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'Sharifa Asma ®' rose Reviews & Comments
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I planted Sharifa Asma several years ago on the recommendation of several sources. After struggling along for five years, I finally shovel-pruned it. The flowers were nice, though not nearly as fragrant for me as reputed and the buds prone to balling. The growth was spindly, of sub-average vigor and excessively prickly. The leaves, when they weren't plagued with mildew, were a smallish and a bit crimped looking. This is one of only a few Austin roses I have found unsatisfactory (William Morris was a martyr to rust, as was William Shakespeare 2000). It's probably just be the cool and damp climate of San Francisco.
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#1 of 11 posted
5 JUN 09 by
Karen
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I have grown Sharifa Asma also on the strong recommendations of others as a great cutting rose. It never produced many flowers. The leaves were particularly crumpled and sparse. The rose overall had an unhealthy look to it. It did not make the cuts in my zone 5b Lincoln, NE climate. Summers are hot and dry and spring and fall go on forever. In one season or another we should have had weather that suits it. It may just be that a positive word about this rose initially was circulated and it has never been corrected.
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I suspect you're right on your last point. It seems that often roses are marketed well and many rose gardeners, anxious to find a great plant, pick up on the virtues touted by the grower and breeder and simply wish the plant to be better than it really is. Just look on HMF at the favorites list -- many of these favorites are really sentimental favorites (e.g. Peace), not favorites based on real garden performance against all comers. Then there are the ARS ratings which put emphasis on exhibition qualities that 99.9% of gardeners don't understand or care about. Those ratings mislead many consumers, in my opinion. But I digress....
Sharifa Asma was cleverly promoted. I fell for it as did many others, I suspect. Alas, it's real merits are only coming out over time as the glow of the promotional literature wears off and the plant's real garden performance revealed. The only opinions that matter to me are those of gardeners and nurseryfolks who tell the unvarnished truth. That's why I value HMF. There's no flim-flammery going on and real experience described. More power to us!
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#8 of 11 posted
18 MAY 17 by
 Jay-Jay
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I grow 5 specimens of Sharifa Asma on 2 different rootstocks, from two nurseries and they thrive.
The scent is one of the strongest, but a bit too soapy as for my taste.
Survived several winters without dieback and gets pruned every year.
It stands in partial shade in front of the rose-bed. Foliage relatively healthy, not very prone to Blackspot.
Does well in dry heat (but flowers less) as well as in rain, but when rains last too long a period the flowers indeed can ball, but mostly only the outer petals (see some photo's of mine on HMF for this rose). But not as bad as others do.
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The ones you mentioned: Sharifa Asma, William Shakespeare 2000, and William Morris. I have all 3 as own-roots. It took four years for W.S. 2000, plus fixing the soil 4 times to make it loamy & tons of rain ... before W.S. 2000 produces decent blooms in partial shade. I give up on Sharifa Asma as own-root, won't thrive even in potting soil.
Own-root William Morris is very wimpy in potting soil & then died in my heavy clay through the winter.
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I think that you might be right Straw because something is agreeing with her here. I just bought some more! At first, I thought that she was drinking more water at first but that seemed to end quite quickly and now she doesn't seem to like to be too wet.
I wasn't impressed with Heritage in the clay at first, but second year's performance is way better so added a bunch more for for landscaping in clay since they stayed evergreen here. All blooming and seem happy enough.
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Lavenderlace: Sharifa Asma has Rugosa heritage, which prefers loamy & loose soil. Rugosa is known as "beach rose" for its thriving in sand & drought-tolerant.
Own-root Heritage as evergreen in your zone 8? That's music to my zone 5a .. which means it might be cane-hardy here. Today I looked at Fragrantnutter's fantastic roses in Australia. People don't realize that her roses are grafted on Fortuniana (produce twice more blooms than Dr.Huey-rootstock, and way-more than Multiflora-rootstock, and more vigor than own-root). And people don't realized that part of Australia has tons of rain, which balance out the salt in the manure she's piling up on her sandy soil.
The true test of a rose's vigor lies on its performance as OWN-ROOT, along with specifications of one's soil (clay, loamy, sandy), and soil pH plus amount of rainfall. I truly hope more people will give such details in HMF, since it help cold-zoners like me from losing $$$ roses through -20 F winter. I can't change my winter, but I can change the texture of soil (add a $3 bag of coarse sand), or change the pH level (mix in acidic leaves).
