Mine was planted as a band last year. I also grew it when I lived on Long Island. Yes, it does get blackspot, but the way I garden, roses are surrounded by other things so I don't really notice it unless they go naked. 'Golden Celebration' never got that bad for me, and the only spray I ever use is a Cornell mixture with neem oil in place of horticultural oil. And even then, I used it mostly before blackspot season arrived -- when it gets hot, oil sprays tend to fry foliage here.

When I was on Long Island, I planted a budded GC to grow as a climber, with a type-2 Clematis buddy intermingled within it. Here, I got it as an own-root band from Heirloom, and it's free-standing, but definitely arching in growth. I haven't really pruned anything besides removing dead wood, or crossing canes, so right now it's about 6' tall -- if the two longest canes didn't arch at about the 4' mark. It's in the middle-row of the bed -- in front of the fence-climbers but behind a sprawling 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' on one side, and 'Blanc de Vibert' on the other. It's close enough to see the blooms, but far enough away from view that its likely inevitable spotting won't be noticeable later in the season.

I've mentioned the spotting, but not its intensity -- it's really not that bad. Most leaves will have some mild spotting, some will yellow and drop, but it grows vigorously and quickly replaces them. There was never a naked period.

Last year I experienced a few "naked roses" for the first time and seriously considered using a fungicide, but held off. I decided I'd rather wait and see how the roses do this year on their own, after putting on some more size, and seeing if the same ones get hit hard. I noticed that they were clean until I received a few roses with some blackspot right out of the box. Until I had the beds prepped, the roses I got were repotted and kept rather tight together on the paved area of the yard, and I think that's how it spread. This year, they're all spaced out nicely where they're planted, with better air circulation. Any blackspot last year may have slowed some growth, but considering all but four came as bands only last year (the other four came the year before), they don't look like they suffered.

Looking through my pics, I'm posting some with 'Golden Celebration' in them.

A "baby pic" taken right after repotting the band on the day it arrived, April 16, 2013. It was all of 4" tall from the soil line.

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Keeping them like this while I prepped the beds is how I think the blackspot spread.

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Here it is, still in its pot but placed where it ended up getting planted. 'Golden Celebration' is the green blob against the fence, to the right of the gray stones in front of the tree trunk. The angle of the pic doesn't show that the "green blob" is actually about 2' of cane arching toward me. If you trace it down to the soil, you'll see the white name-tag at its base. The pic is from August 31, 2013, and that's just after peak blackspot time here. It didn't look too bad as I remember.

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This pic was taken about a month ago. In this pic, it looks like there's a tilted green V against the fence. 'Golden Celebration' is the left side of that V (the right side is 'Bleu Magenta', which is actually a couple feet behind 'Golden Celebration' despite the forced perspective here). Again, the height from the ground is about 4', but there's 2' of cane arching forward from that point. I haven't decided yet how I want to guide its growth -- I want the height there, but I also want it to arch out wider. For now, I'm leaving it as it is. There are new canes emerging from the base, so it might be easier to simply guide them outward with tree branches stuck in the ground.

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:-)

~Christopher

THANK YOU, Christopher! Just the information and advice I was looking for. You garden must be beautiful this spring. Your neighbors are really lucky.

Succumbed to the temptation and got a potted GC from a local nursery. It is in the ground now. Just had 2 inches of hail at dinner time....

GC is not suitable at all to New Jersey. It has very poor resistance to blackspot. Get Crocus Rose instead. Performs very well in the east coast.

I have GC here in my black spot haven Michigan garden and it does spot but it also is very vigorous growing and blooms a lot and winters well. The spots don't seem to slow it down any.

Great to know that GC is vigorous. I planted it in the back of the border behind so it should feel free to spot away. I have a Blaze Improved that spots like there is no tomorrow each year, but the spotting does not seem to affect its health all that much. It is in the middle of Laguna and Cinderela Fairy Tale (which I am training as a small climber). Both Laguna and CFT basically get no spot at all, and they help to hide BI's naked limbs.

Yes, Crocus Rose has been a carefree rose for me. I have a 3-year (or 4-year) old ownroot that is doing great. Very blackspot resistant. It is tip hardy here as well. Both the bloom and fragrance is so so, but no one is perfect. I like it a lot.

Thanks

The thing about growing roses in our area is that some blackspot is inevitable, even if you spray, for many roses. As a result, my expectations are more lax than those of someone who exhibits, or who wants roses to be "on" all-season. Personally, I'm fine if a rose is growing and blooming despite getting spotty leaves during "that time of year." It's when a rose starts losing the battle and dying back, or simply "never looking good" that I would consider getting rid of it.

'Golden Celebration' did get blackspot back on Long Island, but it continued growing bigger each year, and had beautiful flowers, so I kept it. Yes, it looked a little sad for a few weeks in late July and early August, but those leaves were soon replaced, and it was fresh and clean again in time for the last flush of flowers. I bought it again this time because with so many antiques, I was aching for a bit of yellow to throw in. Are there healthier yellows out there? Probably. But I wanted GC again, so I got it. If you need to have your roses spot-free all season in NJ, be prepared to spray, and be willing to have a limited set of choices.

:-)

~Christopher