I beg your pardon and with due respect, but "reported"? It's time for an honest discussion. When 'New Dawn', one of the hardiest climbers, struggles to survive in Z5b in some seasons, there's no way a Tea-Noisette is Z5b hardy in any true and accurate metric. I've tried Mutabilis, Old Blush, Mrs. Dudley Cross, and Duchesse de Brabant in Z5b. They all froze out or were terribly dwindling. Did they suddenly become Z5 hardy because I've reported them from such an area? Of course not!
I consider this an excellent landscape rose for a suitable climate. The blooms are tiny but come in huge clusters and they look well against the healthy green foliage. For me, this was an absolutely no care rose. Every once in a while I would cut off the big pannicles of old flowers because I tend to get obsessive about dead heading.
I have not grown 'Reve d'Or'. It does have a much more spectacular flower than Aimee.
I like Reve d'Or better; the flowers have both a better color and more fragrance. And fewer thorns! Alister Stella blooms fade a lot in the intense heat of coastal SE Virginia.
In our coastal heavy acidic clay, this rose gets a great deal of canker. We are on the borderline with 7B so perhaps the problem is also that we are a bit too cold. I have had to cut it almost to the ground at least twice during the past five years. No such problems with Blush Noisette, Comtesse du Cayla, or the tea G. Nabonnand. On the plus side, it grows very nicely without support. It have twice achieved a height of 7 feet. It's trying!
