I have two I planted this spring so far one is starting slow but is putting out a few blooms. the other one is doing real good but it is blackspotting a bit. I have sprayed it every other week the last two months to keep it contained. the blooms look great on this plant.

It took a couple of years for mine to really put on a lot of growth but it still bloomed well. It does spot a little for me but not very much at all. Just some of the leaves at the very bottom and it never drops all of it's leave from it like others do. You may not see a big flush this year because it's a little late already but next spring it will WOW you!

Well Julia is now in the ground, dead headed and watered so now I will just sit back and watch her grow. She also had a little bit of black spot but not too bad and I picked off all the leaves that were affected so that should help. I can't wait for the spring!

This rose was a huge disappointment for me. Along with a yellow Knock out that I bought at the same time. The Julia bloomed magnificently for a short while, then proceeded to be covered in BS. This year I had high hopes for it, as I cleaned the leaves off and was hoping for new healthy growth this spring/summer. It just now has 2 small blooms, and is covered in black spot. (No, I don't spray, and I get rid of roses eventually that need spraying.) If it is such a great rose, why does it need spraying? The yellow Knockout was lovely last year, this year there is not even one bloom. Nada. Both JC and Knockout are in full sun.

Location, location, location. Spotting depends upon which of the five races of black spot you have locally and which the particular rose is resistant or immune to. It's also entirely possible what you are seeing isn't "black spot" but a similar appearing disease. What spots for you is often totally clean for me and vice versa. "Disease resistance" is only applicable for the exact race of the disease you have where you are. Think of it this way, you may be immune to Russian Flu, but nearly die from Bird or Swine Flu. They're all considered "flu", but each is a different type. It's precisely the same with black spot, and there is very often a great deal of overlap between the various races in any one location, just as it often is with flu. Add weather changes, plant positioning, positive and negative cultural practices, age and maturity of the plant and you have a virtual lose-lose situation. Actually, it's to the credit of how persistent roses are that they grow as well as they do, as often as they do, in the pretty awful positions too many put them. "Full sun" could actually be a part of the problem with your roses. If that sun is extreme, they could be stressed by the intensity of the heat and light and that might actually suppress their immune systems enough to force them to contract the black spot. Just as by putting them in too little heat and light they can be forced to contract mildew, or by keeping them continually severely water stressed they can be forced to mildew; planting them against a hot wall or in the middle of a wet lawn might force them to be unhealthy. There are MANY potential causes of each performance and disease issue and they may take some thinking outside of the box to figure out. "Roses like full sun" is the urban legend plagiarized from one generation of "expert advice" to the next. Perhaps they did, in London, in the Nineteenth Century, and considering the HPs, Bourbons and other old European garden roses they grew when that advice very likely originated. They probably still do in Seattle or somewhere else cool, rainy and often foggy, but seldom where it gets HOT and the sun can be intense. A rule I often use in situating a plant is, if it is too hot for you to spend much time in that spot, it's likely to be so for the rose. Kim

I think you will love her, she is completely spotless for me & I don't spray. She always has at least a few flowers blooming at any given point, her foliage is glossy green & lush, & she has an attractive round shape to boot, I was so impressed I went out & purchased a second one after having the first for only a couple if months, so I could flank my front entrance with them. I'm surprised anyone has trouble with BS on her, I usually hear only amazing things about her disease resistance, I guess that just goes to show roses are so different for different folks based on so many different variables.

Jessica

Made me think of cooking. Any reason for the name?

Julia is by far my best blooming rose. Once she starts blooming she doesn't stop til frost time in the fall. Love her! Yes, she gets some black spot for me here in S.C., but I live in an area where everything gets blackspot if you don't spray. Normally I only spray once black spot appears, and after one or two sprays I can stop again. I also love Julia because she is a nice forming bush, full and well rounded. I have four in a row in front of a fence.

The story goes Ms. Child chose the rose because it is the color of her favorite thing in the world....BUTTER. Kim

Kim thanks for the info on BS, I do live in a hot humid part of Texas so I don't get too upset over a little BS. I totally understand what your saying about there being different strains of black spot like there are different strains of the flu. I think it's almost totally impossible to create the perfect conditions for growing anything, especially roses, so I figure if I do my best and give my plants what they need to grow that they will thrive and bloom for me. So until Julia shows me that she's not going to do well for me I am going to assume she is going to look beautiful and give me gorgeous blooms.
Kim thanks for sharing the story of how the name came about, now I will know she was thinking of butter and will that will make me smile when I see the yellow blooms.
Mzstitch thanks for sharing a picture of your gorgeous JC! I bet that is stunning to see in person.

Someone has a Julia Child about 2 blocks from us.
I just looked at it today and the leaves look good so far.
Last year in late August I noticed it had a lot of BS and was retaining 1/2 or better of its leaves.

I have my JC for four years now, and it has been an under-performer: although not the worst offender, it blackspots heavily, and, because it is not the most vigorous bush, it remains quite small in size (probably due to blackspotting). I know it can be a spetacular rose, but haven't figured out how to keep it happy without spray.