Without a doubt 'Soleil D'or' was the worst rose I've ever grown - and I have had over 2500 varieties in my collection at the peak, so that's saying something. Its reputation for being the most diseased rose on the planet is well deserved; if I didn't spray it every 7 days, it had no leaves whatsoever (After I stopped spraying it, it dwindled down to a couple of 10 inch leafless twigs within 2 years and was dead by the third year of no-spray cultivation). Now, if you live in a desert climate where the humidity is always below 20% and it never, ever rains, you might get a respectable specimen out of it.

If I were you, I'd be grateful its not available and locate something that has actual merit. (other than historical merit) Yeah, some of you will think I'm being unreasonably harsh in my assessment, but I bet anyone who has had more than 2 years experience with this one will be hard pressed to disagree with me!

This post was edited by trospero on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 19:57

I have one from RVR that is a year and a half old, and it has not done much yet. This was the first and only flower, so far. I guess I should be prepared for its untimely death.

Paul -- D'you think it would be any better budded?

Maybe -- in a desert climate?

I know EYE would fail with it, but . . .

"D'you think it would be any better budded? "

Hey Jeri.
Mine was budded - and on a very sturdy rootstock at that!

I would without any hesitation substitute Reve d'Or, unless you happen to have that rose already.

Ingrid

Yes, I've heard it's a bugbear. Perhaps relegate it to a rose museum? Of course, there's always the enticement of rising to a challenge which has been the undoing of the most experienced of rose growers.... ):-) Carol

Ah well, Paul. I was rather afraid you'd say that. Let's face it -- those earliest Pernetianas weren't, really, garden roses.

Jeri

Oh that's sad to hear... I guess I'll skip it. Thank you for the feed back.

I'm thinking of maybe replacing that idea and get Alister Stella Gray instead.

Since I bought a new home on larger land, I'm able to almost double my rose collection. I have been drawing plans and hopefully will begin planting everything in a month. Until then, I can't stop myself from buying roses again! It's been 5-6 or so years since I bought most of my roses and now I have the rose buying bug big time.

So far I've ordered the following (Some are ones that came in last summer but are still small and need to be planted):

-Blanchefluer
-A 2nd Pretty Jessica
-Fair Bianca
-Alba Semi-Plena
-Belle de Crecy
-The Alnwick Rose
-Claire Austin
-A 2nd Eden
-Sweet Juliet
-Munstead Wood
-Red Eden
-Tradescant
-Tranquillity
-Rose de Rescht
-William Shakespeare
-William Shakespeare 2000
-Comte de Chambord
-Tuscany Superb
-William Lobb
-Autumn Damask
-Excellenz Von Schubert
-Baronne Prevost
-Madame Ernst
-Apothecary's Rose
-Bella Donna
-Bizarre Triomphant
-Blush Moss
-Cardinal de Richelieu
-Common Moss
-Francis Dubreuil
-Henri Martin
-Madame Hardy
-Madame Isaac Pereire
-Sombreuil
-A 2nd Souv. De Malmaison
-Variegata Di Bologna
-Lyda Rose
-Jacques Cartier
-Cornelia
-Ferdinand Pichard
-Constance Spry
-Treasure Trail
-Madame Louis Leveque
-Duke of Edinburg

Any experience with these or that you may have planted, let me know what you think of them :)

Thanks,

Brian

..that's quite a list...

..I've grown around 7 of those in my time... still have a couple or so...

'Tranquillity' is a lovely white.... I hope it does well for you... and I'd be interested to see how it grows in a warmer climate....

Wow! What fun. If I counted correctly, I've grown at least 26 of the roses on your list. They all had their virtues and were very satisfying, in their own ways, to grow. Alister Stella is a lovely rose. -Carol

Amazing list.
I was just looking at Soliel d'Or about an hour ago, going through Burlingtons rose nursery list one more time;
Soliel d'Or looks so gorgeous for such a troublesome rose.
Last year I bought Alchymist which has dramatic blooms along the same line if you haven't already got it, does not posses that deep rich gold though.
I can tell you Madame Hardy is as perfect as in photos. Not a large bloom but exquisite none the less. i call her Madame Thorny.
Autumn Damask has exceptionally beautiful fragrance but shatters at a breath.
Odd that your bought list parallels my wish list so closely.I hope they will grow wonderfully for you.

