Kathy, that is a GORGEOUS rose!! Thanks so much for sharing!

Jeff

Kathy - I just got Hot Cocoa and look forward to enjoying it as a more mature rose. Your photos are absolutely beautiful!

BettyN

I have seen many show this rose over the past years since it was introduced and your pictures certainly prove it is a lovely rose. The color is amazing. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures and please keep them coming!
Katerose

Indeed a beautiful rose bush in full bloom! Thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

Its beautiful , Kathy.Mine has a couple blooms on it right now,and showing its true colors this time.I meant to go take some pictures of them,but got busy and forgot about it.Mine has that dark purplish hue to it,instead of a reddish color this time.Your photos are gorgeous and your bush looks so healthy.Thanks for posting it.

Jean

I love my Hot Cocoa eventhough it doesn't have a huge amount of blooms like yours but my original died and the two plant I now have are grown from cuttings. The color and scent is just like the original..

Oh Kathy! What can I say, those are stunning bushes.

I just got my poor Hot Cocoas out of the pots and into the grounds. I'm saying blessings over them every day to give them encouragement. This is one of my favorite roses and the damage done by the move has hurt my soul.

It sure brightens my morning to see your pictures.

I have to have this rose!! I've seen all sorts of pics and rave reviews, but can't find it locally. And it's too late (and HOT) to put one in at this point--I think. I guess I'll be scouting it out early next year.

Thanks for the pictures--you pushed me over the edge. :)

Denise

What do you do to your roses to get them to explode with buds like that? I am so frustrated. I work so hard on my roses and don't get anything close to that kind of performance!

How is hot cocoa for disease resistance? Thanks!

Kathy, that is so pretty, and one of my favorites too. Nobody's roses have as many blooms as Kathy's. She does magic to her garden that she does not share with us. Everything is beautiful and blooms so well.

Me too! Love this rose. I haven't been able to spray for over a month now and it's healthier than all the plants around it. So pretty and reblooms in all this heat and drought we've had lately.

I just saw this rose today for the first time at the rose garden in Julia Davis Park, and, wow! What a fabulous color! Got to have it! :) But I was wondering whether the flowers burn or fade in really hot sun? Comments?

Beautiful pics as always Kathy!! It really is a good rose isn't it? Great repeat, lots of blooms, no disease and such "cool" ranges of color!

Kathy, that is so beautiful! I just love Hot Cocoa! my mom has it. This is one I'd like to get. We just finished a new rose bed on our sunny south end, (YEAH!) and I've gotten coffee colors for it. This one would fit in nicely!
Adrienne

No burn or significant fade here, unless really old. Sometimes they did fade to a lavender shade. Fade here not too unpleasant, I think.

Beautiful shots of a beautiful rose ! I'm enjoying mine in its first year - can't wait to see what it does as it gets older.

Carol

I really like the photo where the color is an orangish-red. Great pics. It's a rose that had already attracted my eye, now I might just try it. I just don't want any that are going to succumb to the heat and humidity here. thanks for sharing! Brandy

Great pics Kathy - thanks for sharing. What a great abundant rose. Though I do not have it, I have seen it and love it's unusual colour. Please tell me what the white rose is on the right of HC. That is a beauty too.
Ta!
Pauline

I'm getting such rose envy!! I truly cannot imagine my roses looking like that (except maybe my Mordens). My HC died after its first winter. Sigh.

Thanks for that slice of perfection!!

Carol

I went and purchased one last week . . . probably crazy, this late in the year, but the garden center still had a few, so I decided to take the risk. :) You're right . . . so far the flowers haven't shown any tendency to "burn."

i have had my Hot Cocoa for several years now...keeps getting better and fuller......nice pic kathy

Your HC is lush looking Kathy. I bought a bare root one for my son couple years ago so hope it will be fuller soon.
Millie

I had that rose at my house in Louisiana, it was covered and weighed down with blooms! The color is outstanding, disease resistance, and the fragrance is loooovely!
I will get that one again...
Angela

Thanks for posting those beautiful pics. I can't get enough of ogling Hot Cocoa. I do think it's one of the very best of all roses. I need to figure out a way to plant a dozen of them...

