Moses, I'm not any help, but curious to the answers.

I'm not established enough with roses to think to ask these kinds of good questions.

Agree - good questions.

I once tried an online search to find out what roses were being trialed for ADR designation. No success. Not speaking German did not help.

But it’s not just a language barrier.

I also tried once to find out what roses were being judged at the Biltmore trials. I was unsuccessful there, too. Their public relations dept. even guards the winners names for a good number of days after the jury selects the winners. From the photos I’ve seen, it may be alcohol fueled.

The UGA Athens rose trials are most useful to the public. No “winner”, but the scorecard on each rose ( good and bad) in the trial is made public.

https://ugatrial.hort.uga.edu/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/26/index.htm

I’d like those in charge of other rose trials to state publicly why they don’t/won’t do this.

Very interesting lists. I’m seeing so many Kordes roses.

I’m thrilled to see you posting, John!!!! Lisa

I asked this question here on this forum several years ago and didn't get much info. I believe I found an article on testing of Austins or Michael answered someone elses post regarding this. I have notes written down but not the source. DA does not submit roses for ADR testing. They contribute roses to several testing projects in the US on a consistent basis and are always willing to try and help a new trial. The U of Georgia trials are the ones I find the most helpful and the results from the Peggy Rockfeller garden. Just about every DA I plant that was tested at Georgia does about what the test results came up with. If they shovel pruned it or it didn't climb or bloom consistently I make a strong note of that. Oddly enough, the Kordes trials at UofGa do not yield the same results in my gardens. So the ones that had a score of 16.0 or better did not perform like that here.

I have several ADR winners in my garden. They are consistently very healthy. Multiple ADR winners I am growing do not repeat very well here. I end up with giant green shrubs and very few blooms, even so the award does give me a good indication on health in my garden.

Moses I know you are considering Olivia Austin for your garden. I know roses respond differently based on location, but here Olivia combines the health of ADR winner Madame Anisette, and the bloom power of floribundas. I do hope I am not leading you into a rose failure but here she is just perfect. In my very limited experience and opinion she could take one of those ADR awards any day.

Olivia is amzing here too. Her flower form and fragrance just keep getting better every year

Very vigorous and disease free. One of my very best bloomers. Really, probably, the best! Fire Opal, Miracle on the Hudson, and Distant Drums are all close to being my heaviest bloomers as well.

Just my guess but perhaps form color fragrance is what they focus on and as much disease resistance as can be had after those other things are met. Some other roses were bred with disease resistance as the number one goal.

Hello, great to hear from experienced rose growers on their experience with ADR and DA roses. You all seem to be in the SE USA. I used to be in RI, then Portland Or then San Francisco, but now i'm in Scotland. I've grown 100s of roses in all of them as a professional gardener. Local climate is the key. I'm now in a very very wet summer area so I don't grow any roses that are unhealthy, and I don't spray because I live in a national park and my garden is full of wild animals and insects. So ADR and DA recommendations have been really helpful for me to decide what roses to grow. So far I have found ADR more reliable than DA recommendations. I too am peeved off at DA Roses for not participating in these trials and not making results from other rose trials more transparent. I find this list helpful from ADR: http://www.adr-rose.de/englisch/e_index.htm I find the UK trial gardens too dry to have relevance to my garden, Pencoed in Wales and Glasgow tollgate are better for wet areas. DA roses is practically located in a dessert, 30 inches of rain in a wet year. The DA trial garden at Alnwick castle is almost irrelevant as it is so dry there compared to my 72 inches or more of rain. Unlike you SE USA locations my garden gets almost no heat in the summer so there is slow repeat to bloom, but there is very little winter frost, zone 9 this year, but usually zone 8. Plants rot, so i need flowers that don't ball.

My good list of roses might be more appropriate for coastal PNW or coastal Maine, Nova Scotia. I Agree ORS is great, just a touch of black spot in the late summer. Roald Dahl was not good, lots of BS and balled flowers. Other DA successes are Fighting Temeraire, The Lark Ascending, Susan Williams-Ellis and The Mayflower are disease free completely, as is Wild Edric. From the 2020 list of disease resistant I only partially agree with both Malvern Hills and tottering-by-gentyly as being healthy. MH gets black spot and needs heat, TBG gets mildew. The others on the list I agree with. I'm trying 40 new roses from Tantau and Kordes with ADR or listed as highly resistant to BS on their websites. My roses also get rose downy mildey, lucky me! But no Japanese beetles so that's a plus.

