I adore my Louise Odier. I was a bit worried about how she would do for me, after reading here that Louise Odier is not a rose for warm climates. I live in Southern California, Zone 10a. We get some days over 100F every summer, but most Sum­mer days are between 85F and 95F. It usually cools down at night to 60F-70F(sum­mer nights).We get no winter chill, with a light frost on the lawn a few mornings per year. Yet, my Louise Odier bloomed from late April to early October this year. I purchased her as a tiny band sized plant in the fall of 2015. She lived in a large(15 gallon) pot from July of 2016 until late February of 2017. At that time I planted her into a new raised bed. She began blooming about 6 weeks later, and continued blooming for nearly 6 months. Sometimes there was only a bloom or two, but there were always new buds waiting in the wings. My Louise Odier is two years old and approximately 6’ tall x 7’ wide.My soil is mostly clay, and I amend it with homemade compost and chicken manure. My soil and water are both pretty alkaline. I do use some gypsum in each planting hole. So far, Louise Odier had exceeded my expectations. I never thought she would bloom so much, especially through the heat of summer. I love her bright pink, fragrantly scented, large blooms. They make good cut flowers with long straight stems. I can’t comment about blackspot, because my climate is just too dry for it. Powdery mildew however, is a constant battle for many of my roses. Louise Odier has never suffered from powdery mildew, not even when almost all my other roses had it to some degree. I love Louise Odier, and she’s thriving in THIS warm climate:) Lisa

Oh yes, I know there is a Bourbon Rose named Bourbon Queen, but in my opinion this is definitely the Queen of the Bourbons. In fact a Queen of the old/historical garden roses in general. Ever since she was introduced on the market in 1851 she has never really been out of popularity, and no wonder. The rose pink flowers with a slight touch of mauve are of the good oldfashioned kind, as is the heavy scent, and she is never without flowers and or buds throughtout the entire season. I know many of you will say she can be a bit difficult like a genuine primadonna. In my garden she has been quite easy to grow, the only defect being that she is madly in love - with blackspot. But the best thing to do about that as I see it, is to find an efficient fungicide and spray. Simple as that. She was one of the first roses I planted in my garden. I was smitten by her then, and I am still in love with her after all these years, even though she ,as said, is apparently in love with "someone" else. To keep her as a shrub, she will need regular cutting back. Else you have to give her support. I have planted her in front of my house up the wall between two dining room windows, where she is reaching for the sky ,only stopped by the eaves of the roof. Very beautiful indeed and spectacular too. The only tricky thing is that I have problems reaching the flowers to smell the scent. The roses planted in front of her now fully grown, are blocking my access. I have been thinking of planting another one. My mother who could never remember the name of this rose, used to call her Louise Eau de Vie (water of life) which is the name of a grape liquor that has been sold in Norway for as long as I can remember, and used in the old days to make the long drink "pjolter" mixed with soda. Well that is of course a different story. I say if you want to grow oldfashioned garden roses, this should be one of your choices. This was the favourite rose of the now long diseased Norwegian Nobel Price winning author Sigrid Undseth and which she grew in her garden in Lillehammer (venue of the Olympic Winter games in 1994). Which proves that this is also quite a hardy rose.