Hi Kate, I answered your question on the ARF! Sorry for the delay, I just saw it. :-) You NEED this rose.

Carol

Thanks Carol! Please don't apologize, I'm just impatient. I'm going to order this rose for sure. That is one incredibly picture of yours. I'd love to see how it looks in the ground sometime.

Kate

Here you go. Not a great photo but at least you can see that he is still blooming and happy. He put up two huge canes that are taller than me by fall ( that would be over 5 ft 4 inches :-)) You will love him. Hoov has hers in the ground and I think she said it was over 6 ft tall. So, be thinking about a spot in the ground for him in the next few years.

This was taken not long after he was planted. Other than some minor sulking, he barely noticed. You can see that he was already land grabbing.

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Carol

I think it would be a great rose for a container- not too big, and the container will raise it up where it is easier to enjoy its awesome fragrance.

Mine is 6' tall for some reason. I think normally it is much smaller. I have no idea why mine is so big. It is a lovely rose with quick rebloom. Here it is last spring after a hard pruning. It is to the top of the wall these days.

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Hoov, mine is headed for 6 ft as well. It just took it a while to get there :-). Your plant is gorgeous! It obviously likes your climate.

Carol

Holy cats! After reading your posts and seeing those wonderful pictures (thank you Carol and Hoov) I can't wait. Both of yours are very vigorous and beautiful.

Thank you both and thanks jb for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Kate

My FD has been in a 15 gallon pot for several years. It blooms like crazy, and stays to around 3-4 feet. I do deadhead it hard-ish to keep it in line. But I am curious about you guys' FDs who are 6 feet tall. Are you not so much into the medium to hard deadheading? I have a few roses who really resent the hard deadheading and sulk a bit, and a few who want to grow large no matter how hard I deadhead them. But FD seems to take it just fine. Anyway, it's fine in a pot for me.

Susan

Susan:

I think the difference in how large they grow is interesting. If mine stays small and can grow in a pot for a couple of years I'll be happy but then again if it turns out to be really vigorous and a reliable bloomers like yours I'll just need to find space in the garden for it earlier than planned.

Chuck:

Great picture. Very pretty indeed, I love it. You know I don't have much familiarity with teas so this should be fun.

Thank you both!

Kate

Are you not so much into the medium to hard deadheading?

I just snap to the abcission layer with FD. I get faster and larger rebloom on FD that way--and each successive round of growth is only 4-8"--FD builds up slowly. Other roses in the yard I do take off 2' or 3' at a time because the successive rounds of growth will be 2' or 3' each.

I have a thread on the Antique side, "Barcelona/Francis Dubreil". It seems according to some replies that FD doesn't exist or rather is extinct. Even Vintage admits that the two roses they sell as B and FD are the same.

Now I see in the CRL that there are tons of sources for FD not to mention currently 2 threads on GW about it. And further it is listed in the ARS Encylopedia and no doubt other books as well. What am I missing?

Hoov,

Thanks so much for the info on your deadheading technique with FD. That pretty much explains our difference in size by fall. I might try an experiment next year, and deadhead FD much less hard and see how it does. But b/c about two-thirds of my roses are in 15 gallon pots, I'm always looking to keep the medium to big fellas more in line, with blooms more at eye level.
:-D

Jim,

The whole FD vs. Barcelona debate has been going on for years. I used to pay a lot of attention to these things, but not so much now. Last time I really paid attention (a coupla years ago), the conclusion was that the FDs and Barcelonas currently available are the same rose, and that the real FD is probably lost. These debates are fairly common regarding various roses. It's always interesting to hear the debates and the final consensus!

Susan

Thanks Susan, I thought I was losing my mind.

Still I find it odd that a rose introduced in 1894 while Barcelona in 1932 should emerge the winner. Well if the FD now sold is indeed B.

The picture on HMF by Taganaki sp? is so exquisite I'm bound to pursue this further. Isn't the flower form unusual? Flat outer petals with a distinct center of sort of quartered petals. The only other rose like that I've seen pictures of is Ash Wednesday, in QR and by Paul Barden. I can't remember where I saw that one.

Flat outer petals with a distinct center of sort of quartered petals.

There are a few roses that do this, 'Samaritan' (Harkness 1988) is another. I love that form. It is like a teacup perched on a saucer.

I do think of FD as 'Barcelona'. The growth habit seems more early HT than Tea.

Samaritan, teacup on a saucer...
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My FD has been in a pot for a full year and has done better than he did in ground. I think it is b/c I fertilize my potted roses every 2 wks. with water soluble rose food and they have all responded with better health and vigor and bloom. When he outgrows the pot, I may move him back to the ground, but he does tend to "crisp" real bad here in the heat and humidity. My potted roses only get morning sun in the summer and the air circulation is cooler where they are in the "pot ghetto". The fragrance is luscious, as is that of his closest neighbor, Fisherman's Friend.

Thank you everyone for all the information on Francis Dubreuil.

Buffington 22 appreciate that about how yours has done. I doubt we get as warm as you do even during the hottest part of summer. We generally don't get past 105-ish much and that's toasty. Appreciate your time.

Kate