...luvly jubbly John... nice to see some Dahlia's too.. is 'Boule de Neige' very fragrant to you?

Thanks Marlorena! Yes, it is very fragrant, although I'm not convinced it's labeled correctly. Mine is very prickly, and I believe the literature suggests it's supposed to have smooth canes. There is a hint of myrrh in the scent and, on occaision, a pink streak will appear in a petal. I don't recall hearing of these traits in descriptions of BdN.

I love your photos John! Thank you.

Oh ok, thanks John, that's interesting... good to know about the scent.. I've read differing reports... I thought the outer petals were supposed to recurve somewhat, so the blooms look like a ''Ball Of Snow''... still, whatever you have looks quite tempting..

Yes, they recurve a bit but not as extreme as some of the photos I've seen of Boule de Neige. Also, the foliage is matte, not glossy (as HMF describes the foliage for BdN), and the blooms are closer to 4 inches...not the 2.5 inches stated in HMF. Given the slight myrrh scent and occasional pink petal, I've wondered whether this might be Winchester Cathedral...

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.285245

....or one of Mr Austin's other creations masquerading as BdN.

oh could be...I do see similarities there from HMF... I've grown Mary Rose but not the white one..

...isn't it annoying when you can never be sure of what you've got..

Still, I like it...

Such gorgeous photos, John; that delphinium is a stunner. It's such a rich, saturated blue and there's so much of it; I don't think many other plants can compete. Radio Times and Boule de Neige are so perfectly lovely. All your blooms look so radiantly happy, no doubt because they've received ample rainfall. Nothing can take the place of that.

Just a wild thought: your 'Boule de Neige' couldn't possibly be 'Winchester Cathedral', could it??

Still dry here, but today, gray and pleasantly cool. Septmber, wonderful!

Haha, Melissa I think you missed the post above where I said the same thing. Great minds think alike! Unfortunately I'm only basing that hunch on descriptions of Winchester Cathedral, because I'm not familiar with it. I have seen Mary Rose and Redouté, though - all sports of the same plant as WC - and the scent of this rose does seem to match my memory of those roses. But you know what memories are like! I can't be confident I'm remembering the scent correctly.

The delphiniums are so blue, they glow. Beautiful roses and dahlias as well...

Gorgeous roses, John. I really love that shot of Mlle. Franziska Kruger. What a wonderful color. Seeing your Anemones is also a real treat, as I cannot grow them here. I even tried them when I was gardening for someone else, who got a bit colder than I do, and had ample water from a well. I couldn’t get them to bloom at all, not even in the rich damp beds of the arboretum. Your delphiniums are glorious! They struggle here, and tend to be annuals. You have a wonderful climate for growing, and a wonderful talent FOR growing.

I removed my Winchester Cathedral just months ago, and I have Boule de Neige from Angel Gardens. Many people have said that they find Winchester Cathedral’s scent to be “weird”, and don’t care for its scent. I don’t remember much about the fragrance, but it was a blooming machine, that was always covered in blooms. It also shattered so quickly it was a near record. The blooms barely lasted 2 days on the bush, and shattered within hours of cutting.

My Boule de Neige has matte foliage. It has rather small, medium to light green leaves that come to a point. It has never produced a single bloom in the couple of years I’ve had it. After Jeri commented that she had ONE cluster of blooms on hers in 7 years, I’m giving up on mine. I’ve already begun to skip watering it when I’m in a hurry, so it’s not looking so good. It’s too bright out now, but I’ll try to get a picture of my Boule de Neige’s leaves this evening.

Your dahlia, ‘Stolz Von Berlin’ caught my eye. I have a favorite dahlia that I’ve been trying to identify for years. It looks an awful lot like yours, so I’d love to post a photo of mine to compare. You just might have solved my mystery for me.

Wonderful pictures, John. I enjoyed every one of them. Lisa

Thanks, Lisa! Here are a few more photos of my BdN (which may be WC or something else!). It is a blooming machine. I remember the year I planted it being impressed by how it never stopped blooming from spring through fall. There are about three large flushes, but it always has some blooms on it. Each bloom lasts about 3 days depending on the weather.

