I've seen no disease or pests whatsoever since I planted Bolero in the spring. Right now it is about 3 x 3 feet, covered with blooms and foliage is dark green. I am loving this rose. Picture is from the first flowers in the spring.
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I've had Ginger Hill for 2 years or so (from RU). It has extremely perfect blooms with very good substance and a great fragrance. It repeats fast, and stays a really nice medium size. The only problem I have with Ginger Hill is that it is truly one of the most susceptible roses to powdery mildew that I grow. If you live in a very PM-prone area like I do, you should plan on spraying it to keep it clean, or if you don't spray, maybe it's not a good choice. This year, I didn't spray much at all, so I saw its full susceptibility to PM. But for me, it is such a great rose in so many ways that it's worth it to me to keep it, and try to be more vigilant with the preventative spraying in the future. It's really that good.

I may have taken pics of it, but with my computer changeover last year, I have no idea where they may be... I've been seriously lagging in the picture dept., and have hundreds of uncataloged rose pics... alas!

Ginger Hill is weird b/c no one seems to know where it came from.

Susan

What a beautiful photo of Bolero. I am loving my Bolero too.
To me, Bolero is the kind of rose that you want three of.

Carla

GH is not disease resistant. Beautiful plant (I bought mine from Carlton, mine is on Manetti rootstock), vigorous bush, beautiful blooms. Needs treatment for blackspot but is no worse than others for PM here.

Peachiekean, lovely photos, I don't think that's the Bolero Kate was asking about. Your Bolero is also known as "Bolero 2004" or MEIdelweis, Kate is asking about the HT aka MEIcauley. I have never seen MEIcauley sold to the home gardener. If anyone would have it, perhaps Hortico? Beth might know...

Thanks for the info. Ginger Hill certainly is pretty, but I'm not too sure I want to mess with extra spraying in connection with it. Hopefully, some midwesterner may come along and tells us how it fares in Zone 6 midwest.

Diane--thanks for emphasizing the difference between the Bolero HT and the Bolero floribunda. It is the HT I'm interested in. Carla and Peachiekean--what do you think? Are your Boleros the HT or the floribunda? (Lovely pic, peachiekean, whichever one it is.)

Anyone else have more info. on these roses?

Kate

I love Bolero. It performed well its first year with pretty good disease resistance. There was a thread a while back on the Antique forum where several people in cool summer areas found that it wasn't vigorous.

Hmm--thought I just posted an additional response, but it seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, thanks for the info., mendocino_rose, but I have the same question for you. Are you talking about the Bolero HT (florist rose) or Bolero floribunda? It is the florist rose/HT I'm looking for.

Kate

You mean by florist/HT the high-centered one. The Bolero I have (also that Peachiekean has posted a picture of) is the 2004 floribunda version.

You didn't like the look of PJP II? It's gorgeous and really fragrant.

Oh, GH's fragrance varies. I wouldn't call it highly fragrant, but it doesn't smell like paper either.

Hoovb, how large is your PJP II? I know CA is a lot different. Mine is nice, great form and fragrant, but still small.

I certainly took a long look at PJP II at HMF--it's a beauty. However, HMF lists it as a taller HT (which isn't my first choice)and the pics don't show much white BLEND--mostly just white. I want a more noticeable "blend"--which is why I was so taken with Ginger Hill.

Thanks for the idea, hoovb, anyway.

Anyone else?

Kate

'Secret'? Nice fragrance.

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Everything gets tall here.

GH is well over 6' tall here.

Diane, where is "here"? I don't remember your region.

I wish I could say that any of the 4 HTs I grow (2 Double Delights, 1 Valencia, and 1 Elle)had ever grown over 3 ft tall, but I would be lying. Maybe in another year or two they will take off, but so far, tall HTs are myths to me. Maybe its my region or maybe because I've moved them a couple times in the past couple years. Will just have to wait and see.

hoovb, Secret is interesting (though I was thinking a bit more pastel)--I'm off to HMF to look it up.

Kate

I'd encourage you to give Pat Henry a call at Roses Unlimited. She'll have plenty of information for you on both roses and can help with comparisons. I've purchased two Ginger Hills from her. Here in the PNW, they're pretty darned clean and they grow about 6'. Here's a photo:
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Okay, I lied. Can't resist a second photo:
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Sue

Sorry, I wasn't aware there were two Boleros. Now let's see a pic of the HT.

East central New Jersey, 1/4 mile south of a river and 5 miles west of the Atlantic.

Kate I think I must have meant the floribunda. It's a Romantica right? There's another Bolero too a climber.

I will definitely be talking to RU to find out more info. about their Bolero and Ginger Hill. In the meantime, Secret and Jardins de Bagatelle (thanks, ceterum, for that suggestion) are being put on my list as good possible alternatives.

Fortunately, I do not need to make a quick or immediate decision, so I'm open to other suggestions of roses that meet my criteria as stated above.

mendocino_rose, I think the Bolero HT is a Romantica, but to tell the truth, I'm not real sure. All I know for sure is that there is a florist's rose which is a HT and called Bolero.

