Nope -- it's not a tall grower -- 4 feet, maybe. But a really nice rose in many ways, especially the nifty color.

Grandifloras is something a marketing person once made up to mean a cluster blooming plant that had blooms in the fashion of a hybrid tea. It really means nothing nowadays. Grandifloras are pretty much interchangeable with hybrid teas in terms of growing habit.

Looking forward to seeing the nifty color, as you describe it. I'm going to put that Tuscan Sun near it because the pop of coral and purple is one of my favorites!

Thanks for the grandiflora information. I had no idea!

Suzi

Twilight Zone is a great rose. Pretty bloom nice scent. It tends to hold its purple better than say Ebb Tide. However, ET tends to explode with more blossoms but TZ's blooms are bigger.

Great rose you should be happy with it.

I think Twilight Zone would look great next to Tuscan Sun. Yellows, blends, and oranges are a natural fit next to purples, I think. Diane
Here's TZ near Julia Child and yellow perennials.

You are in zone 7, and me 9a or Sunset 19. It might be hotter here. Your garden looks so lush! The only things really lush here are fig trees!

I'm happy you think Tuscan Sun will be a good pairing with it.

Thanks!

Suzi

It's not lush here at all--it's a desert. We get less than 10 inches of total precipitation a year. It's also very hot and dry during the summers here (had a day reach 113 last summer). Diane

I am new to growing roses. For my first rose bought this Beautiful Twilight Zone at my local nursery. It's first blooms in the pot were absolutely gorgeous (see picture). Big and Fluffy, almost a match in color for the tag, and a wonderful fruity smell, that was so strong, all you had to do was walk by, and you could smell the flowers.

However, since planting, though producing multiple clusters of buds, the buds and flowers are now weak and tiny, and not full or fluffy anymore. And the color went from gorgeous purple, to a darkish pink. I read the you are supposed to cut off the spent flowers, down to the first 5 leaf branch, unless it's a multiple bud cluster, then only cut off the dead flower. I've tried that, now there are almost no blooms at all. I'm in Austin, TX, and it's pretty hot here, already some days in the 90's. I don't know if that's the problem. I am so sad, and hope it's just the shock of the transplant, and that it will recover.

I bought another, beautiful coral/pink/yellow rose, that I'm now afraid to plant, because of what has happened my poor Twilight Zone.

Has this happened to anyone else?

heatwave2000, I have Twilight Zone and it is my favorite but when the temps rise the rose has a tendency to create smaller lighter mauve colored blooms. This rose generally tends to be lighter colored in hotter regions anyway. If you have one in the pot, I would keep it there till next spring. Roses can survive fine in containers without damaging them and it also makes it easier to move them to better locations that may suit your rose better. I would bet that TZ would do best in some afternoon shade....possibly on a porch?

Thank you "seeingreen". It's already been planted, but now I kind of wish I had kept it in the pot. It was doing really well in the pot. Since cutting down to the 1st five leaf branches, when cutting off the dead flowers, I have no new buds. I hope it makes it through our scorcher Texas summers, and maybe it will bloom better next year... because it really was a beautiful plant. I have planted my other rose too, it also has not re-bloomed since planting. But I am hopeful. I will try your advise for growing them in a pot for my next attempt :-D. Thank you!

Welcome, and good luck with the roses!!! Twilight Zone is worth the effort :D

I saw Twilight Zone yesterday at a Rose Show (best Grandiflora) and it was amazing.

I have Ebb Tide, and mine stays purple because I have it in part shade. In the hotter weather, if the rose gets a lot of sun, the color will fade. Especially in hotter zones in the South. If you have a spot that can get some afternoon shade, that would be ideal.

Most roses will slow down in 90 degree heat. Not much you can do about that. Just make sure they are watered well.

Jdaph Dallas TX zone 8a: Has any one planted Livin easy next to an Ebb Tide Rose? Or a twilight zone rose? Right now I have twilightzne planted next to a Belinda's dream rose which is very disease resistant, but poor TZ is suffering from disease, I am trying to put together what's more compatable. I was thinking Ebb tide with livin easy because they are both floribundas. Any suggestions?

Give it some time. Mine did much better the 2nd year. I love mine, and blooms are always smaller in hot temps. Colors change depending on temps too. I did get a great flush this July.

Heatwave2000 - don't despair about your Twilight Zone. I suspect it would have done the same thing in a pot, perhaps more so. Nurseries often pump the roses up on a lot of fertilizers to make them look good for sales, and by the time they get to their real sites they're "tired". They've been having to run a marathon for weeks in the sales floor, and they need a rest to rebuild their roots. Add to that a hot climate, and your rose is in a period of adjustment. If it continues putting out those small blooms, I'd actually pinch off the buds before they bloom to give it more time to rebuild its structure. In your warm zone, you wouldn't need to do this routinely, but it's something to try for a rose that's a little stressed to give it a boost.

Remember also that any newly planted rose will not look at its best for a year or two. The rule of thumb is "first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap". That's normal and expected, so you're doing fine!

Cynthia

nanadollz7 wow, that is some purple rose! stunning! heatwave 2000 absolutely gorgeous! I've heard that Twilight Zone has a strong perfume, can you confirm or deny?

Yes is does! It is one of my favorite rose scents! Love Love this rose!!!!!

