Carol - I only have Buxom Beauty, also from Palatine. It has done very well for me. The fragrance is intoxicating. With some roses the fragrance is illusive, but it is always fragrant, for me anyway. The blooms are always large and have a nice shape. It seems to have good repeat and the blooms last good. The color is hard for me to describe, it's a really deep pink, when it ages it almost has a purplish cast to it. Overall I think it is a good rose. I ordered Dolly Parton too, I've really wanted to try it.

Dolly is the only one of those I grow. She was one of my first roses and still a favorite. She's a great performer here, but I'm a long way from you. Her scent is fabulous (even better than her parents, Fragrant Cloud and Oklahoma, in my opinion); she blooms almost non-stop here; has very long cutting stems; blooms are HUGE and long lasting; and sheâÂÂs VERY heat tolerant. I would say her faults are that she isnâÂÂt the prettiest of bushes, you have to deadhead hard to get a bloom that you can reach or otherwise they are mostly at the top of tall canes (around 7 ft tall here) and she will blackspot some if not sprayed (not bad, though, and mostly on lower and inside leaves). I tried growing her in a pot once years ago, but she didnâÂÂt seem to like thatâ¦IâÂÂm not very good at growing much of anything in a pot, so that could have been me and not her. IâÂÂve always heard she sulks in cloudy, rainy weather and requires hot days and warm nights to bloom well. However, our spring and early summer this year were the wettest and coolest I can remember. Dolly bloomed her head off through all of thatâ¦there was no sulking from herâ¦so maybe thatâÂÂs not true?

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Sarah-Ann - from your description, it sounds like a fantastic rose!! I actually like the purple cast that some roses get.

Pat - your information was spot on to what I needed to know about Dolly Parton. And height is a good thing here. The tallest a rose will get is about 3 1/2 feet. That's how tall my tallest rose here is - Peter Mayle. So for sure it won't get to 7 feet. :) I've found that I really like to bold colors. For example I have Stephen's Big Purple next to Gina Lollobridgida next to Ch-Ching, next to Peter Mayle. It's a pretty strong color area - and I love it. So I'm looking forward to getting Dolly's garishness.

Thanks!!
Carol

Dolly is very susceptible to powdery mildew here in southern California and it is not especially heat tolerant. The rather loose blooms blow up and fall apart. However, back in Connecticut it was OK as long as it was sprayed for BS but it could be killed to the ground in a cold winter. In Z3a it might not make it. I have Dolly and Fragrant Cloud and Dolly is a redder orange and has a larger fuller bloom and of course both are very fragrant.

Carol, I might add that my Buxom Beauty has not gotten very tall its first year and it is close to 2 others that have gotten really tall. I think it would do good in a container.

henry - I mentioned in my original post that I overwinter my pots in the garage - I can overwinter a rose from any zone with no problem. :) Powdery mildew and BS - hmmm .... that might be a problem. Some of my roses have BS (I do nothing for it), but none of them are defoliated from it. They only get it at the end of the season. So I think it's worth the risk.

Sara-Ann - Thanks - that's what I want to hear. :)

Carol, I have grown Dolly Parton, Oklahoma and Fragrant Cloud for many years in a cold zone (6a) and I would say that none of them is what I would call vigorous, Oklahoma is actually weak as is Chrysler Imperial which I have also grown and do now. That said, I would not expect too much from Dolly Parton in Z3a and especially if you don't spray for BS. Henry

I have Oklahoma. It's about 2 1/2 feet tall which isn't bad for a potted rose here. I'm not too impressed with it though - the blooms need more heat to open properly. While Mr. Lincoln does really, really well here. Go figure.
Sounds like Dolly Parton is a hard sell here, except for Pat. Hmmmm. I'll think some more on this one.
Carol

Carol, Blackspot is a big issue down here, but not mildew, so I have no idea on DollyâÂÂs resistance to that. She is fairly resistant to whatever strain of BS we have here. I do spray most of my roses as needed, but Dolly doesnâÂÂt need it often. By midsummer the hardy hibiscus and beautyberry bush that are on either side of her have filled in to the point that I canâÂÂt easily get to anything other than the front of Dolly, so I donâÂÂt bother trying to spray her at all after that point. By end of fall, she usually has some BS down low and on inside leaves, but she doesnâÂÂt defoliate from it and it doesnâÂÂt affect her performance. You could have a different strain of BS, though, to which she is more susceptible. Here she handles our heat and humidity like a champ...I don't have the problem Henry mentions of her blowing fast. Fragrant Cloud is also very good in my garden (but must be sprayed regularly here to control BS), but IâÂÂve read posts from others who have problems with its heat tolerance and blooms blowing fast. I guess heat tolerance in a rose can vary as much as BS resistance depending on your location. Cold hardiness isn't something I have to worry about down here, so I can't comment on that at all.

Thanks, Pat. You're a treasure trove of information. :) Thank you so much! I'm going to keep her on my list - if it doesn't go well - it's only 15 dollars.

Too bad no one has experiences with the other roses on my list. :)

Zone 3a also, I had just a cheap body bag dolly pardon, with one cane I think, but the couple blooms it had were beautiful and the fragrance was wonderful which you really can't tell much from just a cane or so, but the reason for my posting was to let you know I had no blackspot or mildew on it, which I had a lot of on my roses in the garden, this was in a pot. We had a good month or two humidity in the upper eighties.

Oooh!! That's good information! Awesome! She's a'comin' home to my yard!
Carol

Carol - This is a half open bloom of Buxom Beauty. Thought you might like to see it.

Oh, lovely!!

I really like the darker edging.
Thanks!
Carol

So pretty!

And this is Buxom Beauty almost fully open.

Oh!! I know I'm going to love this one!!! I like the darker edging!!!
Carol :)