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Heritage does shatter faster than is desirable for the vase, IMHO. But for a landscape rose, it's been working out because at least there are never any fried blooms rotting on the cane and they looked nice through winter.
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Sounds great !! That saves time from deadheading. I killed own-root Lilian Austin since it stabbed me with its nasty thorn when I plucked the spent-blooms. The thorns are like long-needles on Lilian Austin. Can thornless Heritage take partial shade? Thanks.
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Definitely can take shade here. I planted some where they were getting no direct sun at all for a few months, and at best, three. But our shade is quite bright on the light meter. Also have a lot in full sun but I'm using her specifically for tricky locations.
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Agree. We have week-long rain (last week of Sept. 2019), zero sun, and Sharifa Asma (in a spot that gets only 3 hours of morning sun) is pumping out 7 buds .. the most ever. It was stingy in full-sun, like 3 buds per flush. So glad I moved it to partial shade.
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Initial post
21 JUN 18 by
moriah
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My own root Sharifa is doing fantastic here in Western Washington. My soil is rocky and drains fast so I need to water often. This rose is in partial shade and has a lovely strong perfume.
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#1 of 1 posted
22 JUN 18 by
Jay-Jay
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I would like to exaggerate: A very strong, good, but a bit soapy perfume.
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Very vigorous in Z8 own root and love the scent!
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Lavenderlace: How do you feed own-root Sharifa & what's the best soil for that one? Is yours in full-sun? I have Sharifa in soaking wet clay, and it's wimpy. I used to have it peaty potting soil & partial shade, and it's wimpy.
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I only have one Sharifa so far because I heard so much about her being wimpy and stingy and even conflicting reports on her fragrance. I'm planning on buying more though because I love the fragrance!
She's still in a pot with sandy native soil, compost (shavings, alfalfa and timothy manure, mineral supplemented w/copper, etc...), and castings.
She has been loaded in blooms since the beginning of March but I did coddle her a bit by bringing the pots in during hard freezes. So she really hasn't experienced winter so I can't comment on that. But she has experienced a lot of 50 degree temperature swings within a couple of days.
The soil is somewhat light and fast draining. She's getting as much sun as possible, but she hasn't really been tested with high heat yet. I hope that doesn't make me change my mind about her but so far, so good!
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Despite a deluge of rain in November and a few frosts overnight, this rose still flowers.
They do open completely, are of a less subtle pink, than normally and the scent is almost too strong....
More modern soap-like than subtle in balance.
However, they still look good on a vase!
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I love the scent of Sharifa as own-root, but this rose is best as grafted to give more blooms. My own-root was wimpy in potting soil, so I moved to my alkaline clay (with tons of rain), and it doesn't grow much, still very small.
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#2 of 5 posted
9 NOV 16 by
Jay-Jay
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It does need some time to settle.
In my garden, most Austins don't like it on own root. Behaving very much better on rootstock.
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Yes, I have terrible experience with Jude the Obscure, Sharifa Asma, and Eglantyne as own-roots .. really wimpy & tiny & stingy. William Shakespeare 2000 was really tiny like a petunia, then after 4 years it got larger & but only bloom if given acidic rain water & fluffy soil, same with Charles Darwin as own-root (stingy in alkaline clay). Lilian Austin was tiny but healthy as own-root. My Munstead Wood is doing much better 2nd year as own-root & better bush-shape than the Munstead Wood grafted on Dr.Huey (at rose park).
But Golden Celebration, Pat Austin, Evelyn, Mary Magdalene, Radio Times, Christopher Marlow, Wise Portia, Queen of Sweden, Scepter'd Isle, are VERY VIGOROUS as own-roots in my rock-hard alkaline clay, I dug up Christopher Marlow and its root is bigger than Dr.Huey-rootstock. French Meilland roses, or Romantica as own-roots bloom better than Austins in my alkaline clay.
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Straw, my Judes in sandy soil are significantly bigger with more blooms than clay. Jude also seems to handle shade as well as full sun here in Z8,
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Thank you !! I wish I had known you earlier.
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