Having it in my testing garden for almost 3 years, all I can say is that it’s worthy of all the prizes received. Tantau created a Shrub-HT which gives an abundant flush of flowers in spring then continues to produce big, very double and fragrant flowers till late autumn without pauses in between, even under summer heat. The plant itself is erect and narrow like HT but as branchy as Shrub, thus doesn’t look like a typical HT nor a typical shrub rose. Good vase life too, around 6 days under normal temperature. The fragrance is complex and enchanting.
There is indeed some confusion with the Bologna Trial Ground results. I suspect that the Rose of the Year is a heading as there can only be one Rose of the Year (otherwise it would be Roses of the Year). The highest scorer was an Orard rose (ORA 153-238) with 82 points (Gold Medal). Mauritia RT 15-539 scored 79 points and received a silver medal. I would suggest that the Villa Abbondanzi award was a trophy named probably after the resort of the same name.
The Rosa Faventhiae Award did go to the highest scored rose: ORA 153-238. Mauritia was not even the runner up in the trial, coming in equal third with KO 12/4782-99.
