Combining what Malcolm said his Chinese students told him about the translation with what Jack said about the rose, listed in the Comments section on HMF, the name means, "Monthly rose from the city of Ping Dong". Mildew has not been an issue here, more inland, in Encino, where we are regularly much hotter and drier than where you are. And, yes, that scent is DELICIOUS. I can't describe what it smells like to me, but it is strong and it is lasting. I can also tell you it is at least seed fertile. I've raised some VERY interesting looking results from using it as seed parent. I currently have seedlings from it with my Hugonis hybrid which have some of the prettiest silvery-blue-turquoise foliage. There are also seeds stratifying between it and Minutifolia (I HOPE!) and Banksiae Lutescens. Kim

If you can capture that fragrance . . . WOW.

I'm glad to know the mildew problem isn't significant further inland. Not surprised, though, because it's certainly putting out great foliage in this heatwave.

Jeri

Very pretty, and a tea rose with a strong and complex flavor would be most desirable. With more droughts looming in our future this rose might be just the ticket in our area, with the added bonus of fragrance (for those of us who can't detect much in many tea roses).

Ingrid

The scent was one of its selling points to me, Ingrid. I'm one who can't smell "tea" in a rose. What I do detect is bitter and nasty. The beverage is a favorite of mine and always has been, but the scent in the roses is, to my nose, nasty. This one is anything but! Kim

There are times when I wish the Internet had 'scratch'n'sniff' capabilities. This is one of them.

Virginia

I was wishing we had "Smell-O-Vision." :-)

I also can't smell "tea" in a rose. When there are other elements, I can catch an underlying note , but there has to be a "sweet tea" effect, overall. That's what I get from Jesse Hildreth, and I love it.

But this is more complex and unusual than that. And when I realized that I could still smell it, quite a time later, and indoors, I was -- amazed.

It sounds delightful. Too bad it doesn't seem to be in commerce in the U.S.

Sigh.

Virginia

Virginia, it roots easily and grows very well here own root. (hint, hint!) Kim

But Kim, wouldn't I need a cutting first? (hint, hint!)

:>)

Virginia

Reminds me of the Bermuda rose, 'Spice'.

Well, I've seen Spice, and this doesn't look like the same rose. But then, I haven't lived with Spice . . .

That's the EASY part, Virginia. Are you ready to handle cuttings at this point of the summer? (hint, hint! LOL!) Kim

I have Spice but it doesn't smell anything like Jeri describes. It's been so long since I've seen it look the way it's supposed to that I can't even comment on that, but I know it wasn't at any time this year.

Ingrid

Come later in the year, I'll ask DH to propagate a few plants.

I don't have Spice anymore either. The scent was strange and variable. Sometimes it was spicy/peppery, then it would be strongly citrus like grapefruit.

I'm not saying I think Ping Dong is Spice since I've never grown it, just seems similar.

Well, that's not surprising. I personally think it is quite similar to "Mother Dudley," a found rose from Florida. I probably should put those two roses side-by-side, to see if they are the same.

Jeri

Jeri,
How did you get this lovely rose from China? Can we order rose seeds, live plants from there? Is anyone in the US selling this rose in bands? I'd love to have one. :-) It's a pretty rose indeed.

Summer, it was brought to the U.S. by a friend of a friend of a friend, and someone asked if I'd like to have a plant.

At some point, I'd like to propagate it to share, at least locally, but we're not a nursery, and have no facilities for shipping plants.

Thanks Jeri! You're one lucky guy! :-) I will see if I can order some rose seeds from there. Thanks for letting us know about this beautiful rose. I will report back if I find any seeds. Winter is near, we had 39ð this morning, riding and gardening season is almost over by Great Lakes, now I have something to do in the ice age-rose seeds hunt. :-)

Actually, Jeri's husband is the lucky guy, but he makes her the lucky girl! I don't know if Ping Dong would be sufficiently cold hardy for the Great Lakes area.Kim

We've had a sudden (and very welcome!) cool spell and the newly opened flowers on Spice are now larger and pink. Looking at it now I wonder if it could be the same rose as Jeri's. The leaves on Spice are elongated and pointed, but the buds on Spice seem more slender than on this rose. Right now the flowers don't measure much more than 1.5 inches across. Still, the strong fragrance does seem to rule out Spice.

Ingrid

We grow Spice, Mother Dudley, and Ping Dong Yue Ji. I'll have to compare them -- never have. And we hope to start propagating up PDYJ numbers soon.

Kim,
I think you're right, I can't grow a lot of roses in this ice hole. If Ping Dong is not from Northern China, then It might be hard to grow in my ice garden. But it will be interesting to give it a try, it's a cold hardy lab here for testing. :-) Some roses acting funny in the cold zone too, my 7-8 yrs old Blushing Lucy won't repeat here, became once bloomer. I will have to wait and see how Annie Laurie McDowell and Renae doing in this cold zone. It's rated for zone 6b, I'm in zone 6a. They're planted by the front entrance which has a short wall (3'-4' tall, 20-30' long) of evergreen brushes blocking the chilly wind in the winter. I think Annie Laurie McDowell is your baby. I will try my best to keep them alive. :-) I don't think they will be tall here, so I have 3 Renae and 1 Annie Laurie McDowell all planted by the front porch to company Blushing Lucy( wraps around the porch) . 1 Annie and 1 Renae are in the same spot side by side, I want to see if I can twist them together and let them climbing up to the porch. If they do grow big here, then I might not be able to find my front door one day. I will have to report that back in the future.

Good luck with that experiment. I wish I knew what to tell you to expect, but you're in uncharted (at least to my knowledge) territory there. Kim

Thanks Kim. I will report it back to the forum next year. Most area around the Great Lakes are in zone 5, we are in a small area which is rated for zone 6a by Lake Erie.

We had our first flower on PDYJ today, and I have to say it does not remind me of Bermuda's 'Spice' at all. Granted, it's a small plant in the greenhouse, compared to a big bush in the garden, but we've grown lots of 'Spice' over the years, in the greenhouse, and they always look like 'Spice'. This flower did not have a lot of scent to my nose. Perhaps too late in the hot day. I'll have to try smelling the next one in the morning. In any case, I've moved it up to a bigger pot, in the hope of cranking up the propagation of the variety.