I'm interested in what people have to say about this rose and where all it will be available grafted as it is high on my spring list :)

~Sjn

Koko Loco is a pretty rose. It starts out a deep tan with a caramel reverse and fades to a soft lavender. It lasts pretty well on the bush but I don't know about in a vase. It's winter hardy but does black spot some. I'm not the one to ask about fragrance. I think it has some but I couldn't tell you what or how strong it is.

I like it. I think I bought mine own root from RU. I still have it in a pot. It has grown like a natural standard, bare single cane with nice branching at the top at about 2 or 2 1/2 feet. It came through the winter fine in a pot. Seems pretty healthy. I don't know if I'll try to keep it as a standard.

HMF has Koko Loco rated zone 7a and warmer. Do you all think that is incorrect? I would love to grow it again. In my desert garden it is very healthy and has beautiful blooms.

I think that is just HMF's default zoning. I've had no problem with it wintering in my zone 6 garden and it's in a pot. I do winter protect my pots but even so it's come out every spring in very good shape.

Love this rose. Repeats quickly. I have several buds on it still. fragrance is spicy, maybe clove like? I would get grafted since my ownnroot one died and was smallish.

It's a survivor for me (zone 5b). It's not the most vigorous of roses so I agree with totoro, especially if you're growing in a cold zone, consider getting it grafted. Worth growing though! Often the exotic colored roses don't live up to the photos you see or else you get infrequent blooms on an ugly looking plant. Mine gives me an ample amount of picture perfect blooms and the bush is attractive enough. I do spray this one for blackspot.

Might as well enable your long winter wish list - it coordinates rather nicely with Hot Cocoa and Distant Drums :)

I was thinking of putting her in my “vintage“ section- lots of peach, cream ivory colors. The only problem is this section is borderline for roses.

I have to choose stuff that can take some shade and from what y’all are saying I’m not sure thos rose would be happy.

I absolutely LOVE this rose. It has bloomed pretty much non-stop from April thru now. It was a champ through our crazy hot dry summer, and it's still a champ right now, with nights in the 30's. Blooms are beautiful throughout its metamorphosis, it's young blooms some of the prettiest of any - a tannish light coffee with pink/lavender highlights.

It is fabulous in the vase - blooms last for days. I detect no fragrance with mine.

I HIGHLY recommend trying it, wherever you are. Mine does get partial morning shade.

I think I’m gonna have to try. It just keeps pulling at me.

She will live with an Innocent Blush clematis, Cream Veranda, climbing hydrangea, snapdragons, verbena, daphne, hosta and a fern. Oh, and dark purple heliotrope for fragrance and to just break up the predictability some:)

Oursteelers, would you happen to garden in the Pittsburgh, PA area?

Desert garden, you would think, right? But no, I am in the PNW:)

oursteelers, that sound like a dreamy combo. I'd copy it except for the daphne which requires and acid soil. I do hope you'll post pics of this even when she's small.

Vaporvac, I will!

Ratdogheads, thank you very much! "Might as well enable your long winter wish list - it coordinates rather nicely with Hot Cocoa and Distant Drums :)" I was moving potted roses to a protected area of my property today. I swore that I am done with adding any more roses. WHile taking a break, I came across this post. Well all I can say any resolution that I had is out the window. Distant Drums and Koko Loko are coming next spring. I think they will look very nicely with Tuscan Sun and Cinqe de Mayo.

That's funny Karen! I was wondering how it would look with Cinco de Mayo myself! Reading this form is really terrible. :-)

Vaporvac, I have been trying very hard to avoid temptation but my will is weak esp. now to March.

Such a bunch of enablers. Now I want Koco Loco too.

Yes, it looks good next to ow root Distant Drums but that one is also a weak grower and died over last winter so I receommend grafted for DD.

I really like my Koko Loko. Mine is in a half barrel container. Roses have to be real heat lovers to tolerate containers in my climate in sun. I don’t detect much fragrance from mine, but fragrance needs to be pretty strong for me to detect in this hot, dry climate. Koko makes a wonderful cut rose, and I use it in bouquets frequently. Mine is ownroot, and I have zero experience with cold temps. Mine does bloom though the worst of our summer/fall heat. It’s still blooming now. Lisa

Oursteelers,

I garden right in the city, Bloomfield, but do not grow the coffee toned roses, except for the mini, Cafe Ole, mostly because it is fragrant, fragrance being a rarity among minis. Why don't I grow the big bloomed, coffee toned roses?.....glad you asked. Bear in mind, my reason is purely subjective, and easily contestable.

Pittsburgh and Seattle, WA, vie for the distinction of being the gloomiest cities in the USA. We have more cloudy days in a year than anywhere else, nationwide. For this reason, rose blooms in Pittsburgh are not illuminated by daylight very much. Beige, tan, and coffee colored rose blooms here look dirty white, dingy, and dull to me.

