Here's the latest discussion about her on the Antique Forum Ken, hope it helps. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: RdV on the Antique Forum

Her color is a gorgeous dusty lavender. It's much more purple than the pink of Rose de Rescht and unlike any other OGR color I know of but it's hard to get the right color in photos. It smells absolutely heavenly and I can smell mine from a distance. However, she does not make a good cut flower. She will instantly drop her petals when cut. I know, I've tried to get her to several shows with no luck. Flowers are around 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches and her best flush for me is in the spring. After that I only get a sporadic few here or there the rest of the season. But you are in a much warmer and sunnier climate so that may be different for you. Think BIG! I've had mine on trellises and she's broken 3 metals ones now. So if you can give her lots of room to just spread out she'll probably do better. On the 6 foot trellis I have now she gets about 9 feet high by fall. And she doesn't like to be pruned which is a shame because she's virtually thornless and my favorite rose to prune because of that. But I get a lot less bloom the years I have to chop her back in the spring. She does get some black spot but not nearly as bad as my Rose de Rescht does. And even though she's flanked by lilacs that get terrible PM each year I've never seen her catch it. Gorgeous rose and worth the effort in my opinion.

{{gwi:341786}}

In my cool coastal climate, RdV truly was lavender-violet.

Inland in Southern CA where it is warmer and drier, it is shocking pink. Know that it demands acidic, rather than alkaline conditions.

Jeri

Make sure you get the thornless RDV. Pretty good repeat for an OGR. Canes can get large. I also have Rose de Rescht, Jacques Cartier (Marchesa Boccella) and Baronne Prevost. Prevost is a once bloomer. Rose de Rescht has the best repeat. Jacques Cartier has OK repeat and RDV is better. Go for it.

Fascinating, predfern. Seems a perfect example of "location, location, location". Here Jacques Cartier and Baronne Prevost are continuous flowering. RdV has definite flushes, with pronounced periods of no color. Rose de Rescht flowers, but has such awful foliage issues it's frequently called "Rose de Wretch". Kim