I've sometimes wondered if there is a different Madame Berkeley in Australia. The tea rose book says that it never sets hips, but my Madame Berkeley almost always produces hips. I haven't found any seeds in them, though. I saw there is a discussion about that on HMF.

Otherwise, the tea rose book matches my Madame Berkeley in terms of color, bloom size and bush form. Color for me has been quite variable, ranging from deep pink to buff, but always with yellow at the base. It definitely is a bloom machine. My other teas have defined flushes and down periods, but I feel like Madame Berkeley just keeps going all year round.

It's gorgeous Jackie!!! I love the color combinations in your garden!!

Out here where it often gets hot as Hades in late spring, summer and fall, "Mme Berkeley- in commerce as" was perfect in all respects -- great growth, frequent blooms, flawless foliage, etc. -- except for the unpleasant color of really harsh, screaming pink the blooms turned when the weather did get hot (blooms also became amazingly small in size during summer, like size of a quarter). So, we parted ways. She was gorgeous otherwise, and by the coast -- the one at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden is great -- a real treasure.

Thank you joeywyoming - I never plan color combos, but since I mostly plant old roses, I have discovered that their usual soft colors tend to go with each other.

Formerly RBEHS - Mine always set lots of hips. I just looked at them. Of course, this year's are very immature, but I took one apart and it appeared to be full of seed-like tiny green objects (sorry I am so ignorant - I never do anything with any hips). I will look at them again in the Fall.

The growth habit to me does remind me of china roses - sort of all over the place, more horizontal than vertical. That is also mentioned in the Tea Rose book.

I looked at the pics and descriptions in the Tea Rose book, and in addition to the hips issue, mine do not ever show that extreme color difference in the petals on one bloom as those pics do. The intense color of the pink blooms on mine does fade sort of towards more yellowish over time, but the pics in the book show a complete contrast of cream and deep pink.

Of course, who knows how a rose will grow or make blooms in different climates/soil, etc.? Not I. I got mine by mail order here in this country (at a time when I was only ordering roses from Vintage, so I assume that's where I got it) , so "in commerce as" is a good description. Ha! i just looked MB up in the Vintage catalogue, and it says it is yellow fading to pink. That is what I love about old roses - if you don't like the color, just wait!

Jackie

I was trying to remember if mine ever got that screaming pink color that's in one of the tea book pictures and that Catspa experienced. I think maybe yes, but not frequently. I'm in Oakland, so just a little warmer than Berkeley.

Mine was also from Vintage.

I have her from RVR...still too young to make many comments about, but I love her blooms...

My bush from ARE has really improved with age. Very china like.

It is middle back here in bud.

That is Le Vesuve on the right who might be a china as well. Here, she has larger blooms so far.

My thoughts: Wow!!! What a gorgeous old Tea! Sorry that I have nothing scholarly or anecdotal to contribute. But you all have some BEAUTIFUL roses! Carol

Here she is in my climate, a rather young plant....will her petal count increase as she ages? Or do I have the wrong plant? It seems like fewer petals than in the pics above:

That looks correct to me. It will get that layered wedding cake look as it gets older. Here's an example of two blooms on mine. In this case, I think they are pink from botrytis, not the heat:

Thanks!

What an amazing rose!!! I love roses that are variant in their color...like Chicago Peace.

Beautiful!