For example, back a few years ago I was all revved up about a new Kordes rose I just acquired, Lion's Fairy Tale. Its press was very impressive, and it had won ADR status, a big plus for winter hardiness and black spot resistance. I got two bushes, planted side by side.

They grew nicely and bloomed very nicely. The flowers had a long garden life before petal drop, but the moment they opened they looked like mud was splashed on them. The blooms in their exhibition stage, their most pristine state of development, looked like they were ready to be deadheaded. What was worse, a vibrantly colored rose growing next to them made them look even dingier!

After living with their gloomy blooms for a couple years, I shovelpruned them. Since then I am very careful about putting beige, tan, coffee, etc., colored roses in my Pittsburgh rose garden.

Now, such colored roses look great in a vase. They take on a completely different look when not in my garden.

Moses

Moses,

Dang it!!!!

That was NOT what I wanted to hear-I was really hoping to add some depth to my vintage look but that info paired with the ho hum fragrance reports I’ve been getting makes me rethink my plan.

Do you have/or had Distant Drums? Is your experience the same?

Thanks,

Tina

Those Distant Drums are absolutely stunning! They would add the depth I’m looking for. I’m pretty sure they’re fragrant, right?

Thank you :) Yes it is fragrant but not super strong. Its fragrance is listed as 'Moderate'.

Tina (Oursteelers),

Please take my experience with tan roses as just that, one man's POV. We all have different responses to roses.

I do not have Distant Drums, but my niece here in town has two young, own root bushes that are doing very well in spite of no winter protection provided. I don't see them getting much over 2' tall, maybe 30" at maturity in 2-3 years.

The color of Distant Drums bloom incorporates pink into its scheme, which gives the bloom a warmth that augments the tan color. If you can get It grafted, I bet it will do even better than my niece's own root bushes.

My philosophy in our climate is to go grafted, preferably on multiflora root stock (Dr. Huey, second choice), whenever possible, and particularly when a rose is fragrant, and/or a hybrid tea type, because these traits generally make for less vigorous growth and winter hardiness issues here.

Distant Drums was bred for winter hardiness by Dr. Buck whose goal in his rose breeding program in Iowa was to introduce healthy, winter hardy roses for Americans. He bred Carefree Beauty, Earth Song (Take a look at Jim's, he's from Central PA, show stopping specimen here on the Roses Forum), and Quietness (my favorite rose), among over 100 other roses he bred. Roses Unlimited has the largest Dr. Buck selection and the best prices. Heirloom Roses comes in second in both categories.

Moses

Distant Drums has the reputation of hardiness, and we have a notion that Buck Roses were bred for hardiness but DD is a bit of a contradiction.

My Mom who gardens in 6b, a whole zone warmer than me, grows a couple own root DDs. Hers are complete weaklings, never growing above a foot and a half tall with very thin canes. She's pleased to get a few blooms each year. The blooms she gets are rather small and often they are a muddy shade of cream without the delicate blush which distinguishes this rose.

I grow three, grafted on Dr Huey. In my experience this rose is not hardy. Some winters mine have a bit of (damaged) cane left above the snow line but other years they die back to the soil. This is a rose where the the difference between grafted and own root is tremendous. Mine always rebound with vigorous growth and several strong flushes of lush multicolored blooms. By the end of the summer they reach 4' high with thick canes, a good amount of foliage & lateral branching.

Back to the subject of Koko Loco. Mine is grafted and is not especially vigorous. Could be that I just have a weak plant. I have seen some own root roses that build up over time and fare as well as their grafted counterparts. Koko Loco may well do that but DD is not one of those (as always with the caveat: in my experience).

Ok, first off, when I first began posting I had zone 8 and PNW next to my name...why have those disappeared and how do I get them back?

Second, how do any of you order from Roses Unlimited?

I have gone to their website umpteen times and I can’t find their roses! No matter what I click on, I don’t go anywhere. It’s SO frustrating!

Tina

I noticed that my zone & location (southern NH) disappeared from my profile/screen name too. So I added it to my name the other day, in the first name field.

Thank you, ratdogheads!!!! Any tips for Roses Unlimited?

Sorry, I haven't ordered from Roses Unlimited but I hear good reviews here so hopefully someone else will offer helpful ordering advice.

I've not ordered from RU before either, oursteelers, but found exactly what you did and found the website terribly annoying. Under Browse, click on "our Collections" and you'll find lists of roses. No prices, no indication of whether this is the place where you see all the roses they have for sale, but - it's a list anyways.

Tina, I have ordered from Roses Unlimited and you hit on collections

At the bottom of the collections page it says more and then lots of other categories come up like the Austins. I admit it is a poorly laid out website, but nice roses .

Honestly not thrilled with this rose. 2nd year and I have had 6 blooms in total. Zone 9b. Have it in full sun like they say to but it does not rebloom for me. Heck it barely blooms at all

Does anyone know how Stephen Rulo compares?