Available from - High Country Roses
Highcountryroses.com

For those in zone 6b or similar, how long did it take for your Alchymist to establish? And does this rose take well to partial shade?

Available from - Old Market Farm
www.oldmarketfarm.com

My experience with this rose is quite different to others posted here. In Melbourne Australia, 20 years or so ago, I grew it on a north-south oriented trellis with shelter from trees on the western side. With good airflow there was little disease and the plant was enormously vigorous. It grew rapidly with no settling-in period and each year would send up massive water shoots 3-4m long. These were far too thick to train and I would just anchor them to the trellis to stop their breaking in the wind. However, it seems to be very sensitive to drought and during the Millennium Drought the plant progressively declined.

Its flowers are quite glorious, with an extraordinarily good scent (to my nose) but they are not as intensely coloured as depicted in many of the posted photos. My plant was a bit of pest because it was so huge and awkward to deal with, but it was well worth the trouble, despite being once-flowering and possessing enormous prickles. I think it is a wonderful cultivar if you get the conditions right.