Ok my decision is taken , after 3 years of fight with black spot on my Abraham Darby , I decide to remove it from my garden . I am going with a no spray garden rose and this is a black spot magnet ! Very sad because I loved it flowers and fragrance but I am happy I took this decision . I will replace it with Princesse Charlene de Monaco , which is as beautiful and never have black spot and has a very good fragrance .
I have seen this rose sometimes described as shade tolerant. In my experience (in SE England) it does not like a full day of bright, dappled shade, but can manage if it gets a few hours of good direct sun-- I think you'd want 4 hours near midday for decent performance. If too shady, it does not form a bushy shrub, but a leggy octopus that needs support, but it does still produce some beautiful flowers (just not as many as one would like).
