I must have them all. Forstmeister's and Amethyste have begun to bloom. Donau and IXL will bloom later, maybe when Veilch blooms. Have you heard of Perennial Blue? My plants are young so I don't have personal experience, but my understanding is that they rebloom like Super Dorothy. Of this group Donau has been the largest grower so far. There's a beautiful rambler called Mannington Mauve(Rogue Valley has it).Mine has never grown as large as I would wish but I may have it in too shadey a location.

I grew Perennial Blue and gave it away in favor of Purple Skyliner which flowered better and REPEATS here. Perennial Blue, I believe, requires more winter chill with less heat then I can provide it. Purple Skyliner performs better here with the intense sun, intense heat and lack of chill. It roots VERY easily (hint, hint) and grows perfectly own root. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Skyliner

Kim

Is it as blue as the photos here in SoCal as on HMF?

Very nice looking plant too

SOMETIMES....violet colors are dependent upon light intensity, heat, cold, nutrients, etc. They are traditionally much more susceptible to chlorosis due to alkalinity. When it's really hot and brilliant, the colors are redder. Cooler, damper, more "Pacific North West" type conditions make it, and all the others, far more blue-violet. Baby Faurax, Violet Hood, Jet Flame, Rosy Purple, Sibelieus, Verdi, International Herald Tribune, Perennial Blue, all four of the large multiflora violet ramblers and a host of others respond similarly. It's just in the genes. Kim

Kim

Is it more vigorous than IHT? I know I have mine in a bad spot (Jacaranda tree) and mom gave it a good stomping but other roses seem to do much better there.

Purple Skyliner is a repeat flowering, multiflora rambler which appears as if it COULD grow fifteen to twenty feet if it had sufficient resources. IHT probably should stay about three by three feet. At least that's what the original budded plant I imported from Harkness thirty years ago did in Newhall. Kim

Kim, the 'Purple Skyliner' I got from you has been growing very well. And like some of the other multiflora-derived roses in my garden, it showed some chlorosis as it started leafing out this Spring. In addition to the organic fertilizer I put down for all my roses this year, I followed up on them with some Epsom salts and Ironite. After a few heavy rains washed that stuff down, 'Purple Skyliner', "Bleu Magenta" and 'Bubble Bath' greened right up.

:-)

~Christopher

Ooh, thank you for your responses, forum maties! I'm glad to see that there are others out there who just can't resist violet roses; I guess I hope some day to have all of them in my garden! I have both perennial Blue and Purple Skyliner (three of those; I'll have to root a few more since Kim says it's so easy to do...) I'd love it if I could get one to grow to 15-20 feet!!! but let's face reality: my soil is not very good and our water resources are not great here in Tuscany. So I think I might do better with one of the older ramblers.
Stupidly, I didn't label Violette/Rose-Marie Viaud/Bleu Magenta, so since none have bloomed yet,I can't tell which is which! one does have more thorns than the other two,and I seem to remember reading somewhere that RM Viaud is thornless? Another comment I'd like to make: on HMF,under "member Ratings" RMViaud is listed as having "excellent" bloom frequency,in sharp contrast with the description of a once-flowering rambler. I notice that on the precious Vintage Gardens web site,all three of these are classified as giving "some" re-bloom. And another comment: my new Veilchenblau is covered with buds already; Mendocino rose,when does yours usually bloom? mid-rose season, or later?. And btw, I am lucky enough to have two Mannington Mauve Ramblers,one new this year; that IS a beauty. Of all your violets, do you have a favourite? if so, why? How about you, Kim? Do you have IxL? I love the idea of an enormous purple rambler, and could hopefully get one from Loubert...regards, bart

I guess I would say Rose Marie V blooms mid-season. Of those three it's the only one that I have seen any significant rebloom on and that isn't a lot. I see now that you meant Veilchenblau. Mine is full of buds too. It's generally blooming at full bloom time. That's mid to late May, not as late as Wichuranas. It's always hard for me to name a favorite. I guess I might say Violette, but when one of the others is in full bloom I could change my mind.

RMV is a very appealing rose, in spite of its lack of scent. I lost one last year that was planted in a very bad spot, but still have two in pots. I think it may hard to place in my garden; when the cuttings were rooting in the propagation bed they were spectacularly chlorotic: the only plants in the bed that suffered that way. I have hopes for a just-prepared bed made up of quantities of wood debris mixed with a moderate amount of clay, in a rather cool moist spot. I'm hoping it will have good drainage but also moisture there. I put it next to 'Goldfinch', hoping that they'd bloom at the same time, being both Multiflora ramblers, and that the colors would agree. Obviously there's a lot of speculation in all this. I'll be interested to see what you come up with: good luck!
Melissa

This post was edited by melissa_thefarm on Wed, Apr 30, 14 at 11:10

Take a look at Veilchenblau.

What about Russelliana? I had it near my current location in a previous garden, and it was gorgeous.

