer. He's been there for several years now. At first he didn't do much, but about 2 years ago I recall seeing with surprise what a healthy and floriferous bush he'd become. I have no idea what he's done since then, LOL, I haven't had time in the past 2 years to spend much time in his area of the yard. I will make it a point to check on him in the spring!