- maybe someone knows what to add to the soil that might bring out the deep yolk yellow color to make Alchymist a fair substitute for Soliel d'Or.

If it isn't partly orange and apricot etc. I wonder if you have the right item.

Thanks guys. I'm pretty excited to see all these roses in bloom in my own garden one day!

Just an FYI, I emailed Burling yesterday about Soleil d'or, and she said that her plants are too small for shipping and that she may have them available in the summer. If you're interested in trying it out anyways...

Damask55, you added a new rose in my head. Minus the once blooming part, I think Alchymist would be a great replacement. Thanks for the suggestion!

ocbrian -- if you're already getting a lot of roses, I say give 'Soleil d'Or' a try. But I wouldn't plan a spot for it in a bed. Give it a go as a "pot pet" for a while, and see how it does for you. If it turns out to be a horrible plant, you can always dispose of it later -- but at least you'll have satisfied your curiosity. Considering how many roses you're getting, what's one more, even if it is a dud?

Of the rest you mentioned, I have only a few -- ‘Rose de Rescht’, 'Bizarre Triomphant' (aka 'Charles de Mills'), ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’, “Sombreuil”, ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’, and ‘Ferdinand Pichard’. Mine are still very young, and I'm across the country from you, in NJ, so I don't know how anything I've experienced will be of merit for you. Do you get enough Winter chill for the old European once-blooming OGRs? I'm not familiar with your area or climate to know. That being said, if the heat comes fast in your area, you might do well to plant them where they get just morning sun so the bloom period doesn't get cut too short. I hope they do well for you.

As much as I wish I'd get to see their blooms again in the season, there is a place for the once-blooming roses in the garden{{gwi:807}}. If nothing else, they can allow a bed to have a transformation of color scheme through the year -- there's no need to worry about clashing colors with other perennials if the roses are already done blooming by then. One could make the same bed based upon cool-colors for rose season, later being filled with hot colors for Summer.

:-)

~Christopher

This post was edited by AquaEyes on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 22:21

Christopher is so plucky! We all need someone like him to encourage us to go for the long shot. Brian, if you search for photos of his pot pets, you'll catch glimpses of some of his gorgeous, nurtured long shots. -Carol

Hi Christopher,

Thank you for your insight. I might go ahead and try out Soleil d'or but currently everyone that I buy from is out. I do agree with you on the once bloomers. I was never interested in them until last year when I bought a larger property. Now I can place them among my other roses and look forward to their blooms every spring just like I do with my tulips, daffodils, and cherry trees.

Thanks PortlandMysteryRose, I'll have to do some searching for his pot pets and check out the pictures :)

Just an update:

RVR now has Soleil D'Or in again, so I went ahead and added it to my list and it just arrived today along with a few other roses I had to add to my list above. I'll report later on how it does for me.

Brian

Hey, you already have an extensive collection of roses from many different groups, and this is how one figures out "what works" in one's own particular location. Maybe it'll work for you, maybe not. But there's only one way to find out. And if you didn't try, you may always wonder. So I'll look forward to updates on how it does for you.

:-)

~Christopher

I'd like to give a positive vote for Soleil d'Or.

I got it on a whim from RVR in 2015, with a certain amount of trepidation based on its reputation, but I figured it's a historic rose and I might as well give it a shot.

The spring of 2016 it put out a caneful of drop-dead gorgeous yellow blooms, then promptly defoliated completely; I actually thought it was dead. But then the leaves came back and it overwintered in a pot just fine. This spring it started putting out orangey-yellow blooms and has been repeating ever since - in fact it still has one big fat orange bloom on it that just opened today (Nov 13)! It has kept its leaves all season and seems very healthy (knock on wood).

I have no idea why - it's in a pot next to the lawn (i.e. a rather humid and partly shaded area of the yard), I've given it no special care, and this summer was cooler and wetter than 2016.

I have a place ready to put it in the ground...but I'm kinda scared to change anything, since it seems happy with its current situation!