Thanks, everybody.

Kate

Besides fragrance, relative disease resistance and being medium height what else do you require from the rose you are looking for? Do you want a florist rose? I haven't heard of anyone having the HT (florist) Bolero here.

I try to understand why you would insist on the florist rose Bolero. The floribunda Bolero is quite disease resistant and very fragrant. Mine is own root from Northland Rosarium, so I am not sure if the final size is 3' tall or can get a bit taller but it must be available grafted that grows faster.

Jardins de Bagatelle is about 4' tall. Ginger hill will definitely be taller here in zone 8 (if I can give that poor plant a decent spot) and wider, too but far from being as fragrant as Bolero or Jardins de B are.

Apropos, another very fragrant white blend is Helena Renaissance, although I do not find it disease resistant; besides HR hardly stops at 5'-6' in height. Karen Blacken would meet the size and fragrance requirements, not too bad as blackspot goes either but it is pure white not a blend.

Isn't it strange that we cannot come up with a lot of choices in this white blend category? Meanwhile I remember that in the past when forumers were looking for pure whites most of the whites recommended turned out to be Ânot pure whites but blends. I wish I could recall that list now. I wonder if Full Sail is a blend or not  that one I am not familiar with.

Love Jardins de Bagatelle and had White Sail which was also lovely. Not a blend here in the PNW, but pure white. HMF says it's white or white blend.

Sue

ceterum--
It isn't so much that I want Bolero HT per se. I was looking for a white blend HT with some disease-resistance and fragrance which I plan to use in a very specific place in my garden. That bed has lots of shrubs and floribundas and climbers and minis. It also has a curvy path (the Perfumed Path) through it along which I had planted my handful of HTs. The color of one of my HTs doesn't look as good with the others as it might, so I want to replace it with one that has some white in it. However, I find pure white a bit boring, so a white blend seemed a possible solution.

When I first stumbled on the description of Bolero HT, I was mostly curious why I couldn't find more info--which was one reason I posted my question above. The rose I pick doesn't have to be Bolero HT, but I will inquire at RU since they list a Bolero HT among their offerings.

I love the look of HT blooms, but only grow a handful because I don't like spraying very often. That is why I'm looking for a HT that has proven to be at least somewhat disease-resistant. I agree that the Bolero floribunda is beautiful, but then I would only have 3 HTs, instead of 4 HTs. I'd rather have 4 that grow nicely without giving me headaches.

I also like some contrasting shapes in my beds. The few HTs I grow look especially nice along the Perfumed Path.

Appreciate all the suggestions posters have made.

Kate

Have you considered Princesse de Monaco? It is supposed to be disease resistant although I spray so I can't say for sure. It is white with a pink edge, and the amount of pink will vary depending on the weather. It does smell good, I would consider the fragrance to be a medium intensity. Mine is in its second year here and it hasn't gotten very tall. It had some really amazingly huge blooms last fall.

I also wanted to mention Princess de Monaco because the height, flowers and relative disease resistance are good but it has no fragrance to speak about so I believe it isn't the best candidate for a 'Perfume Path". Supposedly the first Princess de Monaco was fragrant but I know of only Vintage that has it.

Dublinbay, you cannot stop at four. You must have a 5th, so you have odd number of Hts. Odd numbers in bouquets and odd number of plants, LOL. If you order from RU that may take care of this issue because they require a minimum 3 to order.

athenainwi, thank you for the Princess de Monaco suggestion. She is a beauty, isn't she. I'll add her to the possibility list. I'm terribly busy right now with some other projects (like painting the garage), so I won't have time to make a considered decision until next month. In the meantime, I'm glad to have a growing list of possibilities to consider.

ceterum--what is this--blatant enabling going on here??? LOL I agree--5 would be nice, but I would have to extend the south end of the bed--that sounds like work! However, since I'm running out of space for new roses, I may get desperate and start digging. We'll see.

Kate

Enabling? Me? I just mention that odd numbers usually 'please the eye'. Once I cut a bouquet of roses for my Japanese neighbor. She, quite unaware of what she was doing, immediately started counting the roses. When she caught herself doing so, she was embarrassed an apologized. I was laughing and asked her if she was counting if the roses were in odd number. Yes, she answered, still blushing. I told her not to worry because I know that I should cut odd numbers for bouquet:-).
So you see, it is no enabling.... But you do need a 5th rose there.:-)

I just called Star Roses regarding the parentage of the floribunda Bolero as the parentage info is quite confusing. The card that came with Star Roses' floribunda Bolero lists parentage as:(O Sole Mio x seedling) x Midas Touch) x Hot Cocoa. That info conflicted with the parentage listed on HMF for 2004 floribunda Bolero which is: seed: Kimono x AUSReef (aka Sharifa Asma) and pollen:DELge. This makes more sense to me since these are fragrant and not yellow. Star Roses told me the only Bolero they have on their list is the one with parentage of: Fair Bianca x Unknown. I told her that is the parentage for the 1997 HT Bolero (MEIcauley). She didn't have an answer for that. Interesting, huh?