The leaves are on the large size, matte, medium green. The new leaves are a lighter green, glossy with a red edge. The canes are a light green color. There are medium sized brown prickles as well as numerous small red prickles.

Here are a few more shots of the lovely Stolz von Berlin, too! I just bought this dahlia this year and am enchanted by it. It's a compact and tidy plant with very uniform pearly pink blooms. There's a tinge of soft yellow and lavender in places, too. My phone's camera makes the blooms look much coarser and somehow more garish than they are in person... losing the charm they have in real life.

Great pictures, John! I did take some pictures of my dahlia and Boule de Neige foliage for you this evening, but now they won’t post. My entire written comment was also lost when I tried to submit it with my photos. I’m frustrated and don’t understand it, as I had just posted pictures on my own thread a few minutes before. I’ll give it another try in the morning. I don’t want to write too much here, in case it’s lost, but I think yours looks more like WC than my Boule de Neige. My BdN is nearly thornless.

Sorry, I will try again in the morning. Lisa

Lisa, when you replied, did you follow a link from an email that Houzz sent? I had the same problem earlier when I clicked on the email link to read your comments and reply. But after that failed, I opened the Houzz web page in a browser window, found this thread and was able to reply and post pictures normally. I noticed the photos uploaded differently between the two attempts... almost as though I was accessing web pages written with completely different code. I think I'll avoid clicking on the email links from now on...

You're right, John, great minds do think alike, and I missed your earlier comment!

I do love dahlias, but neither my conditions nor my gardening habits (lots of benign neglect) suit them. But they're marvelous flowers: congratulations on yours.

I have a low spot, fresh, partly shaded, where I hope (at last) to get Japanese anemones going. I have starts from Anna-Lyssa's garden: she was weeding them out, complaining, because they were invading from the neighbor's garden, passing under a stone wall to do so. That sounds promising.

Alright, I’m back to try again. I’ll start directly from Houzz, instead of trying from my “Home page”.

My pictures aren’t nearly as good as yours, but hopefully they will still be of some help to you. I can always take more.

I have just one photo of Winchester Cathedral in my phone. It was saved because it had a bit of pink in it, a “throwback” from Mary Rose.

Here’s some foliage from my Boule de Neige.

They’re not very clear. I’ll try to take some pictures with my Fire Tablet in a bit. It seems to do better in bright sun. I’ll get a picture of a cane to show you how smooth it is.

Here’s some pictures of the dahlia I’ve been growing for several years. It was a huge clump until last Fall, when a gopher found it. I thought the entire thing was gone, but the gopher must have missed a piece. I’m SO glad, because I too, really like this one.

Does this look like your ‘Stolz Von Berlin’?

It was getting a bit dark out. I can take more if needed. Lisa

Thanks for posting those great photos, Lisa! Well, I definitely don't have Boule de Neige...the smooth canes and dainty leaves in your pictures are without a doubt a very different plant than the rose I'm growing. The Winchester Cathedral bloom could be a match... I've seen a pink petal here and there over the years. I'll see if I can locate Winchester Cathedral locally, so I can view it in person.

It's hard to say whether your dahlia is Stolz von Berlin. I noticed the blooms in your photos have a lighter center, whereas mine have a darker center, tending towards purple. But our climates and soil types are so different, maybe that could account for the slight difference in color? The flower form is very similar. Here's a good photo from the Old House Gardens website where I bought mine:
https://oldhousegardens.com/img/bulbs/SD19/lead.jpg

I took another picture of a smooth came for you, although it sounds like my earlier pictures were enough to convince you that yours isn't Boule de Neige.

My dahlia does look darker sometimes. The photo from your link does look like mine. Maybe I need to wait and study a newly opened bloom. They fade a bit in the hot sun. Does yours age with a yellow center just before it falls apart?

Mine definitely get lighter and more pink the longer they are exposed to the sun. I might have a picture of one in a bouquet that's darker. Lisa

Oh wow - I wish the canes of my rose were that smooth!
I haven't seen yellow centers in Stolz von Berlin. The outer petals start to turn brown while the center of the bloom is still tightly packed with unfurled petals. The blooms last a long time on the plant...a week or more before showing any sign of age.

