Matt - GASP!! Your first picture took my breath away!!

Rosecanadian: that's a single cane! Lol i didnt cut any for that picture, just lifted a cluster on the end of a cane that grew forward from the wall :)Rosecanadian: that's a single cane! Lol i didnt cut any for that picture, just lifted a cluster on the end of a cane that grew forward from the wall :)

Sultry_jasmine_nights: Crazy Love is nearly bulletproof for me, just east of Baton Rouge/just west of New Orleans. Most of the Kordes roses are incredible here, the Sunbelt series especially :)

Matt - wow!! You're certainly doing a great job with that rose! Well done!

bayarea_girl - I am assuming your reference to Crazy Love is the one hybridized by Kordes. I garden in zone 9/10 in the SF Bay Area. Do you have a Crazy Love which is at least 3-4 years old? How big is it in your garden (or anyone else who gardens in a warm zone with a Mediterranean climate? All of my roses get way bigger than it says on HMF or in catalogues, and I would like a bush which stays 5-6 ft high, and does NOT turn in to a climber.

It has always amazed me how many Austen roses act like climbers in our climate conditions - I love climbers, but now that I have a garden with a deer fence, I would like some actual bushes which don't climb for a change.

Jackie

First bloom on my newly planted Bathsheba and she did not disappoint! The most gorgeous creamy orange and she smells so good! I look forward to watching this one grow

Jackie - you have a deer fence...that's wonderful...like you said, you don't have to have climbers to get blooms that will escape the deer. :)

Ang - what a FABULOUS bloom!!! Oh my heavens!!! :) :)

ive read helens comparisons to teasing georgia.

are these two different enough in color and form to place together?

id like to replace 2 Cl Royal America and this was comes highly recommended by 2 posters in my region

@jc_7a_MiddleTN I think Bathsheba and TG would look beautiful together! Bathsheba for me is more apricot, but has yellows that would tie in with TG perfectly. It is quickly becoming one of my favorites! Strong myrhh fragrance, which I can’t decide if I like or not, personally. It reminded me of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, until yesterday when it hit me. Packing tape! Weird, I know!

Ang NC_7B I love all your posts, such gorgeous pics. of well-formed roses with zillion petals. And I love your sense of humor !!

Ang - packing tape!! I'm going to try to remember that the next time I smell myrrh. LOL Your last photo is SWOON-worthy!!! Holy Hannah!!

1. Im growing mine next to Malvern Hills and down the fence from Teasing Georgia with Quicksilver and many other climbers scattered in between. They look great together and are only simillar superficially.

Hi, I’m in central southern Tennessee. I purchased a Bathsheba by mail order from David Austin & she’s growing beautifully. The photos are actually more showy than the in-person bloom. But to my disappointment there is virtually no fragrance. A knockout rose is more fragrant. I emailed them & they said the first flush tended to have less fragrance & maybe I didn’t have a good nose, and to smell at different day temps & times of day. I’ve done all that but still there is almost no scent. Has anyone else run into that? My plants are largely selected for scent - daphnes, gardenia, heliotrope, Arabian jasmine. Im a little offended that my “nose” is the problem when the rose isn’t performing!

Oh my goodness!! Those are some incredible

Sometimes roses take time to develop scent. My Bathshebeba is very fragrant. Give it time. However, certain noses do have difficulty distinguishing certain scents, but I would Not think Bathsheba would fall into this category.

My Bathsheba is also fragrant so hopefully yours just needs a little more time

My Bathsheba took almost a whole season to become fragrant. It wasn't until the fall that I smelled much. Same thing happened with Fun in the Sun in my garden. Both roses are quite fragrant now.

Fingers crossed that that will be the case. Hope springs eternal. Thanks for the comments. I’ll update. She has lots of blossoms & is very healthy & is beautiful even so.

She is a beautiful rose. I have my eye on Compassion to replace with Bathsheba. Compassion gets a lot of mildew. Is Bathsheba resistant to mildew?

@Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal I have only had mine a few months so I am not a great authority on health yet, but so far I haven't had any problems with mildew, BS, or anything else on her. *knocks on wood*

I don't get mildew here unless you mean black spot in general. Bathsheba does not get much blackspot. She is healthy similar to Teasing Georgia, Spirit of Freedom, & Crown Princess etc.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish), what roses would comprise etc. I have two of those you mention and both are stallare stellar, so Id like to add any similarly healthy!

Vaporvac, Do you mean only climbers or any rose bush? I have several Austins that do well here. Lilian Austin is older and not real fragrant but she blooms a lot and has nice green disease-free leaves. Pat Austin, Bishop's Castle & James Galway do really well. Lady of Shalott is also good. I have to put her in full sun to get good repeat. Her best bloom period is early spring but she is really healthy.

Sharifa Asma has been good too. I had an own root SA several yrs ago and it was healthy but never really grew or bloomed that much. It died when I tried to move it. A few yrs ago I got a grafted Sharifa Asma and it is more vigorous. stays healthy, smells divine, and even has been blooming in mostly shade. It is under a tree and is getting morning sun only, while it awaits being put in a new bed (yet to be dug lol)

Fighting Temermaire is newer to me but seems to be healthy so far and has huge (bigger than my palm) single/semi double blooms.

A lot of the Kordes stay real healthy here. Quick Silver is a great healthy bloomer. I know a lot of people dislike Summer Romance because she is a beast but if you prune her hard and then fertilze she will bloom abundantly. Her foliage is green shiny and healthy.

Raspberry Cream Twirl is also healthy not a strong fragrance though.

