Julia! Good disease resistance, good winter hardiness, good fragrance and TONS of blooms that last both on and off the bush!

Sunsprite was a disappointment to me. Everyone raved about it so I got one and it didn't do much of anything. Not much vigor, no fragrance, spotty, a lot of winter die back and stingy bloomer. And when it did bloom they blew in under a day. I gave it away.

I have both and I like them both. Julia Child is new to me, but I like what I see so far. Looks like it is going to be a stand out for bloom production and they look pretty on the bush, very noticeable. I have been very pleased with Sunsprite too, it has been a very good rose for me, the color holds up well, and it is fragrant, but for what you are wanting I think JC would be the better choice.

Someone else said that the Julia Child is vigorous, disease resistant & healthy--gorgeous also! I called the one place in Milwaukee, WI that I thought for sure would have a huge supply of all the colors, varieties. They said someone cleaned them out of all their Julia Child. Plus I was looking for some healthy, disease resistant mauve/lavender color floribundas/HBT's. They didn't have any.

My neighbors love love love my Julia Child. I have four along a fence line you can see from the road. This is a picture from last year. I completely agree with what Seil says about this rose! It's always in bloom, and the color is such a pretty yellow.

Julia Child is the show stopper in my garden, the one people always comment about. Unfortunately, rose rosette took three out. I replanted two. This is their second year and they are massed with buds. I use no chemical sprays. They do get black spot, but I spray with fish emulsion and they leaf back out.

I only have Julia of the two bushes you mentioned, but I liked the one I got so much that the next year I bought another. I have no complaints about it.

Julia Child does well for me also. Others that do well are Goldmarie, Shockwave, and Golden Holstein. The jury is still out on Walking on Sunshine. I hope it will do okay this year. My new one is Sparkle 'n' Shine. It sure is a bright color like Shockwave, but it appears to want to have more sprays than single blooms. I will watch it to see how it does.

I have both. I love the bright yellow color of Sunsprite, but she does not last very long. Julia is hardy and is always covered with roses, but the color fades with time. The first photo below is Julia, in the upper right corner you can see some faded flowers. A couple of years ago I put in Sunshine Daydream. She is doing very well and has a nice medium yellow flower too. Very little disease. She is in the second photo.

This post was edited by debinnh on Mon, May 26, 14 at 23:22

Here is Sunshine Daydream

If you like the "English" rose look, Symphony gets my vote for a compact yellow with beautiful blooms. Very healthy here and combines well with other colors

Golden Fairy Tale (Sterntaler)

Another vote for Julia Child. I give it high marks all around. Constantly in bloom, fragrant, healthy, hardy. What more could you need in a rose?

Julia Child is a great rose. It likes sun in my experience over partial shade.

If you like a rose with a smaller bloom, Easy Going is a yellow sport of Livin Easy that has smaller more compact blooms and is pretty matenance free.

Nacogdoches(Grandma's Yellow) is a rose that explodes with blooms that are quite large. Mine are bigger than my Julia Child. Its categorized as a HT I believe but it flowers like crazy for me.

Shockwave is nice as well as a Floribunda.

I have always liked Sunsprite, but have never actually gotten one for myself.

Another HT to throw in might be St. Patrick.

Last but not least there is Gold Medal which is an amazing Grandiflora for me.

Anyway just some suggestions. Of the two you mentioned I would definitely go Julia Child.

Run from Sunsprite. Blooms shatter too quickly. Julia Child is the best rose that has come out in a long time. I wouldn't be without her truly. And I also have Easy Goin' which has an orange hue during first flush because of the cool weather. Good yellows are hard to come by. Julia is it!!!

I personally believe that SUNSPRITE is a rose whose time has come and gone. It was one of the first black spot resistant yellows. The brilliant chromatic yellow color was a novelty at the time of its introduction and nobody complained about the intense fragrance (its original name was Freesia because that is what some thought the fragrance smelled like). But I had problems with it. The plant was always runty even when grafted onto a more vigorous rootstock and the repeat bloom during high summer heat was poor (especially when you consider it is a Floribunda, which as a class are supposed to be the best repeaters among the modern roses). The final deal breaker was the flower form: high centered buds that quickly opened into formless blossoms that just as quickly dropped all their petals.

By all accounts JULIA CHILD is a better garden rose. The bush is more vigorous, it has reliable repeat bloom, grows well on its own roots, and the flowers are a whole lot prettier both on the bush and in a vase. The foliage is just as disease resistant; more so in fact. I think the only possible objection is the unusual moderate-to-strong fragrance. Julia Child herself chose this rose. It can't be a coincidence the golden yellow blossoms smell like French Tarragon.

If I had to choose between the two JULIA CHILD wins hands down.

I am so happy someone asked this, as I also LOVE yellow roses and since I am very new at growing roses in general I am always looking for new suggestions for yellows. I have both Shockwave and Julia Child, and it is extremely hard to choose between them.

