Beautiful Kristine! I don't think I've ever seen that hedge before or your friends. Me likey!! Lol!

PDX Robert, Thank you so much. The climber is Colette a Romantica from Meilland. It's actually a peach color,

rather than a true pink. It has a massive show for quite a while in spring--one of my first bloomers, then reblooms sporadically during the summer. Right now, I doing big clean up from the heat here. Ugh. Diane

Holy smokes @Diane Brakefield! That's the finest Colette I've seen. The ones I've seen here in Portland have tiny little flowers that are blanched and lifeless. However, I think I've seen them later in the summer and probably missed their great show first thing. It's absolutely beautiful! So sorry about the heatwave--that happens here as well. Such a bummer.

I agree that after the heat Colette is the biggest mess to clean up. But she starts blooming way before my other roses, so that kind of makes up for her current state. Meanwhile, the Julias take up the slack. Is it hot in Portland right now? I'm sure the Colettes in Portland put on a good show earlier. Our heatwaves aren't really waves--they last about two months. This rose can really take the cold. Something you don't have to worry about much. I love western Oregon, my first childhood home, just post WWll (that gives you an idea of how ancient I am). Diane

PDXRobert,

My evaluation of Julia Child reflects yours.

This is how Julia Child grew for me under my care, in my garden.

I grew JC for about 7 years.

It black spotted if not sprayed, losing about 1/3-1/2 of its lowest foliage by mid-August. This trait makes it unacceptable in my new, no spray for disease, makeover rose garden. There are too many other no spray for disease roses available in the rose world to coddle along a black spotter these days.

Its scent in my garden was not memorable. It (about 1.5 out of 5 for potency), was neither strong enough to waft, nor special enough to put a smile on my face when a bloom was held right up to my nose.

An individual bloom itself was not long lived on the bush, just average, 2, rarely 3 days in the heat of the summer....nothing exceptional in this department. Crisping or wilting during intense heat did not occur, which is a good trait, well above average.

Winter survival without any protection in my zone 6b, Pittsburgh, PA garden was very good, although not entirely tip hardy. There was plenty of live wood left in good condition to cause my spring pruning cuts to be made where I wanted to make them, not where winter die back dictated I make them.

The flower form was just so-so, like many modern floribundas, no complexity. The color had no varying tones, just a lightening of yellow through aging. However, the bush form was nicely tailored, not leggy or with out of bounds growth. The flowers were held mostly upright just above the foliage, with minimal nodding, looking very appealing to the eye. This is JC's strongest asset, IMHO. It easily passes mustard as a stand alone bush, unlike so many wonky looking floribunda bush forms out there.

The flower output was generous for the first, spring flush, a step above average, but thereafter....all season long...it was typical among floribundas, not exceptional.

In my quest for growing only no/minimal black spot issue roses, my JCs were shovel pruned this spring.

I don't miss them one bit.

In a black spot free climate, or in a spray for black spot garden, I think Julia Child would be well worth growing, but in my locale, it can easily be passed over in favor of newer introductions that exhibit strong black spot immunity/resistance.

Moses

Me neither. JC is small and fade quickly. Not repeat that well mot much fragrance either. But it is very healthy. I might just keep it.

I’d like to make one comment about Moses’ detailed review.

When he says JC’s bush form ” … easily passes mustard ..”, I believe he does so because, under certain ambient conditions, JC’s aging color may call to mind Grey Poupon.

Completely understandable.

I recollect discussing this topic (the expression) with roseseek in another Rose Forum discussion here, some time ago.

Did not Julia Child herself say the color reminded her of fresh butter? I have a vague recollection of reading this.

I visited San Jose municipal rose garden a few years ago. I remember seeing black spots on Julia Child, and I was very surprised because I heard this variety is supposed to be very healthy.

Moses,

Would you be willing to share a list of your favorite roses that have done well for you without spraying? (I am in the rainy PNW where blackspot is a common problem)

I am always recommending Julia Child because it has been my most successful rose over an 8 year period. I started with the intention of having a 'no spray garden'. Julia Child was one of the first roses I bought after I tried a number of David Austins without the success I was looking for. David Austins had blackspot.

Mine is vigorous, has healthy foliage, and does rebloom for me. This year in particular, it's the healthiest it's ever been and looks great. It's already reblooming and forming more buds. It's very reliable and dependable for me. It's had a few seasons that it didn't perform it's best, but that was either after I'd moved it, or had a hard winter, or a lot of hot and humid weather, but I don't really get black spot and it's never lost 1/3 of it's foliage. This year is year 3 after the last time I moved it, so it's looking very settled in.

