I haven't grown it personally, but it gets excellent reviews, with most vendors commenting n its floriferousness. And it's grown in SoCal zone 10 so can certainly tolerate heat.

I wouldn't be overly focused on the winter chill aspect. Since it grows and flowers in a zone 10 with an even milder winter climate, there is no reason to suspect it wont do so also in your zone 9b.

Here is a previous discussion on this rose: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3500097/any-experience-with-florentina-kordes-climbing-rose

btw, since a zone 9b has an average winter low temp of 25-30F - below freezing - you DO get winter chill!! Just not a great deal of it :-)

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Thank you for the encouragement. I am a bit concerned having 4 Florentina as the 2 I already have are not prolific grower/bloomer despite everything I did for them. I babied them like my other roses but they don't seem to give me anything in return (yet), lol.

We rarely get that 25-30F temp here, and even if we do, it's probably only for for few days.

Winter chill hours are calculated on the time spent below 45F. That is just not a factor here.

I live in zone 10 South Florida... hot and humid. Mine blooms.... not the best but it does bloom... that said it is a Chili Thrip magnet.....

I use spinosad to control CT's and can keep most of my plants happy.... but this plant could use spraying everyday.... I don't .... and it suffers..... I have decided I am not overly keen on this rose just because of the CT's.... I am thinking of gifting it to someone who said they wanted to try her.....

I do love the red "ball" type flowers, but no scent and CT's is a REAL DOWNER

@sharon2079 Sorry to hear about your chilli thrips :( Do you have any pictures of your Florentina? :)

I was interested to read that most entities seeking to sell Florentina comment on its floriferousness.

This rose Can take a couple of years with minimum bloom to get going.

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley I heard that too, but since mine was in a 3-gal pot, I thought they are somewhat mature enough to at least give me a few blooms this year 🤷. The new 1-gal ones I got at Lowes seem to be growing faster than my 3-gal though, so I may just keep all 4.

I too have not had much luck with Florentina. I live in southern NM, where we get about three months of 100°+ days with no humidity, no clouds, no rain. It's has given me a few blooms but they are only about one inch in diameter. It is the absolute favorite of the Chili thrips, and suffers from chlorosis worse than any of my other 30 roses. Maybe it just needs time, but maybe our climates are just too harsh. Do you have an update on how your rose is doing now?

My climate is very hot too and Florentina does well here. Mine is grafted on Multiflora from Palatine.

I do irrigate here and the blooms are normal size and numerous.

I have a grafted Florentina on Doc Huey in a 7.5 gal nursery pot. I has gone nuts and has benn blooming off and on all summer. It has gotten so big its going to be hard to get it out of the pot without getting gouged to death. It has set tons of hips as well.

I am wanting to move it against the white block wall on the side of the 'tiny house' (out building). I have Spirit of Freedom there and might put a Mel's Heritage on the other end.

Does anyone think those colors would look tacky together? Lilac pink, dark red, & light pink.

I think that combo would look great. Do you grow now Mail do you ? MAL ?? MEL ? Question questionIt will probably grow huge for you there as it get pretty big here

I think the colors would look good but I dont mind mixing. It may get crowded tho Mels heritage should get giant.

I have Mel's heritage in a different spot near the front walkway of the main house...big mistake! I thought I could get it to grow up in a disciplined way..Nope! It goes everywhere so I am moving in to the back corner of the tiny house. There will be trellis back there for it and noone walks back that way lol. I really love Mel because it blooms alot!

Sultry I LOVE Mel’s heritage and wouldnt be without it but it does require some space.

We are going to build a pergola over the back patio of the 'tiny house' if I plant MH on one corner, it can go across the whole back of that house and then around the other side if the fence, up the RV carport and if we build another pergola, it can go over to hubbys shop and around. There's also a red maple tree between the tiny house and shop that it can climb. I think it will be better in that spot than where it is now- where I have to keep hacking it back lol. The only other place I can put it right now is on the fence in front of the barn but we are working on that area still.

That sounds like a great plan I have to transplant mine From my front metal fence bordering the drive or it snags everyone and everything in its way! I'm hoping to move it to my friend As I have no where else to put A climber with good sun... I will put climbing clotilde super In his place. She does super well for me I hope she makes the transplant OK.

Vaporvac, I have always admired photos of Clotide Soupert Cl. It is supposed to be very fragrant. I hope you can post photos of yours sometime. It is on my list of roses to try.

She smells like a baby and has the dreamiest, softest petals. Just a precious rose. I had two of the bush form before my helper sprayed RU and I should probably replace them, although I almost prefer the climber. This rose will bloom with some shade, has ver few thorns and repeats very well. She has been covered by a large Aronia bush for a few years and I always spy her blooming trusses behind it. I know she'll appreciate being freed.She will sometimes ball,, but she blooms so frequently, it hasn't really been a probem. This is a rose I will always keep. (Can't comment on BS as she's behind the bush. She seemed OK when she was under the eaves.