I just went out and examined Stolz von Berlin and found a few aging blooms that I neglected to deadhead...and they do show yellow centers, after all! Here are some snapshots...

Thank you, John! Those last pictures make me fairly sure mine is ‘Stolz Von Berlin’. Those you show with the yellow centers also look lighter, the way mine get. I think the difference is due to my very bright, hot sunlight. It’s a wonderful dahlia, and I was sad when I thought I had lost the whole thing to gophers. They are such a nice size for arrangements. The dinner plate dahlias are lovely, but you need a big arrangement to use those.

Aha! I found a picture of one I had cut and brought indoors earlier in the season, before it got so hot here. This one looks more like your pictures with the darker center. Think its a match? I do.

About those smooth canes on my Boule de Neige; They are nice and smooth with only minimal thorns. This would be a wonderful bonus for me, if only it would bloom! It just doesn’t get enough chill in winter time here, and if Jeri couldn’t get it to perform, I don’t have a chance. Sadly, I’m not keeping it. Boule de Neige is just taking up valuable space and water.....

Lisa

Lisa, I suspect you're right about the effect the strong sunlight would have on the Stolz von Berlin blooms. Mine also gets a bit of protection from roses and other plants, so that probably also changes its appearance a bit. Here are a few more photos from this morning, because photos are fun!

Stolz von Berlin

Not 'Boule de Neige'

Mlle. Franziska Kruger

I love MFK. She has such an attractive bush shape too. Beautiful shot, John. Maybe my not SdPN is MFK. I thought so at first, before I considered Madame Berkeley. I'm going to have to see over time which one the rose might be. It will be a winner either way.

Sheila, did your mislabeled Souvenir de Pierre Notting come from Roses Unlimited, too? That's what I ordered when I received Mlle. Franziska Krüger. It took me years to realize it was mislabeled, but the persistent proliferation should have been a giveaway. I actually love this rose - the colors are always changing, and they don't get washed out or garish in hot summer sun. It's also such a tidy, compact shrub for a tea... perfect for the space I have it in.

John, I got my MFK from ARE and I know it is the real thing. It is wonderful! Father Jerome spoke so highly of SdPN, so I got one from Rosepetals last November 2017 but that one turned out to be my no ID pink. I ordered another one from Rosepetals, and it got here a week ago and I am sure this time because it had a dried yellow bloom on it, that it is SdPN. I think I read somewhere about RU sending out a mislabled SdPN, so I did not order mine from them, but a mixup happened anyway. RU is where I got my General Gallieni, La France, Comtesse Festectics Hamilton and Comtesse Emmeline de Guigne. They do seem to be a great company, as is Rose Petals. I too have never seen these roses before, so it took me awhile to realize mine wasn't what I had hoped for and ordered. Now, I'll have to find a new spot for the new SdPN, because the no ID pink is in his spot next to Niles Cochet. If my no ID is MFK, that will be great because she looks good anywhere. Poor SdPN, he lost his spot.

My MFK from ARE.MFKMy no ID, (not SdPN) rose from RPs, which is a year younger than my MFK or more, since ARE sends out older plants. What do you think?

Here is another no ID shot.

Here's Niles below.Another Niles Cochet.I guess he'll look good next to any rose too.

Another photo of same no ID rose. Help is welcome.

Obviously a baby so time will tell I hope.

It sure looks like it could be MFK, but at that age it's hard to say! I'm looking forward to seeing how your SdPN matures. Teas seem so happy in your garden, and it's such a lovely rose, I'm sure it's going to look amazing. And yes, I agree that Roses Unlimited is a wonderful nursery - Pat sends such large, healthy, vigorous plants, and she has an amazing selection of roses. Definitely one of my favorite rose nurseries!

What lovely pictures! I just looked up the size of Mlle. Franziska Kruger. I’m thrilled to see the stated size is quite small and compact for a Tea. The fact that it’s rated as high as Zone 11 is also a bonus. I hope I haven’t asked this before somewhere, but has anyone heard of MFK growing much larger for anyone? I always feel like I should be growing more Tea roses, as they are so perfect for my hot dry climate, but they all get so large. Could MFK be the exception? Lisa

Another dahlia for you, John.