Thanks, I actually have a love-hate relationship with HC as it is viciously thorny and the blooms normally very droopy, but it got a reprieve from the shovel this year - year 3 - as it finally came good, repeated much better and seemed to hold it’s heads up higher. Proof indeed of the 3yr Austin rule! @newbie77 others say it has a really good fragrance, but I get nothing off it at all. I suspect that’s my dodgy sense of smell, rather than the rose, as certain rose fragrances just pass me by. Gertrude Jekyll, otoh, I could smell strongly right away but that’s a huge monster of a rose here.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Thanks for the mini-review, @Nollie. After seeing your photos, I think it will be on my list for next year, when my bank balance has recovered a little.
@newbie77 DA specifically market it as one of their nicest-smelling. A huge plus point if true!
@owd potter My Munstead Wood is also a slow grower, officially 3 years old but in the ground for 2 years. It's about 2' x 2', much shorter than the advertised 3.5'. I'm hoping next year it takes off a bit more as the flowers are so beautiful. I try to hide the awkward growth with herbaceous perennials.
Thanks Nollie. I think I already have plenty ordered and cant get something unless it is very special now. For smell, we all have different sense of smell. I have narrowed down that I can hardly smell myrrh, tea and old rose is ok and fruity is what works best for me. This is from when I went back to DA site and read the descriptions of smell of all roses I have got.
Too true newbie, although I also find some roses take time to develop their fragrance. Or my SoS has miraculously improved. I was very underwhelmed with that of both Munstead Wood and Lady Emma Hamilton until this year, when suddenly, wow, I understood what everyone was going on about, so fruity and old rose for me too. HC is a puzzle as it’s meant to be old rose, so no idea why I get nothing, while GJ is stunning.
Ah, another slow-growing MW @Omori. I would love to see a 3.5x3.5’ specimen, do they actually exist?!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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What a lovely greenhouse, Marlorena.
I get a wide variety of bloom forms depending on the weather. The first flush is more typical:
In high summer it looks like this!
@newbie77 DA specifically market it as one of their nicest-smelling. A huge plus point if true!
Ah, another slow-growing MW @Omori. I would love to see a 3.5x3.5’ specimen, do they actually exist?!