Lovely! I'm not a big fan of yellow but that last photo is beautiful.

Jane

I love yellows. The problem here is that the beetles love them too..

Marlorena, have you seen this new rose? I'm jealous that it's only available in Europe:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3950761/delbards-new-roses-pictures?n=23

romogen, ... No I haven't seen that rose here so far, although I did see that thread. It looks a gorgeous rose, I mean it's spectacular isn't it?.. but I might question whether it would stand up to much rain with blooms like those. It will be interesting to see if it's offered here in due course.

There is a supplier near me who stocks a few Delbard's, but this isn't one of them so far, I shall keep looking though.

'Imogen' reveals a charming button eye today... I'm quite taken by it...

Sounds almost like a redo of Yellow Button. Adorable though, I love it. Thanks for the sneak preview!

Really beautiful. Love the darker center and the button eye.

Hi Marlorena! How has Imogen done for you since last year? I love the frilly petals and button eye - very cute. Imogen is available to order now for spring shipping and I am considering it (vs The Poets Wife). I’m sorry to ask your opinion on some of these DA new releases but I do appreciate your input!

Your post timing is perfect, Marlorena! A good friend of mine just gave birth to a daughter named Imogen. I see a rose to celebrate arriving in her future. Perhaps the stork could pick it up for me on the way back to the cabbage patch? Carol

Carol, the timing of the post would have been perfect if Imogen the girl had been born a year and a half ago... lol lol

Yes, I too am interested in how Imogen has been doing.

Sorry it takes a while to get back to you, time differences and the fact I seem to need my beauty sleep more often these days..

Dave - no problem, please keep asking. Trouble with these Austin's is that as we find out, they need a couple of years to show what they're worth, and this one is no exception to that. The main drawback for me is that the blooms shatter quickly, I get 3 days max. from each one. No idea how that would pan out in a hot climate.

It's a long bloomer though, still got a bud or two on it, and healthy all summer with luxuriant leafage, until just recently when it's starting to black spot and defoliate, but they all do that here at this time.

Carol/|Nick, a suitable rose for a little girl of that name I think. Some blooms have a blush pink centre. A most unusual Austin that veers well away from the standard.

..more typical blooms..

The first one opened for me here on May 23rd and it's still going.

Hope you like, but 'The Poet's Wife' has the better scent and larger flowers but

a more gangly, wayward habit. I like them both in different ways.

Thanks for the information and pictures , Marlorena! That’s great to hear it is healthy and blooms well. That’s too bad the blooms are short lived. I grow Claire Austin which is very healthy and has a great fragrance but the blooms barely last a day or two - a fairly big drawback but she stays. The Poets Wife looks nice but I don’t need an awkward shrub in this spot. Hmmm...I’ll have to give this some more thought...

I'm curious about this one. It looks charming. Interestingly, the website claims "An extremely floriferous and healthy rose with a natural radiance and charm", while the print catalog states "An extremely floriferous rose with a natural radiance and charm". No mention of health.

Conversely, Bathseba and Roald Dahl get no marks for health on the website, but are both stated to be healthy in the catalog. Very odd. I think I will wait until next year after reviews have started coming in on their performance locally.

-Chris

To be honest Chris, I don't take a lot of notice what they say in catalogues. You would never grow 'Zephirine Drouhin' here if you believed all what you read about it, yet it's reasonably clean in my garden, some mildew, bits of bs here and there, but I've seen a lot worse... nothing like trying it out for yourself I think..

My rose has been suffering from replant sickness, which is a regular thing for me, so I don't think my blooms are that typical so far... a better indication is from this member in Estonia on HMF, rather a nice photo of this rose..

'Imogen' in Estonia

Marlorena - you're so right, I've been put off picking a rose for my new garden based on online articles or even comments in the forum here... but I keep reminding myself that different climates & soil and just general environment can make a big difference.

There's also always the possibility that one particular rose happened to be sickly or weak genetically - and then that becomes that person's "experience" of that rose, which might then be generalised. I guess there's no substitute for personal experience!

