Here you can see the whole plant on the right. The smaller rose on the left is Fun in the Sun.

Librarian, the Madame is tall and beautiful. She loves you.

librarian_gardner_8b_pnw Your Madame is incredible ! Don't you love the fluffy blooms the way they light up the yard. And the healthy aspect is such a pleasant relief.

Somebody said they cut their MA down to two feet - wish I could remember who. They said she loves pruning. When the new growth gets to three feet, she gets another haircut. I hope that was correct info.

I'm going to try it and see if a three foot Madame Anisette works well, it sounds ideal to me.

Thanks for the kind words, Kristine.

I love the fluffy fragrant blooms, Berry! I look forward to hearing how your pruning goes. I've been cutting back to about 4 feet when I deadhead or cut for bouquets. I love the long stems for flower arrangements!

Librarian

Cleary the Madame loves your yard. Would you say this is your 2nd or 3rd flush with her? When I grew her she only really had one big spring flush plus a few scattered blooms, so I’m wondering if your much cooler weather is more suitable for her. (She was big and super healthy for me, but took a really long bloomless vacation the entire summer).

That neighbor rose…Fun in the Sun, that one I’m all onboard with. I always had excellent flushes with her, and the summer blooms were just as about as nice as the spring ones, a real rare treat when the weather is soaring to triple digits. She also has an amazing tropical fruit scent.

I know Fun in the Sun isn’t the topic for this thread but do you have problems with yours balling in this cool wet spring? We have a lot of coastal fog this year, later than usual too, and my Fun in the Sun blooms have been balling since March.

But your Madam Anisette is fantastic! I never liked white roses until recently but super fragrant whites are now some of my favorites.

Holey Moley - your MA is HUGE!! :) :) The blooms are wonderful...you've got a winner!

Librarian, what a luscious rose Mme Anisette is for you. Those packed blooms are just stunning. Like Ryan, I've never really gone for white roses, but this is one I'd love to grow. Where did you get your MA from and is she grafted or own root? Thanks for posting these photos. Diane

Librarian your MA looks fantastic. Are these pictures from your spring flush or rebloom cycle? I absolutely love my MAs and get blooms like this during the spring, but only mild re-bloom. I still would not be without it because it is immune to Blackspot.

Good question, dianela.

BenT wondered if cooler weather is more suitable for MA.

Cori Ann, and her photos, were at least as persuasive as Chris in turning around this forum’s view of MA a few years ago. And ”hot and dry” was part of her screen name, until Houzz violated her privacy. She mentioned daytime temps of 120F more than once. And wasn’t there a stone wall?

But I believe most of her photos (on HMF) were from 3rd week May.

When is typical first flush in NorCal?

Cori Ann's photos were what persuaded me, along with what she wrote about anise biscotti.

I had to wait several years to catch Madame Anisette back in stock again. Heirloom Roses sent me a beautiful little bush a few months ago that has bloomed already and has quite a lot of buds. It may turn out to be my favorite rose in the garden, although Eden has not bloomed yet. They are side by side , I reserved that spot for the best.

Gorgeous dianela !

It's been too hot I guess for my MA to put out any pink blooms, I didn't know she could.

Dianela - my heavens!!! Not only are the blooms beyond beautiful, but the bush is covered in blooms....what a fabulous rose!! And Cori Ann we miss you!

Rifis

Cori-Ann did indeed have some very hot days, but her nights were always cool. (My brother lives in the same small town as Cori-Ann, so I’m quite familiar with her weather). I’m trying to establish if the cooler nights make a big difference for some of these Kordes. When I was in Texas ,Earth Angel was ’one and done’ by end of May. Now I’m Calfornia, our days our just as hot, but nights are 20+ degrees cooler. To my great surprise , Earth Angel has started her 3rd flush in late July.

Ryan

someone else in coastal San Francisco reported balling issues with Fun in the Sun. But in both hot Texas and hot inland California she’s been a amazingly heat resistant rose for me.

Excellent point Ben. I do remember Chris once mentioning nighttime lows above a certain point adversely affecting flower production.

I hadn’t noticed you’re no longer in Texas.

I say, it's worth it for me to try a Madame Anisette. I can't believe the bud count in Librarian's photos! What have I got to lose? The possible gains are amazing.

How would First Crush stack up against Madame Anisette?

Moses

Moses, in my yard First Crush has stayed a low 24'' for the past four years. It blooms twice: spring and fall. With enough rain, the flowers are large and lovely. With low rain, it is bleh. Healthy foliage though (no spray) and super hardy.

By contrast, Madame A. is tall -- about 4' without any cutting. Also super healthy and hardy, Madame A. seems to bloom in regular cycles -- I have four plants and can always find a flower on one of them. Hot summer weather, well draining soil, and plenty of water seem to bring out Madam's best in my yard. By the way, the plants were only foliage their first year, but have made up for that with their phenomenal health and hardiness. Fragrant of course!

