Since Elle from Roses Unlimited is already "potted," I can't see why it wouldn't work to pot it up in a larger one and wait til next spring to plant it in the garden. However, I don't want you to get your expectations up high about Elle in two respects.

Colorwise, it often has distinctly apricot--almost orange-looking--highlights. It usually is not a soft pink-ish yellow color. I like Elle's more dramatic coloring--but I wanted to make sure you were not looking for something soft and pastel pink and serene.

In terms of disease, Elle is certainly not a disease-magnet, but it is not really great at disease-resistance either. After each blooming cycle, it will get some BS and need to be sprayed. For a hybrid tea, it's disease-resistance is "OK" but it periodically needs some assistance. But it is NOT "very disease resistant" much less does it have "excellent disease-resistance" or "exceptional healthiness."

I like my Elle--but it is a HT, and HTs have never been known for outstanding disease-resistance. You will need to spray sometimes.

Kate

One day I'll learn not to trust pictures as some cameras distort colors, or at least mine does on my phone. Thanks for the heads up! Apricot actually sounds nice too and it's not a color I have at the moment. I'll be ordering these from Heritage likely as RU is out of stock.

I'm really having a lot of fun with the roses. I'm spraying every two weeks anyhow as it's been very humid and wet the last month. BS has been manageable thus far. Gardening has sort of become my after work wind down and I'm enjoying it, even in the heat.

Thanks Kate.

I live in Alabama between Huntsville and Birmingham. I grow both Hot Cocoa and Elle. They are both ever changing in color...see pics below for variations. Dublin Bay is right...Elle is frequently an orangey salmon pink yellow mix, but sometimes a cotton candy medium pink with the yellow base and sometimes a soft pale pink with the yellow base. She stays short for me...but I have moved her 3 times over the past few years, so that might contribute to her shortness. She is very fragrant and heat tolerant. I spray her so she stays clean of disease, but if not sprayed, she will spot some in our humidity. Hot Cocoa changes shades almost daily. I really cool and unusual rose. It gets very tall here...that's a six foot fence in the pic. Mild to medium fragrance, but always covered in blooms so makes it seem more fragrant than it actually is. Very heat tolerant and disease resistant for me. I don't spray Hot Cocoa at all. It will spot a little at times, but nothing major...not enough to be worth spraying. I love both roses.

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I grew Hot Cocoa in Central FL. On fortuniana rootstock and it was a beautiful bush. Fantastic foliage from bottom to top and the blooms changed color according to the weather. Fantastic rose. Even up here in N.E. GA.

Beautiful pictures Pat! I really like Elle despite it not being pink like I thought. :)

And I am with you Tom, I love Livin' Easy. It was one of the first roses I purchased in the spring and it has become one of my top favorites. I haven't had to do much with it as for as spraying goes, but it's in an airy location. It's my most proliferate bloomer and the bright almost neon glow of the flowers is really beautiful.

That's really neat about the changing color blooms on Hot Cocoa. I'd read that it did that on HMF, but it's nice to have it reconfirmed.

Thank you all for your help! I think I'm sold :)

I'm not in your zone and climate and have never grown Elle. However, I have grown Hot Cocoa and it wasn't what I would classify as disease resistant. I found it rather prone to mid-season BS after the first flush.

I could be exaggerating a bit about Livin' Easy's BS problems. It's hard to tell this year in Atlanta - the most rain we've had in years and years. I'm seeing BS on roses that have never had it before (Livin' Easy has had it before). I think my Hot Cocoas even have a few spots. So far, my Bayer and Pentathlon have everything in check - the BS is only a minor issue.

However, I've gone seasons where I've never had a spot (with spraying). Last year, I probably sprayed only 4-5 times all season, though. I've more than doubled that already and we're only into July. :-(

Well, thanks to the tropics, we're going through a flood atm. Ugh..... They say it's going to be this way for a week too :( Black Spot wasn't bad, but now I am really afraid it's going to go crazy and no point in spraying until this mess clears up.

Hopefully Heirloom will hold the shipment until the Gulf decides to cooperate.

I had Living Easy in subtropical zn 9. It was a good bloomer & a healthy plant (no spray garden).

Have Hot Cocoa here in desert zone 8. A grafted big box store plant. It did poorly until I dug it up & replanted it deeply, burying the graft. It's been blooming like crazy since & is quite healthy. The color (like it or not) IS very distinctlive.

In a city rose garden in my old hot humid zone Hot Cocoa also did very well in full blazing sun. Don't know if they disease-sprayed.

I personally don't get too upset with roses black spotting some in the spring. But according to my recollection, both Living Easy & Hot Cocoa were pretty healthy in that old humid coastal zone that might be similar to yours.