I suppose it could be an Austin, but I'm glad that other breeders are also trying for that charming old rose look.

I prefer the Guillot roses to the Austins. They, to my eye and nose, appear the more authentic in replicating the old garden look and scent, especially as their life goes on. YMMV.

Dara, which ones have you grown and liked?

So beautiful!! I tried to order it from roses unlimited but they were sold out . Wonder if anyone else sells it ?

Jerome - I agree that Versigny is an outstanding rose. I just love the bicolor effect it can have when happy, even though it's not particularly hardy in my zone. I've replaced mine to give it prime real estate, since among the Guillot/Massad roses this one is my favorite.

Initially when I checked my list for Guillot roses I only found the Comtesse d'Oxford HP bred by the original Guillot in the 1800s, which is a very nice and fairly hardy HP by my standards, and has a nice purple tone in cooler weather.

Once I realized that what I called Massad roses were released by the company named for Guillot (like the Evers/Tantau overlap in names), I realized I have a lot of Guillot roses that I really like. Elizabeth Stuart is an absolute trooper and fantastic apricot rose in a cold zone 4 pocket of my yard that comes back without fail every year sometimes even with surviving cane. She can put out a lot of blooms for a less than ideal spot and she tends to stay apricot without pinking out like a lot of Austins do. She's got that double multipetaled exuberant bloom that we love in these Generosa roses and she does better than Carding Mill in the same spot.

This bush shot isn't ideal, but for zone 5 if you can get this kind of nice branching and bloom on a rose it's an accomplishment for the rose. She gets bushy enough I really should provide her some support to help hold those big fat blooms.

I'm not as enamored with the pinkish color of Frances Blaise and she's not as hardy, but the blooms are still nice.

Madame Paule Massad has survived in a less than ideal part shade spot, and initially I'd regretted that, but since her loose blooms resemble the hybrid musks more than the Austins or HTs she fits better among the other HMs anyway.

Paul Bocuse has a nice bloom and it's hardy enough in the same cold spot area as Elizabeth Stuart, but he doesn't have as enthusiastic a bloom cycle. He's also not reliably apricot - sorry about the crisped edges on this one.

A lot of people even one zone warmer than me rave about Sonia Rykiel, but she's marginally hardy enough that she doesn't bush out much or bloom that often for me.

My plants of Chantal Merieux, Florence Delattre, and Hella aren't old enough yet for blooms, since they just went in last year. Hella is a very enthusiastic cane grower though and survived the winter fine, so I'm expecting good things from him this year. All mine are from Roses Unlimited and in my experience they're the only one in the US that I've seen selling these roses.

Cynthia

Thanks, Jerome, for posting this! I have only had mine a year, growing it in a large pot, and love it as well. I actually was a bit turned off at first with the thick petals but quickly became one I love. Lasts so long in a vase. This spring I was debating pruning like my other shrub roses or keep the 6-7 foot canes and train it like a climber - I chose the latter. It's now putting out a lot of laterals. We'll see how it turns out!

Cynthia, I need to look up Elizabeth Stuart now - beautiful!

Here is one of Versigny's blooms last fall:

Dave, we pruned ours a little heavier than I would have liked this season. Want to let it get big.

Cynthia - I totally agree with you. We only have Versigny and Francis Blaise. FB is very weak here: I wouldn't replace it if it died. I'll try to get a full bush shot of Versigny soon.

J

Versigny died twice in my zone 5a winter as own-root. Both from my fault of NOT digging deep for drainage. Roses Unlimited didn't have it last year 2021 when I wanted it for my order of 6 roses. Hopefully RU will have it this year. Versigny is VERY DISEASE RESISTANT, never see blackspots on it.

I miss its fabulous scent. It has the BEST FRUITY scent among my 150+ fragrant own-root roses. The scent is delicious apricot pie at first, then changes to the sweetest floral note, pure heaven. It's healthy but small & compact. If I buy it again, I will keep it in an air-pot and winterize in my unheated garage, zone 5a so bunnies won't eat it (like Annie L. McDowell).

Versigny is the best rose for the vase ever, lasting 5+ days. The peachy pink is Evelyn, and oranges are Versigny:

Below bouquet has my most fav. roses for the vase: orange Versigny, red Firefighter, white Bolero, and pink Liv. Tyler. All don't survive long in my zone 5a winter, and I constantly have to replace them. They are worth it for the most wonderful scents (except for Liv Tyler weird sour apricot and mothball scent).

Thank you, Friends!

Versigny is beautiful!

I also am in love wirh Straw’s Evelyn and few others, too!

My versigny

Ok, I know I’m reviving an ancient thread here, and I sound like a broken record since I keep coming back to this rose, but I guess there’s no harm in asking… the worst you can do is say “no”, right? So here’s my request: is there anyone on this forum who has Versigny that would be willing to send me a few cuttings? If so, please private message me.

Judi, I hope someone gives you a cutting and then you can give me a cutting one day. This rose looks marvelous.

Judi, Roses Unlimited still lists it, though is sold out for this season. I'd keep bugging them about it and you should be able to obtain one. https://rosesunlimitedsc.com/2016/12/05/shrubs/ 

Thank you Kim for that recommendation. Unfortunately, so far I’ve not been successful with Roses Unlimited and I’ve been trying for at least two years now. This past fall, I started trying earlier. I sent a list of six that I wanted ( including Versigny) and she told me she had 4 of the six. She said Versigny was in stock! I was elated. I added two more that she did have in stock and told her I was ready to order. This all happened over two days time of emails. Suddenly she went quiet. I waited several days and then emailed again just to be sure that she had everything from me that she needed to process my order. Finally, 8 days later, she sends an email saying Versigny is now out of stock and would I like to substitute?

No thank you. Cancel my order and please explain to me how this happened and what I should’ve done differently to reserve this rose that she clearly had in stock when I ordered and now she does not. She never responded. I tried several times, asking her what I should have done, and she has not replied to any of my messages. That’s why I am asking for cuttings.

I'm sorry, Judi.

Thank you, Kim. I really feel puzzled by the whole situation. I could understand why she ignores/ avoids my questions if I had been angry or upset at her, but I wasn’t. I felt that somehow, in spite of my best efforts to make everything clear and direct, that I had not put my order through in the way she wanted and that was why she sold out of this variety during the week I was waiting. But when I asked her what I should have been differently, she never responded. I sent a follow up email several days later and again, that one also went unanswered. Perhaps she’s had a crisis of some sort that prevents her from communicating.

Judi, I did some research and found a nursery the grows it in Michigan that wont have some until 1.5 years but you might have to pick it up in person.

Judi, Freedom Gardens lists it on their Custom Propagation page. http://www.combinedroselist.com/freedom-gardens.html

Thank you, Kim. Sure enough! I had presumed that RU was the only one who carried Versigny. SoCal, I’m curious which nursery you are referring to.

I think she may be referring to Hummingbird Roses.

I have had a great experience with Freedom gardens custom propagation. I got Lady Moss which is a treasure.

Yes I was talking about hummingbird nursery. Sheila I have had the opposite experience with Freedom garden custom propagation.

Judi have you tried contacting sellers on Etsy? Even if it's not listed they might carry it. I have ordered from Roses unlimited before but they have become less customer service oriented. Asked to be on the lest for the rose in question and they responded with just "Not available". No hello or follow up on when to contact them again to be on the list.