Lynette, thanks for sharing the gorgeous photos! Does Erinnerung repeat for you?
Thanks!
Susan

As a lover of rich lavender and purple shades, this rose blows me away. As I recall it doesn't repeat, but what a memorable rose.

Ingrid

I have wanted to grow this stunner, as well as other Geschwind roses for years. I just wish I had the real estate for a big once bloomer. Diane

In my garden she is a once bloomer. Love the deep purple color. She blooms mid-July which is quite cool as the Gallica's Tuscany Supberb and Charles d'Mills are finished blooming when she gets going. Helps to make some interesting bouquets.

Most of us would not be willing to grow a garden consisting of once bloomers, but there is room in most gardens for at least one or two.

Rosefolly

Alas she doesn't repeat in my garden but she does bloom for a longer time than other OGRs. I grow her in part shade (no afternoon sun) because of the purple colour and the blooms never discolour or go rusty on the edges.

I confess to being a bit mystified by the wariness around once bloomers when most of us would grow lilacs, philadelphus, weigela, abelia, osmanthus, berberis, hydrangeas, azaleas, rhodies and on and on.....all of which bloom once, and once only. Why should roses be singled out especially since the once blooming roses tend to have a far superior single flush which can last for weeks?
In my gardens, even in Z8, I rarely get a second decent flush of anything, repeating or otherwise (although I accept that this is probably down to my lack of deadheading (I have ramblers) and less than conscientious fertigation.

Camp, you bring up an excellent point. It probably has lots to do with our throw away, instant gratification society. Also why people are gravitating more to continuous blooming (although they should be called recurrent) hydrangea's and the like. Produce a recurrent blooming rhodie and you can write your own ticket.

Thanks, again, to lynnette for enabling and convincing me to put more once bloomers on my order. I look forward to seeing this rose in a couple years...

SCG

Camp, I was just thinking that myself today. All the plants I like even though it is once a year and yet I am looking at one rose (who I think hates her spot) and only blooms once or twice.

Just like buying bands, we know they will grow. But bet they would be a hard sell in Home Depot plant department.

Even Austin with the plant 3 in a triangle 18" apart. All to fit that desire to have a mature garden today.

(my unhappy rose may find herself in a cooler location next spring)

Friends, I don't grow: lilacs, philadelphus, weigela, abelia, osmanthus, berberis, azaleas, rhodies and on and on.....
I own 1/10th of a city acre which includes a home and a garage and a driveway.
I love the once bloomers...including lilacs, philadelphus, weigela etc. I have a few hydrangeas. All along my boundary fences I have once blooming ramblers:
Long John Silver, Erinnerung, Francois Juranville, Spanish Beauty, Gardenia, Arcata Pink Globe, Garisenda, Robinette, etc.
But I haven't the room for once blooming shrubs in the garden area proper. I guess if I really wanted to sit down and do research and design I could coordinate a 4 seasons garden with all once bloomers and annuals but that takes more brain power than I have (and would exclude lots of roses I like).
For me, I need continuous bloom of pretty much everything that grows in my garden. Although I do have lots of bulbs, poppies, lilies, (stuff that disappears after bloom).
I have Geschwind's Schonste which has grown 15 ft canes in its first season and been super healthy.
So far the Gallicas and Damasks have looked incredibly awful all summer...rust/mildew/defoliate...foliate and repeat.
For me, instant gratification has nothing to do with my selections...it's simply the limitations of my garden that prevent me from growing it ALL. Would love a Philadelphus and a Daphne. Have had lilacs and loved them...
The teas and chinas, HMs all repeat well in my climate and I consider myself fortunate to have that.
A friend visited my garden yesterday (she has 10 country acres and a pre Civil War farmhouse) and I told her I was designing a rose garden for her based on my experiences. I will see she gets lots of the gorgeous once blooming shrubs and I can enjoy them there.
Susan

Susan,

I apologize if my comments made you felt like they were directed at you as it was not my intentention. I was trying to make a more broad generalization. I am generally not very good expressing myself in text. So for lack of better words to describe my intent I will retract that comment. Sorry again if it offended anyone in any way.

I look forward to seeing pictures of this garden you are designing. Keep us posted with progress pics :).

BTW I see you mentioned poppies as something you like to grow. If you would like I have lots, and I mean LOTS, of Papaver Somniferum seeds. If you like I would be happy to send some to you just PM me your addy.

Have a great day.

SCG

There was a garden writer called Donald Wyman, who I think was head of the Boston Arboretum. He wrote some very authoritative books in which he carefully quantified the ornamental qualities of plants on charts according to how many "seasons of interest" they had: flowering, berries, evergreen or colorful foliage, and so. So you could go down the list and see which racked up the highest scores, so to speak. It was fun and it pretty much left shrubs like forsythia, lilacs, philadelphus and so on at the bottom of the heap, with only one "season of interest".

But I think some of us maniacal plant nuts wait with bated breath all year for the very short season of some ephemeral, like lilies, iris, pulmonaria, snowdrops, dracocephalum, or the rose, Cardinal Richelieu. (It is nice when they have good foliage, though.)

The short season of rose bloom did inspire a lot of ancient poetry. Still, with our "continental" climate which can include surprise heat waves in early spring, the "season of interest" can be even shorter than that the poets wrote about. You may miss the bloom if you go away for the weekend.