Melissa

Hi Bart, yes ma'am, I do grow IXL. Mine is a virus indexed plant I obtained to use for standard trunks. In the old Newhall garden, I sheared it as a large shrub where it paved itself with the reddish-mauve flowers in spring. I love the rose, particularly when one of the stocks has enough shade to remain "purple" instead of red-violet. There's nothing wrong with red-violet, but not when you WANT "blue". Favorites? I still have the Baby Faurax standard I budded to a Cardinal Hume whip back in the mid nineties. I don't know if I would still grow BF if it wasn't this standard. Hume prevents it from becoming white and lavender (leaves and flowers) from chlorosis. Lauren is probably my favorite of the "violet" roses (of course!). No disease issues, no real chlorosis issues, incredibly vigorous and in flower all the time. What's not to like? As with all the others, the only real 'BLUE' tones are during PNW type conditions which seldom occur here. I haven't found any violet rose which produces those even when the Bellows of Hades hit, as they are now starting. It's only a quarter to eleven in the morning and it's warming quickly with fairly constant winds. Fortunately the active fires are east and north of here and they're keeping all that smoke in their part of the world. Kim

'Russelliana' grows well in my garden, not coddled in the least. In its cultural requirements it resembles the once-blooming old roses.
Melissa

I forgot to mention Russeliana. If you want something big Bart, there you go. We actually had this funny incident when it fell all over the garden and Michael pulled it up with the truck.
Melissa, RMV would be so pretty blooming with Goldfinch. I think they do bloom at the same time.

Yes,I definitely want to get Russeliana; it's been on my wish list for quite a while now! When in the rose season does it bloom?
Sadly, it seems that Lauren isn't available here in Europe...sigh! Too bad I don't have any buisness sense at all; if I did I'd try to bring some of these American roses over here.
I may well go ahead and get IxL; in my garden, big tends to be good,and from what I read, that rose gets big fast! bart

My Russeliana has started blooming right now.
If you are in Europe you might be able to find a rambler called Vlatva. It is healthy with gorgeous very dark purple blooms.

My 'Russelliana' is in bloom, too, but this is a bizarre year for weather so I don't know if it would usually flower at this time. My impression is it usually comes in with the once-blooming old roses, and would be later.
Pam, thanks for the comments on RMV and 'Goldfinch': they're encouraging.
Melissa

Oooh, Vlatva looks gorgeous, and I see that Bierkreek offers it,too;I've ordered from them in the past. Also FilRoses may be an option; I've only ordered from companies that have several roses that I want,to save on shipping,and I seem to remember that their catalogue has a few others that interest me....bart

That's great Bart. I wish I could order their roses so easily.

Roseseek, I believe you're right on the purple roses. I had a Bleu Magenta rambler just reaching a good height, and all the buds yellowed and fell off, as well as leaves yellowing. It's planted right up against a sidewalk..thus, too much alkalinity. Not one to fuss with annoying roses, I cut it down. Since it's on its own root, I'll let it come up again, and work some Hollytone and other organic matter in. I also put in some chelated iron. Thanks for the knowledge. Pat

I'm sorry you had the issue, Pat, and hope the Hollytone and iron help get you what you want. Good luck!

It's nice to see my thread revived,and I can't resist up-dating. Purple Skyliner has turned out to be one of my absolute favourite roses. I also got Vltava this last fall, from a German nursery,and have it in a pot for the summer. I'm impressed with the beauty of the flowers and am hoping it'll be one of those that starts blooming early and finishes late. Forstmeisters Heim is growing in an out-of-the-way spot,but I'm planning on moving it to a more prominent one since I got the impression that it did start early and went on for a long time.But one thing confuses me : one forum member implies that the Wichuranas, as a group,start later in the season.But the ramblers in my garden seem to refuse to behave in any such organized way. I was delighted this year with Hiawatha; it started blooming very early,and kept it up until almost the end of my real rose season (June). Henri Barruet did likewise...and both are Wichiranas. Yet Alexander Girault, also a Wichurana,comes into bloom late-ish, as does Paul Transon...Then there are the multifloras: Seven Sisters started early and went on for a wonderfully long time; Veilchenblau was later ...

Roseseek..its a shame. Love how it was getting huge and tons of buds.I'm only doing own root roses now here at jersey shore since it's so hot and humid here for teas or anything else. Believe it or not Carpet Roses my favorites now. They get high and look like old roses...and are always in impeccable health!

Bart, I love the wichiranas.and any old rambler. I remember fondly my grandpas garden in Long Branch NJ where he had the most gorgeous roses. And he didn't even know the names. Worked well for him! Like I said, the NJ Shore is a horrible place for many roses, so only the once bloomers or Carpet Roses do well. So.. I'll be on the hunt for more ramblers. What's your fav place to order roses? thanks.

I'm in Italy,jerseyearth,so of course order from European nurseries. It would be hard to name a "favourite": usually what happens anymore is that I'm hunting around for a particular rose on-line,find a nursery or nurseries that offer it, look at their list to see if they have others I want, and then order from whoever has the largest number of roses I wish for. However I really have to stop/slow-down-the-pace-of adding roses to my garden. Ordering is so much fun, but struggling to keep the new implants watered throughout our horrible droughty hot summers sucks.

Ordering is so much fun, but struggling to keep the new implants watered throughout our horrible droughty hot summers sucks.

I certainly empathize. July and August in Texas are just dreadful, and I planted bare roots and baby plants all in the last 4-5 weeks.