Moses here Madame A is a large upright bush. My full plant picture shows her growing on a 10-12 feet tall obelisk. She is taller than that now. She can be kept at 5-6 feet with regular pruning. My first crush was a 4 feet plant with normal seasonal pruning. I regret shovel pruning them because they were so incredibly healthy. They always had their blooms ruined by thrips and I just didn’t want to deal with it. First crush had a very intense fragrance and lovely blush pink color.

"Anise Biscotti", sounds heavenly. I hope to snag one of these now that I am finally settled.

Is Heirloom the only place MA is available?

Gorgeous photos on this thread!!

Sultry, I requested one from Andrew at Northland Rosarium - he said he would try to obtain Madame Anisette for me, he's so great. I'm not sure he wants me to put out word on MA until it's a sure thing. You could email or call him, doesn't hurt to ask. I'm glad I did.

The thing that amazed me is my little bush from Heirloom Roses started forming buds quickly in this first year. I wasn't expecting such a nice surprise ; one full bloom so far that lasted a very long time without browning, even in 90 + degree heat. It did have a little weevil damage in the center but he paid for it in a soapy swim. Two buds are beginning to open now , and 8 more buds on the way.

I'm planning space around the corner of my apartment for the second Madame I can allow to grow bigger.

I went camping for a few days and what a response I've come back to! 😁

I'll try to respond to folks, bit by bit.

I'm so glad to hear others are having a good experience with MA too. I have seen the forum posts here showing that she's not a great repeater in some climates.

@BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14) and @dianela7analabama I would say MA has been giving me continuous flushes since June. The first canes to bloom were the ones I trained horizontally, that grew tall laterals loaded with blooms. Now what's blooming are the vertical canes. The photos in this post are from Sunday. The canes that are flushing now were growing and setting buds during the first flush. It will be interesting to see what happens as summer progresses.... Including during this week's heatwave. Upper 90s all week and the next three days at 100. Nothing at all where I used to live in southern Arizona, but that was a dry heat.... And we had coolers or AC there! I think though, my plants may put up with it better than me!

I like Fun in the Sun a lot and got it due to your recommendation Ben. As Ryan experienced this year, I discovered that it balls horribly in cool rainy weather, and even though it stopped raining a month ago, I'm still getting buds that aren't opening properly because they were damaged during development in all the May/June rain. But...it sets so many buds that I'm still enjoying a few. And it's much more compact than MA. I hope that I get a nice second flush from FITS before the cool wet fall weather sets in.

Thanks, Diane! My MA was a gallon own root from Heirloom last year. This plant clearly loves being on its own roots. It took off quickly last year.

@dianela7analabama your MA is breathtaking!

Ben, I think that cool nights make a big difference for repeat blooming. I didn't grow roses when I lived in southern Arizona, but I did grow tomatoes, and every summer once night time temperatures didn't go below 80 F, the tomato plants just hung out and stayed alive but didn't produce. I always grew indeterminate tomatoes so that I could have a May crop and then keep the plants alive for another crop in the fall.

Moses, I hope you have a good experience with MA. It's so refreshing to have such a healthy and clean plant that doesn't ball and blooms nicely. I don't grow First Crush. I'm glad Sunny Michigan and Dianela gave such a good comparison.

Thanks Librarian, I was also thinking of tomatoes when I wrote my post! When I lived in Texas they were a spring and fall only crop. They simply couldn’t set fruit when the nights were too warm. The recommended practice was to plant a second crop in late summer as the spring planted tomatoes really struggled with heat and disease in summer and were barely hanging on by fall. California is just as hot during the day, but the cool night enables tomatoes to bear heavily from spring to fall.

@User, I love Northland, so will check it out for MA. I did get a good deal on a MAC recently from Heirloom and it arrived healthy and beautiful so that may be an option if the price is right lol.

sultry_jasmine Madame Alfred ? I have trouble remembering abbreviations.

Last November for Black Friday Heirloom Roses had the best deals of all year. I think that maybe was the date I ordered my M. Anisette. It's a toss up, I like dealing with Northland because they are so close and it's become a ritual to buy my roses there.

Berrypie, yes Madame Alfred Carriere lol. My old one was huge and although I tried to cut it back and dig it up with care, it most likely of died of shock. Anyhow, I got a new one to hopefully climb over the front of our barn.

I will have to watch for the Black Friday rose deals this year! I have hardly ordered any roses the past year because I knew I would just have to move them lol.

I got a couple Quicksilvers from Northland several years ago and they did so well!

sultry_jasmine_nights I don't mean to keep you in a loop - wanted to tell you I received Bliss and Earth Angel from Northland a few months ago; they were gorgeous big babies. I don't know if they are still considered bands at that size , definitely more mature than I used to get.

And of course Heirloom sends top notch roses, I could not be happier with what they have sent to me . Spirit of Freedom, Abe Darby, Madame Anisette and Eden , all peerless .

You are gonna love Bliss ♡. She is a delight! She has stayed on the smaller side here.

I see that Heirloom has MA on sale