I just wanted to bring up this thread with its photo of Erinnerung an Brod. I realize now this one would probably be too big to be the Sherlock Holmes rose. Diane

In a cool, moist climate or at least one with dependable winter rain, once bloomers make a lot of sense because so many are breathtakingly beautiful and four to six weeks of that would be a joy, the memory of which would last until the next time. When you have spring seasons (the last three or four) where there is no spring flush even of repeat roses, a once-bloomer would not be worth the space or the water. Almost none of the non-rose once bloomers that camp mentions are not grown here, for good reason. Even recurrent roses can struggle here, but at least there is the hope that some time during the year there might be some blooms. With once-bloomers, you have one chance only and that is just too unreliable in our conditions.

Beautiful picture. I love Geschwinds, I have a few of them. Most of my roses are once bloomers.

I agree that once-bloomers in a hot climate can be iffy. I have several (but also lots of space) . Those that bloom for a long time can be great,but here, too, heat waves early in the season can easily ruin ones with a short bloom period. This year, my Paul's Himalayan Musk's bloom period lasted for only ONE WEEK or less! so I'm now on the look-out for big ramblers with certified long periods of bloom. Almost all of the other type of once-blooming shrubs mentioned bloom here much earlier in the season, and therefore you have a better chance to beat the heat. Hydrangeas don't seem to mind heat so much, it seems to me...I am going to try a few in my garden.

What zone are you in Bart?

..lovely rich colour on that rose, although for those of us with smaller gardens, I should wonder why we would choose that one, instead of, say, 'Munstead Wood'..., and as a late convert to this rose, I think it's just wonderful...

..also regarding once flowering shrubs... in cooler climates we can grow clematis through these, as I do here, so they are never once bloomers.. and with evergreens, I choose these as much for their foliage, and I also allow roses and clematis to ramble through if nearby...

...I don't think there need be any such thing as a once bloomer here, of any type... be it Lilac, Philadelphus.....whatever.... they make good hosts...

I grow clematis with my once bloomers too. I have some roses that repeat, but they never look as awesome as a rambler in full bloom..

One other consideration for once bloomers like Erinnerung is how BIG the bushes get. That's a lot of green bush the rest of the year. It doesn't seem to spread like a Gallica, but my EaB covers easily 10' wide garden space and like others mentioned, only blooms the once for me. In fact, mine is about 6 years old - I think I bought mine in response to this original thready - and it only started blooming to notice this year. Fortunately it's against a fence so I can tuck back some of the unruly canes, but it is widely branched and not all that conducive to this shaping like a true climber might be.

Having said that, I think there's a place for once-bloomers in a big enough (and cold enough) garden, and I'm planning a row of relatively mannerly Gallicas and Mosses along this same fence to put on a show of glory in June and provide a backdrop for the rest of the roses (and climbers up that same fence) the rest of the year. And I do have a few lilacs, peonies, and dozens at least of daylilies, clematis, and lilies that are also once-bloomers. Not to mention thousands of spring bulbs, but they don't require exclusive garden space and work around all my roses!

Cynthia

PS- I also have many other purples like Munstead Wood or Dark Desire or Midnight Blue or Blue for You that lean toward this dark purple color scheme, and on the whole I do prefer them. Still, there's something unmatched about the purples of those gallica-influenced once bloomers.

My Geschwind's Orden is very healthy, Prinz Hirtzenprinzen does tend to get some blackspot around now. I have another purple one I can't remember the name of that looks good now, a few yellow leaves on the bottom.

I would kill to have Gilda and Caroline Bank! Geschwinds are hard to get here. What others do you have?

Your Forstmeisters Heim is stunning!

Yes, Marianne, your Forstmeisters Heim is gorgeous. Does it have a long bloom period?

Altorama, is your purple Geschwind's Schonste (sp)? That looks pretty gorgeous in the photos I've seen.

Diane

My other Geschwind roses are Aurelia Liffa, Corporal Johann Nagy, El Areana (also written Areana El, and one of the best!), Freya, Futtacker Schlingrose, Geschwinds Nordlandrose I (the multiflora), Gruss an Teplitz, Himmelsauge and Zigeunerknabe (Gipsy Boy). It seems I have 15 Geschwinds if Leopold still lives. Erinnerung an Brod has replaced a sick Asta von Parpart, a sad loss as it is remontant. I have also lost Gräfin Esterhazy, a chinensis. A recent photo of Zigeunerknabe:

Diane, FH blooms for almost exactly a month, in July. This year it looks as if it may stay longer because of the cool weather.

Hi Nanadoll, no I dont think that is it since the blooms on mine are more lavender, no pink at all but thank you for the suggestion.

Mariannese do you live in the US?

I live in Sweden. I am Marianne and the SE, stands for Sweden but neither GW nor Houzz made it possible to write Marianne-SE the way I wanted when I first joined.

Oh ok, I was wondering because you have such a great collection of Geschwind's and they are so hard to find here!

Oh, that Gypsy Boy is fabulous. It's one of the other Geschwind roses I've wanted. The name of this rose is pretty exciting, too. Diane

Sigh, I love looking at these pictures. Unbelievably beautiful. So grateful that a reflection of Geschwind's poetic soul lives on in the gardens of those who grow his lovely creations.