The only rose I have that is quartered is Austin's William Shakespeare 2000--so I guess it is my favorite!
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Kate

Sonia Rykiel. The color and the perfume. Some have the color, others have the perfume and this one has the best of both.

I love quartered roses and fragrance. WS2000 is just incredible to me, although I will find out if it will do well in my desert heat (this will be second year). I love the Sonia Rykiel that I have seen but I hear that it is a water hog. kittymoonbeam?

Heritage is often described as "heartbreakingly beautiful" and I would agree. Also the lemon scent is delicious. Too bad the flowers are so short-lived. Claire rose has nice flower in the local rose garden, but I call it the "cardboard rose" since petals are so stiff and scentless. Madame Hardy looked awful in the local rose garden, so I am hesitant to try it. Madame Isaac Pereire is not quite as quartered as I would wish (but that doesn't stop me from loving her). There are a few Austin apricot colored quartered roses, that are well scented from what I hear - I wish I was fond of that color! Alchemist has such perfect flowers. Falstaff is gorgeous, I wonder if that would do well here. Postings on this rose indicate it doesn't bloom much. Still, I am a bit obsessed with the flowers. I can't say that I like the form of Souvenir de la Malmaison very much or the scent, but if I grew her I know I would like her. The photos I've seen of Baronne Prevost are gorgeous. No photos of the bush however, which makes me wonder. Paul Barden's Barbara Oliva, Allegra, and Etienne look to have just about perfect quartering. I may just have to find a place for one of them. Or all of them.

I have Sonia Rykiel and she is beautiful. Doesn't seem to need more water than any other rose, at least in suburban L.A.
I bought 2 Falstaffs last fall and had flowers then, but none yet this year after pruning. He is a magnificent bloom and I hope they'll keep coming.
Alnwick Rose has a quartered bloom that's a lovely shade of light pink - no fragrance here, but good bloomer.
Enjoy!
Sylvia

Souvenir de la Malmaison is my favorite quartered bloom, and probably my only one if I'm not mistaken. I was lukewarm about this rose for years, finally ordered it and it took about three years for the flowers to achieve their full beauty. The bush is dense and shapely, and it blooms almost non-stop throughout the year. It's now just about my favorite rose in the garden, and I would never be without it (in fact I have two).

Ingrid

Souvenir de la Malmaison is nice, but she is such a slow grower. I only had her for a year and she's still tiny! I wish she could grow faster. Her blooms are truly romantic. I grow mine in a pot so whenever it rains, I would move the pot in a shaded area. I have to admit, soft pink isn't my favorite colour for roses because in full sun and she will turn white and I find white roses very boring.

There is a youtube video clip on Souvenire de la Malmaison for those who are interested...

Here is a link that might be useful: Souvenir de la Malmaison

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Claire Rose - David Austin, 1986

I just reacquired this rose last spring after searching for a source for years. I had grown it on the West Coast over 20 years ago when I first began gardening. The sublime perfection and beauty of the blooms has remained in my psyche ever since.

An early Austin, superseded of course, often compared to Souvenir de La Malmaison. There are indeed some similarities. SDLM is far more fragrant, with a subtle difference in colour, more mauve to my eye. Claire rose is a larger plant, has larger flowers, the plant is much more cold hardy, though blooms in flushes as opposed to SDLM's continuous bloom.

Still, the beauty of the individual blooms is staggering in its perfection. There is no other rose that quite compare's IMHO.

Cheers, RRL

Jumbojimmy, rideauroselad: you are inspiring me to reconsider SDLM!

This post was edited by noseometer on Sun, Mar 2, 14 at 10:51