My Spartan is blooming now. The bloom takes forever to open, which I like, because I have more time to spend with the bloom :-) I was very curious as to the colour because I had never seen the plant in real life. Not unexpectedly I love the colour. It is a quite distinct happy, saturated shade of coral. Notmuch orange in the firstbloom. But then, disappointment: it wasn't scented. I sniffed and sniffed. ... Turns out my nose is not functioning. I found out when I didn't even smell the garbarge, and normally I'm hyper sensitive to garbage. Luckily a few days later my nose is "on" again, not functioning properly, but I could smell Spartan! And it's the most delightful aroma, reminding me of how I was captured by Ayrshire Queen (in commerce as). I was like glued to that rose! And my Spartan has a similar scent of banana, vanilla and tonka beans. Absolutely not what I expected, but a very pleasant surprise. Let's see what I detect when the nose functions properly again.

I would like to purchase this rose bush. The university I went to has this rose on campus. The school is San Jose State University in San Jose, California. They are known as the San Jose State Spartans. They have purchased plants through this organization.

I hope you can let me know of a seller.

Charles D. Wise. cwise95006@aol.com

My Spartan has had a very rough start to his short life. All was well when he was received as a bare-root from Sangerhausen's Rare Roses Program. A really good looking plant, five shoots, good roots and all. However, I had made a mistake. When I could finally go to Sangerhausen to get my rare roses, it was the end of April. Not a good time for a bare-root rose coming out of cold storage!

I watered him overnight, potted him up, put him in the garden and he went on growing for maybe two weeks. Then the shoots started drying up and the leaves started spotting. I moved the pot, away from the Big Bad Blackspot Roses (Margaret Merril and her Spotty Buddies), but Spartan looked so unhappy that I panicked and dug him up again. What a good decision! As it turned out, big air pockets had formed under his main roots (and by big I mean, chicken egg size big). I have no clue as to how or why. Of course the rose has always been watered well, especially directly after planting.

I was so afraid to lose Spartan that I even bought fungicide (the first to enter this garden in 30 years) - but I haven't used it. Since the re-potting Spartan is doing well. The leaves are healthy, they have a waxy surface which looks wonderful when rained on (the raindrops lingering pearly-shaped on the leaves). The plant is still recovering from the bad treatment I (and the Spotty Buddies) gave it, but it is very much alive.

There are not many (identified) specimens of Spartan left. It is impossible to buy in Europe. Beside my garden, only Sangerhausen is listing it on HMF - world wide. So I'm not going to let my Spartan die. It is my most valuable rose (together with the two inherited mystery roses). Go, Spartan, go!

NB: The other rose I brought home from Sangerhausen is Buttons, the Dickson mini. Getting the same treatment, just without air pockets at its roots, it has thrived and is on its second blooming flush.

spartan is a good one for clay soil, not sure about hardiness, very shade tolerant.