Dear GMC, all my roses grow in pots on a small suburban deck in inner Melbourne. The deck itself is being starved of sunlight by the growth of nearby trees. In the end I may not be able to grow roses at all. Climate change also makes various differences: white fly have been a plague all summer and mildew is worse than it used to be; but really cold winters have returned to induce genuine dormancy in the bushes.
In the last two seasons I've owned eight plants of 'Lubra'. Two have up and died without warning while others flourished. So perhaps those gardeners who found it "a poor grower" were right. In any case, I think 'Lubra' is still well worth the trouble. But I've given all my remaining plants to the Victoria State Rose Garden to make sure it doesn't die out.
'Prudence' has been a rampant grower, I now think to 20 feet in all directions. So far it has been once flowering only. If that remains true then we must doubt John Nieuwesteeg's identification of it as the Fitzhardinge original. But it's much more likely that mine has simply lacked sun. Now I have two huge plants forming a high arch up into the sunlight, waiting to see how they perform this spring.
'Warrawee' here grows like any other HT, always well scented and well formed. Here and at the State Rose Garden it does not ball.
'Lady Edgeworth David' has been for me the pick of the bunch. It flowers consistently for nine months. For anyone who is fascinated that anything can be so pale and yet so definitely pink, it is an endless pleasure. For once the poor conditions on my deck are a help: it never balls, never burns, never gets the wind-blasted look I have seen on bushes grown in empty open spaces. 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' has even better scent but ill-formed flowers in spring. Parkes' 'Sharon Louise' has the same subtle colour on a much bigger bush, but it's flowers are simple-minded floribundas, not so quietly elegant.