Beautiful and rich Cassandra!!

I hope this rose can make it to Australia. Are the blooms big?

They are! This one is four inches across which in my garden is very large indeed.

I absolutely love that color

Gorgeous! My Heathcliff has been a lighter candy red color than that and is currently taking a rest because of the heat, but I still like this rose very much.

Tangles it isn't a rose that stands up to the heat that well (at least here), so maybe not the right rose for Australia? It seems to be the most gorgeous in cooler climates. I was tempted though and had to try it, so I totally understand you wanting it. Yours is spectacular Cassandra!

Yes Cori, it definitely fades fuchsia. This is my only red rose and I remember someone on the 'color in your garden' commenting that they were difficult to plan around because the colors changed so much in the heat. I like the clashy look of pinks and reds together so I've tried to handle Heath's color changes by putting him in a bed with pinks so that if he fades it looks ok.

Beautiful

That is a magnificent picture of Heathcliff!

I've definitely heard more detractors versus accolades for this variety, but wanted to try it before DA pulled the plug on it.

Steven

I love this Rose. It requires water! Otherwise it will black spot and stopped blooming. With water it has very huge long-lasting blooms. The top pictures were just before winter.

Vapor, that looks pretty decent! Looks like he's got that "variable crimson shading depending on weather" thing going on. He's definitely my type ;-)

I can see some of the shrub shape in the pictures; how is its growth and vigour for you?

As importantly, how hardy to you find Heathcliff to be?

If I'm recalling correctly, did you mention at some point that it smells like a bag of black tea? I love *sweet* iced tea and hot.

I did order him a week or two back with some others (I've basically ordered all of the crimson roses David Austin still offer themselves because I'm not potentially missing out.)

Steven