Well, hoepfully it'll do better for you. I don't think it likes our 100 degree summer temps here. The blooms are on the smallish side and don't repeat very well. But when they do show up, they sure are beautiful. Very different and distinct blooms.

I understand that it is a sport of New Dawn. I have two, and am disappointed that they are not a taller. Mine are on an arbor, and are only supposed to grow 6-8 feet, and mine are about 6 feet after 3 years.

The disease resistance is ok, but not great. I had wondered about moving them and growing them as a large bush. I need roses that will go over the arbor.

Sammy

Awakeniing is a sport of New Dawn. Blossomtime is a CROSS of New Dawn times an unknown hybrid tea. The hybridizer was Conrad O'Neal and it was one of the first of many post WW2 crosses using New Dawn as a parent and one of the best.

It was originally introduced as Climbing Blossomtime and after a few years fell out of favor probably because it didn't climb very much. Best grown as a large shrub. A former President of one of the National Garden Clubs grew 2 by his entrance walkway as freestanding shrubs. He always made a bet with his rose friends that they would not find Blossomtime without a bloom and he always one. He felt strongly that is should be grown as a large freestanding shrub and that originally classifying it as a climber had been a big mistake, causing it to quickly fall from popularity.

It is special; I had to wait for over 20 years before I saw it at a nursery and bought it. Barbara, I live in Richmond and have had it in a 3 gallon pot buried in wood chips for about 3-4 years. It has done well and was blooming up til about 2 weeks ago with a dozen or so full double somewhat high centered perfect 4 inch blooms. I could notice the fragrance when I was about a foot or so away from the blooms. Haven't sprayed in several years and the leaves remain healthy. One of my three hypothetical desert island roses, the other two being Darlow's Enigma and Teasing Georgia, different from each other but all perfect for me.
Jim

Thanks for the feedback-- Jim, great to know it does so well for you in Richmond. The plants I remember from back then never covered their section of the trellis (planted among other climbers). We can definitely grow it as a shrub in the cottage garden, as we have Lamarque for the big trellis. That puts Blossomtime in the foregound, and that's a good thing!

I have a Blossomtime on an arbor in serious shade and it blooms well in spring, has a few blooms in summer and has a modest fall flush. The longer I have it the more I like it. The blooms can be quartered at times. Always the deeper pink reverses are pretty. My plant gets some bs and defoliates in late summer..I am going to try one in more sun. Someone in my town has a traffic stopping one on a short picket fence.

Jim, with your Blossomtime in pots, do you prune it each year? I think I would be happier with them to pot them up, and plant them at the corners of the arbor, and put a larger climber on the arbor itself. The bare rebar looks awful. Even Clair Matin is small compared to Rev 'de Or and Crepuscule.

I really appreciate that information.

Sammy

Sammy,
My reason for growing it in a pot is this: When I moved from CA to VA, I dug up most of my roses from the ground and moved them, having to really chop off the roots and then the canes.
When I realized in VA that a move might be in the future, I wanted to make my roses more mobile and felt putting them in pots would be less traumatic since I could move them pot and all. At that point all my new roses or propagated roses were planted in pots.When winter came in VA, I had several piles of wood chips from having trees cut down so I leveled off the tops of the piles and dug holes in the chips( real easy) and sunk the pots into them. The roses did very well. I had thought they would be in this situation for a year or 2 but it has ended up to about four-TOO LONG. The roses have been happy and thrived despite no spray and no fertilizer and lots of neglect the last few years. What happened was they sent roots out of the pots and into the wood chip pile. This summer, fall, I have moved about 60 or so roses, pots and all to NY. They have all done well except for Buff Beauty (never too vigorous for me) and many were pumping out blooms in November despite no spray nor fertilizer but just watering.
I did have to chop the roots back to release the pots. I have not brought my BT up yet. It had large perfectly formed blooms on the bush in November. The plant is about 6 feet tall and the pot is tilted so it leans west. Healthy as can be. I would use BT as a large free standing shrub, possibly in the lawn as a focal point. I would not put them in pots but directly in the ground. They get the size of a large forsythia bush or a small lilac. The canes seem too stiff for a climber and it makes a lovely plant so I would prune it minimally. This is how it did for me in Richmond VA- New York may tell another tale. You will love BT, one of the best in my opinion.
Hope this helps,
Jim

I'm curious how you would describe the scent of Blossomtime. Many sources state that it has a strong scent, but I haven't been able to find a description of it.
Thanks,
John in Oregon

I have always wanted a pretty arbor between the front and back of the house. The arbor has 2 Blossomtimes, 2 Clair Matins, 1 Crepuscule, and 1 Rev d Or. THis year I added an Alister Stella Gray that is more or less shaded by one of the Blossomtimes.

I still do not have a pretty arbor. Rev and Crepuscule are doing their jobs. Clair and Blossomtime are short, and tend to have some blackspot.

Now that I re read this post, I think I need to move the BLossomtimes sooner rather than later, and give some more light to Alister.

John, I appreciate your retrieving this post. I just went out to smell Blossomtime. It is early in the morning when the fragrance should be present if there is any. Although I seldom can smell a rose, if I put my nose up to the Blossomtime bloom, it has a pleasant fragrance. I am truly not a good source, though. People come into my garden and talk about the wonderful fragrance, I cannot smell it. I smell other things just fine, and have a problem in my classroom with the girls and guys who wear such strong fragrances, but in my garden, it just smells maybe clean, but not the fragrance from the roses.

Someone else will respond, I hope, with a better comment.

Sammy