I'd love to keep this conversation going, any input is very welcome! thanks, Chip

I've been to Loch Lomond if you're anywhere near there - very nice too.. we hope you will be very happy there... I'm much further south so appreciate the extra sunshine and less rain.. if DA is a desert at 30 inches, then I'm even drier at about 22 per year.. but it's been a wet winter for everyone to make up for some very dry periods the last few years...

I hope you will find time to visit 2 great Scottish gardens full of roses... namely.. Carolside, which is in the Borders region, down near Kelso... they have the National Collection of pre 19th C Gallica roses...

...then there's one not far from you at Oban, called Ardchatton Priory Garden... lots of roses, but I've not been there personally..

..for DA roses suitable for Scotland, you might consider those named after Scottish themes, as I suspect they have been so named not only to appeal to Scottish rosarians but more suited to the wetter climate... 'Lochinvar' is especially good, a very fragrant white, and rain resistant... 'Sir Walter Scott' ..'Robbie Burns'..and the recent 'The Country Parson' are all of Scots rose origins... 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' does well in wet weather conditions retaining full blooms after torrential rain... strongly scented 'The Countryman' should be another very suitable for you..

..and roses named for Wales like 'Cariad' and 'Snowdon' I would also expect to do well in Scotland..

..incidentally, you might be interested to know that 'The Mayflower' and 'Susan Williams-Ellis' were obviously 2 of the late Mr Austin's favourite roses, [along with 'Windflower']. as they are planted in a border right outside the front door of his cottage...

...as for disease resistance and ADR... you have to remember that Germany has 4 strains [races] of blackspot.. the UK has 1... so any rose bred here would find conditions tougher in Germany.. they are English Roses bred for the UK climate, so it's taking a chance somewhat as to how they do elsewhere... I'm not sure if Germany is a huge market for DA, especially now being out of the E.U...

Thank you Marlorena

Yes, I am 20 miles east of Loch Lomond in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National park. Lots of old oak woodlands and open hills, Ben Ledi next-door. We live in Callander. I've been in Scotland for 18 years.

I'd planned to buy Lochinvar and Sir Walter Scott roses but they sold out fast. The Country Parson rose is worth a try, though it's leaves don't look much like a spinossisima. When I was at Alnwick last July I was impressed by Cariad as there was no disease and a good blue pink, which I like. That too was sold out.

I've spent hours at both Carronside with Rose the owner, and also at the Priory and other smaller rose gardens, Another good one is at Braemar Castle. I'm now growing quite a few gallicas and other old roses from what I've learned there. My favorites would be The Bishop/ Le Rosier Evoque, Velour Pourpre, Daphne, Juno, Ipsilante, Nuits de Young.

I suppose in England where the climate is similar to DA's garden and testing areas, then DA roses are appropriate, but I suggest that the centre and west of Scotland is different and that ADR, old tested roses and DA's healthiest varieties might be a better bet if you don't spray. In 2 or 3 years time my new rose garden will have given me a lot more evidence that I can support my statements.

This is my first time commenting in Houzz. Interesting.

Thanks again,

Chip

Yes, the west of Scotland is difficult for roses, so I don't blame you for looking for healthy types, I would probably turn to foliage plants and Rhododendrons in that area... and quite different to where I am.... Aberdeen or Edinburgh would be more similar to my area I think.. on the east side..

You have some interesting roses, I've not heard of a few of those but I've recently acquired Ipsilante so looking forward to that...

You must be well used to Scotland after 18 years … that's a beautiful area where you are, I remember it... I liked it up around Inverness too... so best wishes for now...

Does anyone know why Marlorena left this Rose Forum?

Rifis I don’t think Marlorena has left entirely? At least I hope not, because she has been a tremendous inspiration and we would all miss her extensive knowledge, experience and sage advice! I do know she has recently been very busy with a substantal downsizing of roses in her garden and also going through a home refurbishment. She does still pop in on the UK/Europe thread that she started here on Houzz and encouraged us all to join, following the demise of our regular UK forum.

”Rifis I don’t think Marlorena has left entirely?”

Thank you Nollie?

That’s good to know?

What screen name did she use in this Austin/ADRdiscussion!

Thank you Nollie,... still surviving just about..

rifis.. heya, and long time no see.. I think 'User' is me.. I got disconnected from Houzz a few times.