I agree that it really makes a nicely shaped shrub. Mine has good fragrance. The flowers stand up to rain and don't ball up. The one complaint I've had from the beginning is that the flowers are smaller than I wanted and they are in clusters on short stems so that it's not the easiest to fit into a vase. To me, if that is all I have to complain about, then I'm doing pretty good. It's not a surprise to hear that it doesn't perform the same in everyone's garden. And now there are a lot of roses to choose from that are being developed with disease resistance. When I first started to grow roses, there were not a lot.

abseraka,

These roses have done very well with no spraying for black spot:

Quietness

Dee-Lish

Princess Charlene of Monaco

Moonlight Romantica

Pinkerbelle

Apricot Candy

Earth Angel

South Africa

Poseidon

Wedding Bells

Bliss

Quick Silver

also the Drift Roses:

Apricot Drift

Sweet Drift

Popcorn Drift

Moses

I tried a JC own-root here in Central Pa a few years ago... Blooms blew fairly quick and

she got terrible blackspot here.... Gone! Just not a rose for my area...

I did enjoy taking her pic though...lol

You may not be alone. But you don't have much company. Julia is tops on my list.

You go hugogurll. Diane

@hugogurll Diane has changed my mind. I appreciate hearing everyone's experiences. Roses have so much variance from one region to another. I can sympathize with others who have not had a good experience with JC.

They have quite a few JC planted at Descanso gardens near my house that are 3-4 years old now. They are constantly in bloom with perfect foliage. For SoCal that means mildew and rust resistant, since we don’t get blackspot. She has really great fragrance that is kinda spicy and sweet and the blooms look good even in the heat. They start dark yellow and age to light yellow so the bushes alway covered in several shades of yellow. Nice rounded shrubs with foliage to the ground. I don’t recall seeing any branches. All you see is thick foliage and flowers.

That is my experience, too. Blooms all over the bush. And in our current 100F+ weather, Julia continues to bloom, and those blooms hold up probably better than any other rose I grow in this heat. Diane

I've definitely changed my opinion at this point. Thanks to @Diane Brakefield for the wise words.

Julia child has been the best performer in my garden, granted i have not many roses yet. It is a blooming machine, which fabulous colors : deep rich butter yellow fading to near white, never balled, and always neat( I still dead head it). in our humid hot summer it is holding well. It is getting a little black spot now, but still reasonably clean and even better than knockout roses. It does not have the strongest fragrance but light pleasant scent. This picture was taking just now after a stormy night

The biggest trouble with JC is it is a Japaneses Beatles magnet. I had to prune out all the blooms and buds last week after coming back from vacation. they were covered with JBs

I recall `Christian Bedard saying Julia Child is THE ideal rose that he aims for in his hybridizing work .I agree this rose has so many vitues: Heavy flowering, great repeat, tidy plant, good fragrance, I think its greatest attribute is that the whole plant looks good…dense rounded shape, flowers all over. I personally prefer more a HT type rose than a floribunda, but no doubt Julia Child is a top notch variety, and yes the ideal floribunda. A few decades ago yellow roses were largely considered the weakest color , if you grew an older yellow like Bucaneer or Eclipse you’d know it was no match for the best pink and red roses. It’s great how far yellow roses have come and that this one can easily contend for best in class.

I don't normally have a japanese beetle issue. I get a few oriental beetles every year, so I'm probably not a good measure, but this year, I just had to do the same thing, cut off a bunch of new blooms that the beetles had made a mess of. Normally I have the time to monitor every day and get to them and remove them before they make a mess and only lose a few flowers, but this year I haven't. My first flush of blooms had no beetle activity and were bug free. This is the second flush just starting. But I did hand pick all the beetles, mostly oriental, yesterday and I'm going to keep that up every day now. I still have a lot of buds ready to open on both JC and Beverly.

Same here, I have been handpicking JBs for weeks. After a week since back from vacation, the JB counts are finally kept under 20 per day. I can start enjoying Julia Child and other roses blooming again.

When I grew Julia Child here in Sacramento heat, it quickly faded to cardboad white and had almost no scent. Quickly shovel pruned.

Carla in Sac

When planting bare root roses first time,how long do they soak for (I have seen 30minutes-24hours),do I use black kow composte, and/or soil and fertilizer,and bio tone or rose tone?

