She's beautiful!

Very nice, one of favorites too!

Thank you, Seil. I think so too! And to think, I almost sp'd her this spring, because I was underwhelmed by her 1st year flowers. I'm so glad I gave her a chance!

Wonderful! I can't wait for mine to grow up!

Cadiarose, such striking roses, and in July, unbelievably pretty. Diane

The foliage is beautiful too, a deep rich green, glossy, and very clean especially for this time of year here on the east coast. I'm developing a real love for nice foliage these days. The flowers are a good size, not small like many floribundas.

Here's SP as the center of a little arrangement. This is a good sized flower -

And here's a shot of those lovely deep green leaves, minus a few spots the oriental beetles have munched on!

Sheila at the show. She got a blue. :-)

I could've opened her petals a bit for a better presentation. I actually meant to enter the other bloom of her, the one in the centerpiece. Oh well!

This is my 1st year growing SP. I could kick myself in the back side for not getting her years ago. Beautiful bush with great blooms. I REALLY like this rose. It's a permanent keeper in my garden. Keep posting pictures of her. Hopefully, those that don't grow her yet will get the urge and order her for next spring. I know, that's what happened to me.

Ken, my first year blooms were rather small and a bit muddled in color. When she seemed dead early this spring I almost shovel-pruned the bush. But then I noticed some new growth that started taking off strongly so I let her be. I'm so glad I did! Lesson learned, try not to judge a first year rose too harshly.

I think this rose is kind of unfloribunda-like, it reminds me more of a hybrid tea. Without the fuss.

Cadiarise, your show rose is a real beauty! I agree, Sheila seems more like a HT.

Holly,

It has a strong, consistent fragrance.

It was susceptible to blackspot in my garden.

Thanks, Michaelg. Is blackspot as prevalent up in the mountains as it is here in Raleigh?

Probably worse. To germinate, blackspot requires temperatures below 80 for 8-10 hours. So many parts of the US are often too hot for maximum spread during summer. The very worst areas are probably Southern Appalachia and the Mid-Atlantic.

Holly, here in coastal central NJ I consider myself in the blackspot capital of the world, lol. I do spray with a fungicide, but not that frequently, because I forget or the weather is not condusive (rain, windy) when I have a day off. I have some roses that will still blackspot at the drop of a hat. I started my spraying very late this spring, but Sheila started off the season pretty clean and has remained clean with my infrequent spraying. I would think that she'll do as well as most roses in your garden with the oil treatment, once she gets established. Michael's statement about the temperature drop needed for blackspot to germinate rings true for what I've noticed. In May we had a very warm day followed by a cool evening and a couple of my roses, including floribundas, had overnight blackspot epidemics going on, with heavy defoliation. Sheila was clean, though. One of the things I love most about this rose is the health and shine of the deep green leaves, which you can see in the show pic. Many comments on HMF state that she's relatively disease free for them, and she has an excellent- rating.

My SP has been only slightly fragrant, unlike most other reports. I do have her in a rather shady part of my rose beds, where she seems to thrive well enough. That may play a part in the fragrance factor.

For me, SP was slow and uninspiring her first season planted (I forget if she was bareroot or grafted). I thought the bush was dead this April. Once it started growing it was like a new rose, very strong and sturdy. I would definitely give SP two seasons at least.

From the Sublime to the Terrible - here's some photos of the fungal outbreak that hit several of my roses OVERNIGHT when we had that unseasonably hot day followed by a cool night in May. Literally, this affected a good half of the bush (bottom) on several bushes, and was not present the day before. I came out to visit my roses that morning and was horrified. This was on Rainbow Parfait. Sheila's Perfume had little issue with the fungus.

Oh wow! Actually, thanks, bcs I feel better now about the same type of outbreak which attacked my Eiffel Tower and Harlekin [I'm in Youth Ministry; I have a tough time calling this rose Kiss of Desire ; ) ]!!! I really thought I had been neglectful or really unobservant.

Poor Eiffel Tower. Last year, her 2nd year in ground, a neighbor's tree fell and broke her off at soil line. She rallied, grew like a weed, made blooms until Thanksgiving. This year, fungus from another planet! She has no leaves for lowest 2ft, then a few, then POW! Top several inches loaded with buds, blooms & leaves. Looks a bit like a Dr Seuss rose.

Did Rainbow Parfait recover?

Yes it did, I'm happy to say!

The pic by cadiarose looks like cercospora spot rather than blackspot. I would remove the infected and fallen leaves. The Bayer fungicide does not control this disease. It's usually not so bad, but I have one plant nearly defoliated by it this year. It often affects glossy foliage that is resistant to blackspot.

Interesting, Michaelg. I did not have any fungus problems when I lived in another part of the country, so fungus prevention & treatment are a bit new to me. With blackspot, is a reliable layperson diagnosis based on the margins of the spots? I have read varying opinions about removing all affected leaves from an infected rose. What is your opinion?

If you spray with Bayer Disease Control (tebuconazole), it will kill the blackspot inside the leaf, thus no need to pick leaves. Otherwise the spots continue to produce spores that splash to neighboring leaves and spread the disease. In that case, pick the leaves. They are going to die in a couple of weeks anyway. Of course, in a big garden or with climbers, picking leaves is too much trouble.

Blackspot spots have a fringy or notchy margin, and the spot doesn't go through to the underside. Cercospora spots have a firm margin, often purplish. Later a gray center develops, and finally large areas may die and turn brown. Spores are produced from the underside of the leaf whether living or fallen. It spreads in cooler weather than blackspot, and both diseases need wet leaves.

Thanks!

Yes, Michael, I suspected it was cercospora, and was hoping you'd chime in to confirm it. I did a lot of reading on it when the outbreak occurred, including some of your past posts. I hadn't really had anything like this before.

I always remove infected leaves just because I can't stand looking at them! I use Bayer and alternate with mancozeb. The ironic thing about the outbreak is that it occured the day after I sprayed with Bayer late in the afternoon. I think the very warm day, wet sprayed leaves, and cool evening caused the outbreak.

Mancozeb probably controls cercospora, but I haven't used that in a long time.