For example - this isn't a "good" or "bad" review thing but a "general description" thing - I picked Nahema and Pierre de Ronsard (Eden) as my first climbers based on several online sources which mentioned them as being thornless or near thornless... HAH! Yeah right. Well, the 2 that I have are covered in huge thorns - even the leaves are prickly! It's a nightmare trying to train & tie them to the trellis. Maybe it's because they're grafted on Fortuniana - I don't know - I notice the same thing on several of the Austins I picked - because they're supposed to be "almost thornless" - none of them are. The best I can hope for is that the huge thorns are spaced far apart enough for me to have some stem to hold! LOL.

So now I take everything I read with a pinch of salt and remind myself that it might be different in my garden. That doesn't mean it's not helpful to hear others' experiences, of course - I'm always grateful for those!

~ HY

HY....the mention of 'Pierre de Ronsard' reminds me that my relative in Brisbane grew that rose on an arch for some years, but eventually had to remove it, due to black spot and other issues. They grow Tea roses in that city, they also had a beautiful hedge of a rose called 'Jean Ducher' [aka G. Nabonnand], which is a Tea and I wonder if these are the kinds of roses that would also do well in your Perth garden.

I think so, they are popular with those in warmer Mediterranean type climates and grow into huge bushes. Do you know about these roses? or are they not on your radar so to speak at the current time?... I feel sure they would do really well in your climate as a change from Austin's and suchlike..

Oh, thank you, Marlorena! I will definitely look into that.

I am slowly getting to know OGRs and have been looking at tea roses, since so many members here told me they'd do well in Perth's climate (although so many of them seem to get huge and I really do have a tiny garden, with limited wall space! For example, I was researching Mrs B.R. Cant and she sounds & looks wonderful... but I just don't think I have the space for her!)

Also, another issue is that I'm limited by what the local rose nurseries stock because I need roses grafted on Fortuniana and many of the east coast nurseries don't do that.

~ HY

ps. oh dear... that's not good to hear about Pierre!! :-( I got him partly because I love the look and partly because he seems a popular choice here. Most horticulturalists/landscapers recommended him. I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and hope! :-) Perth has very low humidity, though, and "dry heat" - unlike Brisbane which is tropical and really hot & humid - so maybe I'll be able to keep Pierre relatively healthy. So far, I have to say the worst culprit in my garden for blackspot is the Iceberg... it ALWAYS has blackspot on some leaves, even now in hot, dry mid-summer... I shudder to think what it's going to be like come winter!

I know what you mean about space. My garden is small so I grow upwards rather than outward so much. We simply cannot always have what we want.

'Iceberg' also blackspots here, defoliated after the first flush, so I grow an Austin white now as a hedge, and it's really clean, so I'm happy with that.. I never seem to have enough white in the garden, so I now grow more perennials of that colour..

Yes I expect 'Pierre' will do much better in Perth. I've heard it's a dryer climate, and probably one of the best places for gardening in Australia, generally speaking, although I've also heard that Tasmania is very good too. Imagining if I had the option to move there, just where I would go, as a kind of fantasy thought... good all round garden conditions would be essential...

Marlorena, how has this rose been doing for you? Was this its third year?

-Chris

Chris, I'm liking this rose a lot.... it's never going to be one of Austin's big name roses, one of those unsung little talked about types I think... and may not be a great money spinner for them, so it's longevity on the Austin inventory I suspect will be limited.. I like it better than 'Vanessa Bell', which is a similar colour, different shaped blooms...

I had to move it earlier in the season - this is not a rose for a shady spot, - cut it down, and it's sprung back still got buds today, I've had some nice flowers in October... a bloom doesn't last long, by day 3 it's gone, but it's a good producer... no disease issues, and I'm enchanted by the purity and shape of the flowers...

Thanks Marlorena! It really looks like a charming rose. How big does it get for you?

I have a spot in mind for it that's in front of a Purple Skyliner on a trellis and near some liatris and small Russian sage.

-Chris

That will look great... about 4 x 3 I should think here... it was making a very rounded, upright shrub before I moved it... no long arms or anything like that...

how are you guys finding Imogen now? I saw it on Heirloom's Cyber Monday sale and am kicking it around

I've had this rose for two seasons. I really like it. My problem is it's in the front yard, and the deer keep munching on it. Nevertheless, it seems to be healthy and grows well. I'm hoping to put up some fencing around that bed before next spring, and be able to enjoy this rose more next summer. Mine is from Hortico. They are offering it again this season if roses on multiflora do well for you.

-Chris