When potted roses are planted what is the protocol?

Julia Child was my first own root rose and reccomended by Brad Jalbert in BC for a wet PNW climate. My has a wonderful scent, and almost continuous bloom. My big complaint is that it wants to get 6 foot + and I hack it down several times a growing season. It did get BS this year along with ALL my other roses, but normally super healthy. I am guessing that it could be Dr. Huey causing you issues since I had the same experiences that Brad recommneded it for and he suggested own root. Sounds like it is not as great in some other locations, but for PDX it should be marvelous. (Portland ARS also highly reccomends it too.)

Thanks @ann beck 8a ruralish WA! I believe mine is grafted. I got it dirt cheap at Freddies and at the time thought, "why not?" Since I posted this it has been doing marvelously, and I will keep it. But I wonder if it would improve on its own roots. Worth investigating further for sure.

Robert, I've grown two Julias, both grafted since 2006. My third Julia, about 8 years old, is own root. All are excellent roses, but the grafted outperform the own root and have larger blooms, too. So, if I were to get a fourth Julia, it would grafted. The Julias in the photos way above are in their 17th years and still going strong. Diane

That's great to hear @Diane Brakefield. Thank you! I wish I had the time and garden space to trial all the roses on their own roots vs grafted for my own education, but that's impossible of course. I really appreciate your insight and experience shared here.

In central FL , Julia Child bloomed a lot but the blooms blew away quickly and had no scent ,and was relatively disease free . This year for some reason it had lots of cane die back then finally died .

I have beetles eating mine i thought it said that they were geneticly made to prevent this im not happy 134 dollars of bullshit

Here we are after nearly 20 years of outperforming every other rose I own. The same as always, my two big grafted Julia Child roses, and also my somewhat smaller, but own root Julia in another part of my garden. It's won me over, too. Diane

Welcoming everyone.

They like to hold hands across the sidewalk.

And my smaller, but perfectly shape own root Julia. She's friends with a lot of penstemon and Apricot Drift roses.

Excellent photos, Diane.

Must tall or wide visitors do the limbo walking in?

HU-563641090

1 hour ago

I have beetles eating mine i thought it said that they were geneticly made to prevent this im not happy 134 dollars of bullshit

Please provide source for you information, and source for your roses.

Well, rifis, I'm a tall woman, nearly 5'10". and I have not a problem getting by, but I had to trim the hand holding Julias quite a bit, so the guys removing some carpet could get by. No problem. The trimming just spurs her on. Thanks about the photos. I have fun taking them. Diane

I see I posted to this thread previously too. So I will just add that, Julia Child continues to be a performer. Healthy, vigorous, clean foliage, year after year. Excellent first flush of blooms just finishing up and the shrub is already covered with new buds and I have been neglecting to fertilize it too. It is hardy. We had a warmer winter and in the spring I had new growth on Julia all the way up to the tips of the canes and therefore, the shrub is larger this year than ever before.

I think I've already said I don't get large problems with beetles most years. And when I have some, I get a few oriental beetles and not the Japanese Beetles. As far as any rose claiming to be gentically programmed not to attract beetles, that sounds like a scam to me. And $134. spent on what? A Julia Child rose? I bought mine bare root for less than $30. 14 years ago? I just looked it up and wow, 14 years of performance from a $30. investment. I do grow organically, 100%. I haven't bought a pesticide or a fungicide in 40 years of gardening and I use organic fertilizer and compost and make my own compost. Mine is also fragrant.

Diane, as usual, your photos are gorgeous!

This was a June photo in 2021?

This was last October 18th, and it was still blooming and no blackspot or beetles by then either.

I do not spray abd mine is a black spotty mess. To its credit, the bush has impressive vigor and manages to keep blooming and growing new leaves, but it is an absolutely favorite of the Japanese Beetles. I like many things about the rose which has ket me from shovel pruning so far, but this could be the year.

Hmmm....it would be interesting to know where the Original Poster's garden is?

Markay, 8a on the new map is a big difference from my 6b zone and Maryland is a whole lot different than my Massachusetts garden. I've been in the Washington D.C. area enough to understand how different the heat and humidity is from my location and how long a period of time you have to cope with it.

And now I find myself feeling quite fortunate that I seem to have conditions that make growing Julia Child a 'lay up', evidently...lol. And no Japanese Beetle pressure here either which I don't even have a guess as to why that is.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, my JB situation is intense right now!

