Several years ago I was really impressed by a planting of Robustas up in Gage Park west of Toronto. They were grown as broad, vase shaped individual plants and I really liked the green of their leaves with the saturated (on the bluish side) red of their blooms. I may have seen them at their best, and it was pretty darned good.

Thanks for the info. I think I will plant them together in the center of a garden to show off their bright red color. :-)

One growing in a no-spray garden here got lots of blackspot of the "damask crud" sort, that is, the leaves almost covered with dark brownish spots but not dying immediately.

Thanks Michael for the info, I planted two by the mailbox, and one by a tree next to the street, so BS stays away from other roses. I spray sulfur and dish soap water for PM and BS.

I've seen it -- I think in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden -- I've got a photo somewhere, too. But that don't mean I can find it.

I'm adding on to this old thread because when I researched this rose I didn't find much so maybe this will help someone in the future. This is my one year old Robusta. I bought it from Rogue Valley Roses last year. They shipped a nice good shape starter plant. It has grown the biggest out of all the roses I put in last year.

For some reason I thought it had large 5" flowers but they are smaller in the 2.5" range. They are pretty but not quite what I was hoping for in this area. But since it is doing so well becoming established we are planning to keep it.

Robusta many years ago ( which I can remember! ) was a beautiful, disease free shrub. It grew upright and had very large single deep red blooms. But it is old now and is very prone to BS. Sad, because it was a rose you planted so everyone could see and admire it.

Yours is beautiful! Mine were long gone, they couldn't take street salt during the winter. So I replaced them with 2 Altissimo about 2-3 years ago ($6 each @ Walmart). Altissimo must be very salty by now after 3 winters. This photo was from last month. I will give Robusta another try if I find it again next spring. :-)

Your Altissimo is beautiful! There was one here when we bought the house. Or at least that is what it was said to be when I posted photos of the flowers. It is only one cane every year. But it is in a bad spot, under a deck area and only evening sun. I was thinking of abandoning when we shut down the drip zone to that area. The root ball is probably huge and would be too hard to get out. It is close to 30 yrs old.