Yes, the Twighlight Zone has a wonderful, strong smell. You really can smell it, just standing nearby. And I transplanted it to a to a different spot, where it did much better this year. It grew a little taller & wider. It does seem to get wide, but it doesn't get very tall, if you are worried about that. It blooms in multiple clusters/blooms, off a stem, at a time. Very pretty :-). I think all of my roses do bloom better in the Spring & Fall, but still manage to survive, & even bloom, in our extreme summer heat. Hope this information is helpful. - Heatwave2000

I think also, there may have been ants in the previous place where I had first planted the Twighlight Zone. I think it is possible this may be why it did not do so well in that first spot. I've seen ants kill flowers, even trees. I had some Dahlias once, that I couldn't figure out why they were all dying. When I broke off the stem of one, it was filled with ants. The had eaten their way up through the roots, and hollowed out the stem, and we're using it to travel up and down the inside of the plant unseen. I've got an Oak that gets sick sometimes, but somehow manages to survive all the ants. But they killed another tree. Strange fact... they were building a Super-Collider here in Texas, back in the early 90's, but the project was so plagued by fire ants, it got shut down. We've got real ant problems in Texas!

Wow heatwave, I just told my husband something he didn't know about the Super-Collider! Thank you.

I've found TZ to be very susceptible to Black Spot in my garden. Best color definitely spring & fall. Pic below is of South Africa with a TZ in the background.

Hi Sheila. I'm sure it was way more than just fire ants, that ultimately ended the program. There was a huge political fight in Congress over it, and they finally cancelled the funding. I lived in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area during the time it was being built. Our family kept up with all the ongoing news of the project during that time. I was working at a school; we took the children on a field trip there, it was great. I think I still have old brochures & stuff, from my research into the field trip. I remember hearing about all the facility's struggles with the fire ants, during construction. I'm not sure, that may have contributed to the increase in costs (at the time funding was canceled, it was about 3 times more than estimated). I tried searching for articles, for your husband, about the fire ant problems during construction, but all I could find, was an article about someone warning, ahead of time (when trying to decide whether to build in Texas), about how fire ants could be an issue. Maybe the stories we heard were on something like the local nightly news report. It was just something we lived through, being in that area, during that time. Sorry I couldn't find more information for your husband. And I apologize to anyone who might be offended that I took up space in a gardening forum, discussing a defunct supercollider. Sorry for going off tangent! Back to flowers!

Beautiful pictures Diane & Wirosaurian!

gorgeous photo nanadollz7, it looks so velvety! I must stop looking at roses tho'.........I want them ALL! this rose is not sold in the uk so I'm trying to find out if tz has been given a different name over here.

Thank you heatwave and marie. I want way more roses than I have room for, and it's so frustrating. Anyway, it doesn't look like Twilight Zone is being sold under any other name in the UK. Keep checking HMF (helpmefind.com) to see if that changes in the future. Here's hoping. Diane

Hi Marie. Looks like TZ was created by Weeks, in the US. I think it is also fairly new, only publicly released in 2012. You could try contacting the customer service for Weeks, and asking if either they could ship to the U.K., or if TZ is being made (will be made) available in the U.K. It may be that they are still developing a version of the plant that is adapted to your climate. Weeks TZ: http://www.weeksroses.com/_Roses/TwilightZone.html

Twilight Zone was hybridized by Tom Carruth when he was working for Weeks, He is now the head of roses at the Huntington Library and Gardens. The parentage of TZ is Ebb Tide and Della Reese. I don't know if Carruth is doing much hybridizing now, but others may know a lot more about this. I know there are a number of new Carruth roses coming out this year, but they may be holdovers from past years. I think I'll post about the new ones, in fact. Diane

You can buy Twilight Zone in the UK from C.K Jones, see link below - I was just looking at it last week. Grafted, good bare roots, reasonable prices and shipping.

Twilight Zone at C.K. Jones

Sounds great for all of you in the UK. Thanks, fduk. Diane

eeh, in't tinterweb grand! that is fantastic fduk that you've actually been able to name a uk supplier! I shall be saving my pennies and purchasing said rose in the very near future! thank you everyone for all your help and advice. it really is lovely just to have a natter and look at everyone's gorgeous rose photos. marie.

it's funny really that, as I've been looking to buy some more roses I've been concentrating my search on old roses and possibly/maybe a david Austin at a push as i've been looking specifically for a strong perfume and I've never even thought of a hybrid tea! it just goes to show you shouldn't discount something before you've even tried it! lesson learnt!

Glad I could help! I know what it's like to long for a rose with a hopeless passion... *cough*Marie Nabonnand*cough*.... ahem.

Is the TZ thornless or nearly thornless? It looks like a stunning rose, and I'm seriously considering buying one. However, I'm trying to stick to thornless or nearly thornless roses. I'd appreciate any help on this. Thank you in advance.

Nope -- not thornless or nearly so. But it is a stunning rose, and worth putting up with the thorns. You are really limiting yourself by trying to stick to "thornless or nearly so." Very, very few roses are actually thornless, but you will see many moderately thorny roses described that way by marketing folk trying to sell them. I usually don't believe it when I see that in marketing materials or on HMF (which gets that info from marketing materials). It's a similar routine with fragrance -- many less than fragrant roses are described as highly fragrant by folk trying to sell them. We call that "catalog fragrance" which means fragrance only a catalog copy writer could detect.

Mine is in it's second year and it does have thorns, but not many. It could be because of where it is though with 4hrs of morning sun. It's been pretty slow moving this year and has only bloomed once.