So pretty! I was just going off the photos from hcr, where the color looks the same. Can you tell me more about them?

This will only be year two in my yard but I can tell you they aren’t in a ton of sun, are doing what I consider good in alkaline clay and from what I remember of last year had fairly consistent blooms.

I got Sydonie from Northland at the same time as I got Baronne Prevost and I can tell you that one is limping along. Fingers crossed it does better this year, it was pretty disappointing

Oh and both were very healthy in my no spray garden

Yes, from your pictures, oursteelers, the flowers look very different. Both are really gorgeous!!!

That's good to hear, I don't think anything could convince this lazy gardener to adopt a spray regimen.

@oursteelers 8B PNW what do you think about the fragrance of each? I've also been considering both but leaning more towards Sydonie. Your photos are gorgeous!

I don’t remember anything specific regarding fragrance which does tell you one thing-they at least have a decent amount. I ALWAYS remember when I’m disappointed by fragrance or lack thereof

Well I got Sidonie, I told them to please block my number now haha.

Love love love Sydonie.

Don't have Marchesa so can't comment on her.

I only received Marchesa Boccella last summer so I don’t have a lot of experience with her. That said, even with my limited time with her I consider her a must have. Very disease resistant, beautiful form, incredible fragrance and her blooms open pretty quickly. I adore this rose!

I grew both for several years, Two very different bush's and blooms. I got rid of Sydonie after battling black spot every year. Not only that, the foliage hangs down. It looks like it is drooping all the time. It's different but I couldn't get use to it. The blooms were nice and smelled great. Marchesa Boccella on the other hand has it all in my garden. I wouldn't be without it. I'll let these pictures talk for it.

And it covers the bush in blooms.

As you can see, the foliage doesn't droop. Nice and crisp looking. Plus one bloom can perfume an entire room.

I've been avoiding MB because of the whole "is it MB or is it JC?" question that seems to hang over everything.

But Ken your photos are making me think "Who cares what it actually is as long as its gorgeous!"

Wow Ken, your MB is beautiful! Where did you get yours? I know MB and JC are supposed to be one and the same but the JC I from Heirloom is 5 ft tall and has a good spring flush but very few scattered blooms after this. I hear others grow MB and report it staying more compact and repeating well and so it makes me wonder if they are the same or if I have something else entirely.

Ken - GASP and SWOON!!!! :) :) :)

Slum - I have Jacques Cartier (new last year) and I'm hoping it'll turn out to be like Ken's MB!!! WOW!!

Dave - Interesting...

I grow both Sydonie and Marchesa Boccella. Marchesa Boccella forms a medium size, dense, twiggy shrub, very hardy. It has an exceptionally sweet Damask fragrance, good repeat bloom. It's 4 - 5 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide.

Sydonie has not grown larger than 2- 3 feet, with an upright somewhat arching habit. It might not be happy in its location, could potentially grow larger in a different spot or garden setting. The blooms are charming with scattered repeat, a sweet fragrance similar to Marchesa Boccella.

Marchesa Boccella

Sydonie

I got Marchesa Boccella and Sydonie from Roses Unlimited back in 2012. It took a few years for both bush's to build on themselves. MB is about 4 to 5 ft tall and 3 to 4 ft wide and very thick and dense. It starts it's show in the spring and doesn't slow down all season. It will shut down with our first frost. After 4 years, I gave up on Sydonie. Like I said, to much of a fight with black spot.

Krista - beautiful!! They have so much charm!

It really is going to depend on your region. SYDONIE is more prone to black spot disease in the Mid-Atlantic. In places like California or Arizona it does better. Sydonie's blooms are softer looking because of the rounded petals. It also has fewer thorns. MARCHESA BOCCELLA looks like she eats little dogs.

I agree with both Krista and Ken about the comparison for my yard. Both are nicely hardy for me and create reasonably broad networks of canes. Sydonie is much floppier and lays her couple of 6' canes on top of some nearby hostas and spring blooming perennials. She might be more upright or frequently blooming in more sun, but I treat her mostly like a once-bloomer. Scent is definitely a plus and i have a poor nose for fragrance.

MB is a complete package, but I don't find her blooms zing my heart the way the complex rosettes of Sydonie do. MB is kinda like Caldwell Pink - utterly hardy, blends well with everything, blooms frequently but not something that I take a lot of individual bloom pictures of. She's a noticeable bush in the landscape but mine isn't nearly as consistently gorgeous in the whole bush as Krista's pictures. My blooms seem a bit paler too.

Can't go wrong with either of them though in most regions I think, except for some BS issues.

Cynthia