I forgot to ask about this rose in my recent query. What do you all who grow it have to say about it? Strengths, weaknesses, rate of rebloom, et cetera? All of Paul's roses seem fantastic, I just don't know if they're all fantastic for this coastal So Cal climate.

The photos of it up in San Jose are beautiful, do you think I could reasonably expect similar performance? Reve d'Or is the front runner for the spot as of now, but my mom (whom this is for) would love to try more of Paul's roses.

Jay

Reve d'Or will likely give you more "bang for your buck" during the season due to the large flowers with large petals. It's actually quite a bit stiffer growing than Mel's Heritage and its prickles aren't quite as "Chihuahua teeth" as Mel's. As long as there are rose sources, Reve d'Or will remain available. It's had a very long run of popularity and likely will never disappear. Mel's Heritage deserves to be grown much more widely than it currently enjoys. If you're more inclined to pick the plant with the greatest potential landscape value, go Reve. If you're more experimental, you enjoy growing things people won't see everywhere, you have the desire to grow more of Paul's roses, definitely go with Mel. Kim