I will say that my best and healthiest yellows are Solero, Yellow Submarine, and South Africa. I am adding Lemon Fizz this year, but too early to assess it at all.

Markay, isn't that disgusting?! I feel bad for you having to deal with that. I've only had that bad an infestation once and it was earwigs. I had to go out and knock them into soapy water at night for weeks and just the sight of all the earwigs had an impact on me...lol. But I stuck with it and I never had a bad infestation like that again. I was looking up Japanese Beetles tonight and there are a number of things that are natural you can do. Haven't I always heard it is grubs in the lawn and you need milky spore? Do I have that right?

Sure, in a high heat/humidity area like you are in, your healthy roses are going to be different than mine. I hope you can find many roses that are resistant to blackspot

I'm in a high heat area for sure. We're facing 100s next week. But it's dry as dust around here and that's what makes the difference as far as disease and even insects. I'm in the desert hills outside Boise, and we have minimal insect problems. I hate what the heat does to my roses, but I like no desease, no JBS, midge, RRD, and on and on. But we have to irrigate regularly with a sprinkler system for the yard and drip for the roses, plus little sprinklers added to the drip system for perennials. That's $. I figure everything's a trade off. Right now, I'm jealous of all the rain Kitty in upstate NY gets, for example, and she doesn't have the awful heat, so her bloom season is not affected much by heat. Nobody has the perfect garden weather anywhere, though. Diane

Whst rose problems does northern San Diego County have?

I ask because when I was last there - 25 years ago, it seemed like rose paradise. I do know alot can change in that time.

Rifis, I know Ingrid had critter problems and lack of water when California was in a long drought. Ground squirrels and other rodents literally ate her entire rose garden. California's water situation remains very tricky. And then there is the never ending fire season. No place is perfect.

This is a bit off topic, but one plant thinks my growing conditions are perfect. This plant needs absolutely no care in my conditions and it is the pollinators' very top choice, and I grow a lot of pollinator friendly plants. See this plant on the summer seasonal thread. The photos were taken by my photographer granddaughter with her fab new camera. Diane

Poor soil quality is the most common problem in San Diego gardens. We have practically no organic matter or nitrogen, it requires a lot of amendment. Plus rains very infrequently, so water bills are high.

Speaking of JC - my personal impression of this rose mirrors that of OP's. Yes, it is healthy here, but not impressive in any way, kinda meh overall.

My first thought when I saw the post that the revived this thread was AI bot. ”Genetically made” to prevent beetles eating them and ”134 dollars of bullshit”? Kind of bizarre.

With that said, while I love the pictures I see of JC in Diane’s garden and I admire the rose I also often feel rather meh about this rose when I see it in person. On reflection, in all the times I have seen this rose shine it’s when it is used to make a big landscape statement, like Diane’s entry walk or as a hedge or mass planting. My dad has a very pretty one in a whiskey barrel and I barely notice it. I also rather dislike the scent which probably doesn't help my opinion.

For me The Poet's Wife serves the same function of a disease free yellow with a more interesting (to me) bloom form and an amazing (to me) scent.

You make an interesting point, Heather. Julia Child is not 'the most fabulous' rose. There are many many roses that are more fabulous than Julia Child, but can you grow them without spraying and they stay healthy? I've always thought JC was not perfect, even though I rave about Julia all the time. But, I went for decades gardening without roses, because I thought I wouldn't be able to grow them at all, without pesticides etc., and there was no way I was doing that. I am 100% organic, I have never bought any product for disease or pests. I am sure there are organic gardeners who will use products labeled organic, but I will not. Eventually, though, I thought why should I not at least try to grow what amounts to my favorite flower. So, I started to explore the possibilities. I settled for a Knock Out Rose, thinking that was the best I could do. And after 2 years of that, it did not satisfy me in any way and out it went.