To me it honestly depends on which is more important to you, vividness of yellow, or scent. The color on Shockwave is an amazingly vivid Crayola-yellow, the color doesn't fade until right before the flower blows, they last surprisingly long on the bush, and it seems to produce buds continually. They aren't the most fragrant yellow, there is a pleasant mild fragrance that I definitely enjoy, but Julia has it beat on the fragrance side of things. Shockwave also seems to have more of a hybrid tea habit, it is much taller and skinnier than my Julia (but she's still young yet)

Julia is my newest rose and hasn't really had the chance to show me what she can do in terms of volume of blooms, but the few she has had so far have been very lovely, they are a much richer butter- yellow color, fading to soft yellow and eventually to white as the flowers age. So far the flowers seem to last a little longer on shockwave, but I think it's too early yet to really tell. My Julia has a decently strong licorice fragrance that I have heard will only get stronger as the plant ages. I can't wait to see her in full bloom, about 12 buds popped up out of nowhere in the last day or so, and she has only been in the ground for about 2 weeks! That HAS to be a good sign :)

I have a midas touch HT that is growing up from a bare root I planted this spring, it seems to be growing fairly slowly, but that is probably my own fault because I had to move it from the original planting location (shame on me for my incredible indecisiveness) It seems to be finally putting on some more growth, hopefully it will continue to do well, I will update as it comes along.

One more thing, my least favorite yellow award has to go to Happy Go Lucky, although the blooms are beautiful, and the foliage is a lovely bright glossy lime green, the flowers both loose color very quickly and don't last long on the bush at all. When it blooms only the inner half of the rose is truly yellow, it starts turning white from the edges in before the flower is even halfway open. It does flower fairly continually, so I will probably keep it around for a while, but it certainly isn't my favorite. I took a chance on this one, it was a new rose from Weeks this past year (I think) and I couldn't find any reviews on it anywhere, and I bought it on a whim. It was described as being a rich non-fading yellow, but certainly does not live up to that in my garden. Oh well, maybe she will get better with age.

I think if I really HAD to choose, I would probably go with shockwave, purely because I LOVE that bright lemon yellow, it just puts a smile on my face. BUT, I am super glad I don't really have to make that decision, because I'd much rather have BOTH.

I don't know if I really helped with your decision at all, but I hope so! I'm sure you will fall in love with whatever you end up with!

Jessica.

I have two kinds yellow roses. my Julia child roses so far have been slow to grow for me. one is getting black spot so far and the other is just not really doing anything. now my other yellow rose strike it rich is just doing great! it has blooms all over it and new starts on it and getting ready for more blooms. so far I have been disappointed in Julia child.

A little surprised to see the reception Sunsprite got here. I have both Sunsprite and JC, both 4 years old now. Sunsprite is a 7 feet tall, 3 feet wide bush now, and JC died almost to the ground last winter and is about 2 feet tall now. Yes, JC's bush shape is fuller than Sunsprite, but IN MY GARDEN, JC is not blackspot resistant. It was given he best spot in terms of getting full-day sun and good air circulation because DW is a big fun of the French Chef, but it spotted each year to the point of being 90% naked.

Don't get me wrong: JC is a great rose, and it can be spetacular in the right location (see Nanadoll's pictures). However, depending on the attributes that you are looking at, Sunsprite can be the superior rose. The only JCs I saw in person other than my own are at the botanical gardens in the City, none of which looks nearly as good/big/health as Nanadoll's or mzstich's (breathtaking!) .

A breakdown based on my own experience:

Bush shape: JC's bush is fuller, but it has twiggy growth as the plant vigor is affected by blackspot. (I don't spray). Sunsprite grows straight and narrow. JC might win if I spray, but l don't.

Flower: Sunsprite does not last long. JC bleaches out quickly. I like Sunsprite better, but that does mean anything at all as it is purely subjective.

Fragrance: both have strong fragrance.

Repeat: each had 4 flushes last summer, but Sunsprite's repeats have more blooms (and come with leaves).

Disease: needless to say, Sunsprite wins by a mile.

Sunsprite for me has been a truly carefree rose. It sounds that JC can be one at the right garden, but just not in mine. Sunsprite is one of a handful of roses that I have grown that I think beat out Knockouts in terms of being tough, reliable and environmental friendly IN WHERE I LIVE. In DC, the blackspot pressure is even worse than where I am and the strains of blackspot might be similiar to what are here. I would try Sunsprite first instead of JC if you don't spray.

Also, a second vote for Golden Fairy Tale, which has been ridiculously vigorous and total blackspot resistant here in my garden.

If you live in a cool climate purchase Sunsprite, warmer climate JC. That is why we have so many different takes between JC and S.sprite. Sunsprie comes with instructions that it performs best in cooler climates.

Interesting. I live in 9b (warm to very HOT). I have both Sunsprite and JC. Both do extremely well here. Julie has smaller but abundant blooms that do last. For me, she very little fragrance, and is a small bush. Sunsprite's blooms don't last as long, but I always have at least some blooms, blooms are significantly bigger, bush is much bigger, and fragrance is fabulous. If I had to pick one, it'd be Sunsprite, but I'm very glad I have both. I also have St Patrick which has turned itself into a tree rose, with lovely large fragrant blooms.

Consider Julia's offspring, Sparkle & Shine. Pure deep yellow color and lots of sprays.

I will second Sparkle & Shine.

Sparkle and Shine is the only one I’ve owned, but loved it last year. Died all the way to the crown over the winter, hoping it has the vigor to come back.

julia!! it is