I just planted this rose bareroot spring of 2008 and I am very pleased with it's first year progress. The bush broke dormancy vigorously and continues to grow very heartily and is absolutely disease free and insect free so far. I do spray for fungus monthly. The foliage is a lovely dark green and sets off a great background color for the beautiful scarlet red velvety blooms that constantly adorn it's branches. It actually blooms in flushes but the re-bloom time is so fast that it seems the rose is a constant bloomer. I can hardly wait to see what the next two years bring as it begins to mature. It just needs a year or two to get it's feet under it steadily and then I think it will be even better than it already is.
Preference is quite possibly the perfect landscape rose. No mildew, medium size and vigorous, clear, beautiful red without a trace of orange, and it just keeps on blooming with so little maintenance. I have used it a number of times in landscape installations, only to have people call me and ask its' name because it looks so good day after day. And did I mention that the foliage is really handsome too?