So my first rose purchases after that were potted roses, bought locally. Meidland roses, David Austin roses. maybe a hybrid tea or two. Terrible experience with all of them. They were a mess of one kind or another. And it wasn't until I spent a winter researching on the Rose Forum, asking for experiences of healthy roses, and then on the site HelpMeFind, that I started to complie a list of possibles. Then was directed to a good nursery that focused on offering healthy roses and used organic practices by people on the Rose Forum. So I made my first order from Pickering for bare root roses. Julia Child, Prairie Sunrise, New Dawn, which I still had until I lost New Dawn trying to move it last year. All three of these roses were healthy. Very, very healthy. And vigorous. And all had fragrance that you don't get in a Knock Out rose. And Julia is the best I've grown as far as vigor, hardiness, form, repeat bloom, fragrance, and especially lack of disease and I'm fortunate not to have an insect issue either. Mine is fragrant. It's not wafting through the front yard, but if you put it to your nose it has a good amount of fragrance. And on the kitchen counter it has fragrance in the house. It's not like she has no fragrance. She has stood up to heat, drought, humidity, cold winters, poor pruning in the beginning, being moved a few times. And she comes back beautiful every spring. She requires very little of me. I spend more time on some of my perennials than I do tending this rose. So she fits my needs and my situation exceptionally well.

And you mention not an interesting flower form. Interestingly, this spring, I've had her 10 years now, I noticed that the form of the flower was much more interesting than usual. It had that sort of button interior. Looks like one of Diane's photos I've seen, of a close up of her blooms that have that button center. The reason I think that happened this spring, is because we had a very mild winter last year, and she has been in this same spot 3 years now, so not recovering from a move, and she started off the season with new growth all the way to the tops of the canes, whereas most years I have to cut her just about back to the ground.

I still wanted a rose with a larger flower and always happy to find a more fragrant rose, and I'm still buying new roses here and there, trying to outdo Julia. I bought Beverly from Palatine a few years ago. Very large flowers, nice fragrance, repeat bloom, very clean foliage. But her fragrance doesn't waft either and the flowers when they first open are a bubble gum pink that I dislike. And a few of her petals start looking old before she fully opens the bloom. And Prairie Sunrise has larger flowers and fragrance and repeat bloom and clean foliage. I've never seen an unhappy leaf on New Dawn, but she did have small flowers and mild scent and no repeat bloom, but she had other attributes that I enjoyed and she is a keeper for me too. I added Aloha that has been healthy and her blooms have been very interesting, but, mildly fragrant and her blooms go by fast, and her repeat so far has been underwhelming. But I was growing her in part sun and just moved her to full sun and waiting for next year to see how she will perform. Julia is still my favorite.

I've had other roses that I've shovel pruned. Pope Paul was the white I wanted but it did develop blackspot for me so that lasted three seasons and was gone.

I could compare it to having friends. None of them are perfect as we aren't perfect ourselves. if you go down a checklist of qualities you'd appreciate in a friend, which one of your friends has all of them? Why do so many rose lovers end up buying so many roses? Because no rose is perfect and I suppose if you have the room for them and the money and time to care for them, you just keep adding new ones, trying to find one that is better than those you already have.

The deal breaker for me is health and vigor. If I don't have that, no matter what else the plant has, I can't enjoy it. Yellow roses aren't even my favorite color....lol. Julia Child, has won my heart many times over, by having so many great qualities and being a consistent performer in my garden year after year. There just aren't that many plants that I can say that about.

I like JULIA CHILD a lot. It is one of the few roses that I have multiples of and is IMHO the best yellow rose for the home gardener. "Pretty good, but not great" (Julie & Julia, 2009). It is a modern yellow so you get BRIGHT yellow at first and then it mellows out to golden yellow and finishes up a pale creamy butter yellow. Strong, tarragon-like fragrance (perfect as a companion in herb gardens). ALWAYS in bloom and unfazed by summer heat. Good (not great) vase life. Growth habit is nice and shrubby to a manageable 4-feet in my zone. Grows vigorously on its own roots. Reliably hardy to USDA Zone 6.

What I don't like:

Shrub is a thorny beast. This is my number 1 beef with the rose (been scratched badly one-too-many times). Short to medium stems (heavy on the short side). OGR flower form is only consistent in spring/autumn. Once summer heat sets in, flowers are an open, doubled rosette typical of most Floribundas. Foliage gets black spot in the Mid-Atlantic and the shrub defoliates by mid-July (I hear it is a no-spray rose elsewhere).

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, The problem with JBs is that they get around. Even treating my little .33 acre lot with milky spore doesn’t buy me much protection because they will just come in from elsewhere.

That said, I will take the JBs over hungry deer which I don’t have to deal with. At least the JBs don’t show up til after the first flush.

The best way to reduce your JB population is to reduce lawn space which provides the perfect habitat for them.

A few yellows I am trying out that may interest you/were not on your list above:

Well Being, Jeri Jennings, Bella di Todi, Golden Zest, Bring Me Sunshine and Molineux