Kathy, I am new to this thread. I love your pictures! Which is the truer color of HC, the orangier color or the lavenderish color? I think you said that one color fades into the other? I'm still trying to figure out if it would go well next to Purple Passion ( I don't have a picture of mine yet.) On the other side of PP is a medium rose colored rose. In the back are yellow lilies and white oak leaf hydrangea. I am replacing some white unresistant to black spot roses that look awful even though they bloom well. This is the only spot that I have to put in new roses and really want to make the right choice...

I have admired the pics of Hot Cocoa also, and after seeing your bushes, I'm tempted to go for it. I want an orange that will be very resistant to the heat and humidity here. But it's the bottom pic of the ones you first posted where it is an orange-red that I prefer. The other pics seem a bit more deep pink. What color do you see it as? Brandy

Hi Brandy, I see you are into the reds and oranges too. We may both end up with Hot Cocoa. I am leaning more and more towards this one. It is simply gorgeous.

Wow, what color is it really? Changes with the wind (or temps, really). More often rust red, orangy dark red, but then sometimes has purple tones--but I would never call it pink. It has much more purple in early spring--cool weather.
Mine is in bed with Marilyn Monroe and is very happy--hah. I don't know about Purple Passion (which is not purple or even lavender here but pink). Let's try it here:

Thank you, Kathy! Do you happen to have Tequila Sunrise, Playboy, Singin' in the Rain or Voodoo? They are also orangey and are supposed to be very resistant. Decisions, decisions... Brandy

Oh ugh! Thanks for the pictures,Kathy. That combination is NOT GOOD. Whoops, I got the wrong name. It's Purple Pavement (a rugosa)that looks more purple than the pink in your picture. You wouldn't happen to have Purple Pavement anywhere would you Kathy? Nevertheless, this complicates things for sure. What does one do when the rose I would love to have... may not be the right color for the spot? Groan! Now how would PPavement and HC go together? Mine is out of bloom right now so I can't put it on this thread. I took your pictures of HC and other pictures of PPavement and put them together. They didn't look that bad together...I think...

Rosebug- some other orange ones I am considering are Louise Clements, Playboy, Orange Waves, and Sunrise at Heirloom (all are in the Heirloom catalog). Brandy

Brandy, I am looking at Louise Clements too. Have to check the others. It's really hard to choose when you have space for only one more rose.

I have no idea how it does for disease resistance, but if you are looking for a brighter orangey color, you might try 'Brown Velvet.' I bought that one just this year by mail order from The Uncommon Rose, and it is tiny, but the flowers are a very nice, bright color.

Since this discussion has veered a bit towards color combinations, just thought I'd share that I have planted my new 'Hot Cocoa' not to combine with any other roses at all: it is planted with a purple sand cherry (prunus cistena) to the right, and a dwarf purple barberry to the left in the background, with some bright blue globe thistle (echinops 'Taplow Blue') and 'Naomi Ruth' daylilies in the foreground. I'm especially looking foward to the fiery combination from the purple-leaved plants once my 'Hot Cocoa' gets big enough to pull its part. I think it will really glow, especially when it has the afternoon sun behind it! :)

I have a new HC. It's first blooms have burned edges. It's been high 90's and hot Florida sun. I'm hoping as it gets bigger that won't happen. My Black Cherry also burned and it isn't supposed to either. I guess it's not good to plant babies this time of year. Yours is gorgeous Kathy.

Teka, I can only attribute the burn to the newness of the roses. My HC went through 108 temps last week with no burned edges. Sure it suffers from the heat, but not with burnt edges. Hot Cocoa on 4th of July, over 100 that day,

I have to laugh. I do love this rose and have one. But I remember posts a few years ago about this rose where it was referred to as "liver on a stick". Everytime I walk up to mine, that is what I remember:0) Goofy, I know, but I still like the color and form! mel