I only water my whole garden once a week, sometimes I will water in the middle of the week when it's extremely hot. I fertlize it with Rose Tone in the early Spring, July and will probably do it one more time in late August. I regularly apply Messenger mixed with Bayer Disease control once a month.

Now, I didn't revisit every two weeks to see if it kept pumping out blossoms, but it sure had a lot when I was there.

Yes, yes, Portland, OR.

The plant itself is a bit fussy. It wants lots of fertilizer, but not too much nitrogen or it will grow weak, tall canes. I give it a local equivalent of Rose Tone , Alfalfa, and Millorganite supplemented once or twice a year with Shultz's Bloommaster(a lower nitrogen analog of Miraclegrow) .

It is not recovering well from last winters damage that was particularly severe. If it continues to fail, I will replace it with Velvet Fragrance which has similar flowers and a plant that is less fussy.

Regards,

Charles

Carol

I got it oh, maybe 3-4 years ago when it was the rage here. In coastal z10 SoCal, it is a mildew magnet and I lost patience. I took it up to our z8a SoCal mountain place which is much drier and I have very little mildew problems at all. It still mildews. It will be going soon when my Vintage sale order babies are done incubating in their gal pots.

Honestly, I like Traviata better. I know, it too, is not for everyone, but I love the true red and flower form factor. It's leaves are spotless in the mildew capital of Calif. I appreciate that resistance more than I can say, so I honestly don't care that it doesn't smell. I don't see the big deal about that anyway. So, you just plant others that do smell and plant them next to or put them in a vase with, right?

That said, there are probably a bunch on the Vintage or other website with similar form factor that would do you much better, if it's not performing well for you do it in.

So glad that it's doing well for somebody! I just got one during RU's sale, and reading these posts was getting me down.

Carol, your photo looks wonderful! If it ever cools off, I'll have to find a nice place to plant this one.

Celeste

Ann (who mourns that her three RRs hated the soil they were in .)

This is the 3. season - The bareroot plants are just sitting there - wait I actually think they have one bud right now!!! The ownroots are also just sitting there - putting out nothing but those glossy lettuce looking leaves ... all blind shoots here a group of 3:

I cut the blind shoots a bit back and they are now putting out new reddish shoots so if I am lucky I will get a flower or 3 this fall. 2 nice blooms from 9 plants in 3 seasons? You have got to be kidding me ... I have never in my life seen a rose perform this bad! But I will wait another year - and hope they will finally get going - but I really, really doubt that all 9 together will ever put out as many blooms as the one plant Carol got. I have seen corpses in my former work as a doctor look more alive and perky than this plant!

Now for the ugly.

1. Disease resistance sucks. The shiny burgundy turned dark glossy green foliage looks resistant but isn't. She'll need spraying CONSISTENTLY with a fungicide to control black spot in warm, humid climates.
2. Hardiness sucks. I've lost this rose to winter kill in zone 6b! Apparently Miss Thang likes it hot.
3. The flowers are glorious in a vase but retched if left on the bush. She fades and burns at the blink of an eye. She also doesn't like it if water pools in her buds, which causes warping. Given how deeply cupped her buds are this is a persistent problem.
4. Repeat, while reliable, ain't nothing to rave about. After her spring flush she dutifully doles out her flowers at a fairly even pace. Trust me, waiting even a little bit is agony once you experience one of her astonishing blossoms.

ROUGE ROYALE is my favorite red rose but I'd be just plain evil if I didn't point out her flaws. She makes me work hard for those ruby red, sumptuous roses.

Thank you! :)

To name a few:
Roses Unlimited
Northland Rosarium
Edmund's Roses