That’s absolutely gorgeous, Marlorena! I’ve always thought roses grown in English Gardens were special, your roses are proof of that!

So wonderful! I’ve always wondered that too. A rose that supposedly smells wonderful, thornless and does well in shade is worth a try in my book. Which is why I planted it this spring.

Since you asked, in my part of the woods, I had one for 4 years, waiting for it to get mature enough to stop being completely covered with PM 365 days a year. It never did - in full sun 5 hours a day, ALL of the leaves were WHITE with mildew 100% of the time. I even tried spraying it, and that only helped about 20%, so only 80% of it was completely white from mildew. I do live about 5-6 blocks from San Francisco Bay, but our summers are dry and hot. None of my other roses have ever done that. I hardly ever shovel prune roses - I keep them and try to make them happy, but I finally had to give up on ZD. Yours is spectacularly gorgeous - just another example of "right rose, right place". A rose which is a star in one place can be a dud in another place - I think the important thing is to understand that, and enjoy roses which like the conditions where you garden.

For example, I have read (not on here - in articles elsewhere) some very nasty comments about the old tea roses, mostly from rose "experts" in the UK. That is so sad - calling an entire class of rose a "no hoper" just because the climate someone tried to grow them in was not compatible with the rose is not helpful to the general knowledge about roses. The old tea roses do very well in Southern France, most of California, lots of South Africa, Australia, etc. Hot sun is what they like, not cool damp climates. That is not good or bad, it is just a fact. ZD evidently loves the climate where you garden - congrats! I would love to have a happy one in my garden - no thorns, and those lovely blooms.

Jackie

Marlorena, your Zephirine is spectacular, abundant blooms and beautiful color. I grow the sport Kathleen Harrop and love it. It's a great rose. The thornless canes are nice and the rose works well in a mixed border.

...thanks so much everyone... your rose is doing brilliantly for you Dotsie..

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful lovely ZD! She clearly loves your climate. I really wanted to grow her, fragrant, thornless climber that can handle shade, what’s not to love. But once I read about how badly she mildews in California and seeing the specimen at Huntington Garden near my house in such a bad state I decided against it. But I realized there was another thornless pink climber, Climbing Pinkie, and so I got her last fall from ARE. Here she is just putting out her first cane that you can barely see in the shadows. The backs of her leaves have prickles, but otherwise so far completely thornless and a light fragrance, although ZD should be much more fragrant. For anyone in California she has spotless glossy foliage. I have her planted so she can eventually climb along the cable fence between our yard and the neighbors and we will be walking closely by to get down our respective narrow 5 ft wide side yards, houses are 10ft apart here, so I hope she stays thornless.

..lovely rose Stephanie... I've seen this one mentioned a lot on this forum, and always admired the photos of it...

Your photos knocked my socks off, Marlorena. I've seen a healthy ZD in a California garden during its spring flush and it did not compare to yours. You have such a gift for bringing out the best in your roses and then making them look even more fabulous because of the gorgeous companion plants you pair them with. I don't mean to gush but it's really your fault, because you just have the most incredible garden.

Stephanie, your baby rose is adorable. My Cl. Pinkie looked good the first year it bloomed but it was in a place that had the worst soil and it steadily deteriorated after that. Instead of improving the soil I took out the rose. This wasn't long after we moved here so I'll claim ignorance as my excuse.

Thank you Ingrid... and that's so nice...

OMG!!! I have 3 ZDs but they have never been as glorious as yours! Maybe in time mine'll improve, but in the meantime, I was thinking to sp one of them , since it's in the wrong spot. Seeing yours, however, maybe I'll re-locate it...

My ZD has been in the garden 3 or 4 years, maybe longer. Healthy, healthy plant, no disease (but we don't get much here) and a prolific grower. She would like to take over my yard I think. I have to trim her occasionally to keep her from rampaging over some of her neighbors. My major problem is she is a stingy bloomer. She finally bloomed some this spring and they were very nice and smell wonderfully. I'm hoping she will start to bloom more in the upcoming years. I very much doubt mine ever look like Marlorena's incredible plant. But then we are in totally different climates. We shall see.

Ingrid, I love what you said about Marlorena. Very good call and I agree. You have a gift and bringing the best out of your roses. Look at that size of a bloom. They look bugger than my fist ..huge !!
Marlorena, you are not hiding Merlin in your garden are you ?
Beautiful garden :)
jin

opps, I meant it looks bigger ***... haha. I hope it won't be a bug..bugger if not I would have scream for sure. Ahem !! My apologies :)
jin