What supports are those who are growing Bathsheba currently using? I’m considering her, but I’m also in 6a. Wondering if a smaller support structure would work for me

I’m interested in the answer as well, Rachel. I just received Bathsheba this spring and potted it up with the idea of soon putting it in the ground next to my rock wall. Is it a good candidate for draping over a wall?

I copied this response from an article on Gardenweb written by a Houzz editor. Lauren Dunec Hoang

1. ‘Bathsheba’: A romantic, highly fragrant climber. Austin’s first apricot climber in 20 years, this romantic rose was worth the wait. Trained over an arbor or along a wall, the vigorous grower will reach as tall as 10 feet, with glossy medium-green foliage and a profusion of blooms. Flowers open to reveal an old-fashioned cabbage center with a delicious tea, honey and floral fragrance.

My Bathsheba is going on a wall trellis that is built like a tank to hold a John Davis that is waaay too large for my liking. JD is more of a huge shrub and wants to grow out as well as up. Bathsheba will be much better suited for this space. JD grew over the top of this trellis last year and I had to trim it 3 times. I have another JD on a 6 foot obelisk that is trying to bury the obelisk… That one is coming out, too.

From experience I can tell you, it is better to have support that is too large than too small. Otherwise, you are fighting with a rose to keep it in bounds instead of enjoying it. Trust me on this one. Rebecca

This thread made me look one of my order from AllmyThyme and I did purchase one Bathsheba but I have yet to see a bloom. So that’s the mystery rose i have in the front, I’ve been wondering what could it be.

I have 4 year old Bathsheba growing on a garden arch ( 8 ft tall ). Purchased from DA as grafted plant and it has developed hundreds of shoots that are growing taller each year. I have never seen a climber with so many shoots. I could never trim it like a climber. It is a non-stop bloomer

@Tututara Zone 7 what a stunner! My Bathsheba is only on it's second season in my garden and I can't wait to see it take off. I got some of the most stunning blooms last year from that little plant, and the growth this Spring is super encouraging!

My Bathsheba has begun to bloom in its second year and i detect hardly any fragrance again after last year. I smelled one maybe yesterday and i was able to get a hint of something but otherwise…nothing! I was hoping this year would be the year that the fragrance would be there but nope!

She’s such a gorgeous rose, have you tried different times of the day for scent?

She really is! Yes, i have and pretty much the same throughout the day.

That’s a shame @KrystalW 9b SoCal, Bathsheba is medium to strong scented for me. I have described it as smelling like packing tape with a hint of rose, but in a good way. Mine just put out it’s first blooms of the season today.

@User - Is that your John Davis on that trellis? I would find it hard to pull that rose out, because that's quite a show. Especially for Zone 4. :)

Agree!!!

Steve and Vaporvac, Yes that WAS my John Davis. It grew to 9 feet in 3 years. I had to struggle to keep it trimmed on the sides as well as height. When I ripped it out, the base of the rose where the canes are attached was at least 7 inches in diameter in 3 YEARS! It was eating my house and me, so it had to go.

John Davis laughs at -20 degrees F and 120 degrees F (measured against the house where he lived) both equally. He never lost a cane or a leaf. Amazing rose for out in the open, just not in a 1 foot wide bed next to a house.

Rebecca

😅😆how is he for repeat? I could use a few like that. Could it be grown as a bush or stricktly as a climber?

He didn’t repeat for me because I never deadheaded him. Why, I’ll never know. I do all my other roses. I just got tired of climbing a ladder to get up to him.

I gave my neighbor one and she grows it as a bush. It gets huge. She has a support in the middle. A metal post would do. Just something to hold it up to the wind. He wants to grow out and puts out new canes every year. I used 1/4 cup Osomocote in the pink cap bottle for fertilizer in March or April and watered regularly. Huge. HUGE!!! And never any die back in -20F winters. Huge.

Sounds like an excellent rose to cascade down a hill Im trying to fill with large bushes and small trees.

My Bathsheba decided to finally put out fragrance and i do get the packing tape reference! Very interesting haha!

Does bathsheba nodd badly? or it holds its blooms up most time?

@Sherry Sun mine is not a big nodder, most blooms are in between upright and nodding, more parallel to the ground.

How long do blooms stay? btw

I finally found my Bathsheba

Matt (or anyone with info), how did you get yours to be more yellow? Everyone seems to love this rose, but i am not a huge fan of apricot. The yellow version/ shades i like of it. I have seen both ways and im trying to figure out if its a heat thing??

My Bathshebas are never yellow. I get Apricot or Orange Sherbert. If its cooler I get more pink tones/apricot..if its warmer than more orange tones.

You might like The Pilgrim if you want a softer yellow toned climber.

I have Teasing Georgia and its more yellow here. If its really cold, then it can get some apricot tones though. I know some people get more apricot tones on TG than I do.

Does anyone know why my Bathseba is not producing flowers? i planted it maybe a month ago now, it had blooms when I planted but I trimmed them back as the man at the nursery told me to cut them before they turned to rose hips or else it wouldn't bloom anymore. I would say it definitely gets full sun but you can see brown spots on some of the leaves.

Where are you located, Lauren? I bet your plant is settling in and will get to blooming.

I am in Cleveland Ohio. I hope that is the case. I was just worried maybe I did something wrong but after reading up on it maybe it just takes time. thank you!

Lauren, as you have probably found in your reaearch most modern roses bloom in flushes so a pause between blooms is normal. Also, no matter how careful you are, planting a rose is stressful for it and some roses may take an extended break to recover. The general rule is first year they sleep, second they creep, third year they leap. But of course every rose is different (even different plants of the same type) so this can vary a lot but I wouldn’t worry at this point.

Looks super-healthy. Just give it what it needs and wait for the good times to return. I see remarkably little pest damage. That may be a separate battle. Looks good so far. :)