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olga_6b

My Favorite Lady

olga_6b
15 years ago

This is my favorite rose, Lady Hillingdon. Always one of the first roses to bloom (with the exception of early yellows and spinosissimas).

I like everything about this rose, vigor, overwhelming amount of blooms, grace, tea fragrance and color like no other rose.

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Obelisk on the left is 8 feet tall.

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View from my kitchen window above the sink. I see this picture when i am doing dishes.

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Olga

Comments (36)

  • malibu_rose
    15 years ago

    Gorgeous!

  • sergeantcuff
    15 years ago

    How beautiful Olga! I might offer to do your dishes on Sunday during the tour.

  • LindyB
    15 years ago

    I bought this one because of your beautiful pictures about three years ago.

  • ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
    15 years ago

    Oh my gosh Olga, that is magnificent. It certainly puts my puny little specimen to shame. I'll have to show it this picture of yours. How old is your bush, if I might ask? Do you ever prune it at all? Your flowers are much darker than mine since we've had record heat for the last few days.

    Ingrid

  • melissa_thefarm
    15 years ago

    If I knew where in Europe I could get your clone, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My plants of 'Lady Hillingdon' are pathetic, and I haven't heard of a good form. (The flowers on mine are identical to all the pictures and descriptions I've seen, including yours.)

    Melissa

  • olga_6b
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Ingrid, my bush is probably 6-7 year old. I do prune it quite a lot every spring. I shorten all canes by approx 1/3 and remove all canes that are older then 3 year old. This LH bush was up to 2nd floor windows before prunning. In my climate I never saw a problem with prunning of Tea roses. I grow many Teas and prune them all every spring to fit the space. Never saw a rose that sulked after this.
    This LH came from Uncommon Rose.
    Olga

  • oath5
    15 years ago

    You spray The Lady, right? Or is she an acceptable no-spray candidate....I love apricot/yellow so much. This reminds me, I need to buy Arethusa again...need more warm colors!

  • olga_6b
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Max, LH unfortunately needs spraying in our climate. I am trying to switch to no spray garden, but there are few roses that I just can't be without. Lady Hillingdon is definitely one of them. I think I will keep just a few divas:(
    Olga

  • zeffyrose
    15 years ago

    I wanted this this Lady so badly but she was not happy in my garden---Probably lack of sun-----
    It seems strange because Pa. is not that far from you --almost the same Zone but I sure don't have roses like yours----
    I would love to see your gardens.

    Florence-

  • carla17
    15 years ago

    Olga, yours is a wonderful rich color, I love your photos. Thank you for sharing.

    Carla

  • carolfm
    15 years ago

    She is my favorite Lady, too. You have a beautiful specimen, Olga. Mine is almost as large as yours and gets pruned by 1/3 in spring also.

    Carol

  • buford
    15 years ago

    I lost my first Lady in the drought last year. I now have a band from Vintage that has already bloomed twice! I hope it will be as big as yours some day.

    I remember David Stone saying this was his favorite rose and he's planted it everywhere he's lived.

  • melissa_thefarm
    15 years ago

    Olga, thanks. I think I shall give them a call.
    Carol, where did yours come from? I've never seen Lady Hillingdon over 4" here, and that was grafted. Mine get up to about 2", and are sad bushes at that.
    Melissa

  • olga_6b
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Melissa, Uncommon Rose nursery doesn't exist anymore. This is very unfortunate because they carried wonderful collection of all types of roses.
    Olga

  • patricianat
    15 years ago

    I always fall in love with this rose all over again when you post it each year. It is one of the real highlights of the GW antique forum, to see how a well-kept, well-cared-for, great clone of Lady Hillingdon can look so wonderful. I am totally in envy of this rose.

  • ronda_in_carolina
    15 years ago

    I never thought I would enjoy doing the dishes.......

  • linrose
    15 years ago

    Olga, you've just convinced me to put mine in the ground. It's been in a pot for a year and is stretching upward with abandon! I think it's saying "Let me out!" Now that I know it is reliably hardy here I have no reason not to.

    Just lovely, and what a nice spot for her being a harbinger of spring outside your kitchen window.

  • albertine
    15 years ago

    As I said in an earlier post, this is the only rose I have two of - I just got a second last fall to do a symmetrical thing in the front bed. This is only my fourth year with teas, so I am still learning about their growth habits. I didn't shorten the older Lady this spring, but now wish I had as she has gone floppy on me. She is very healthy here with other roses showing much more blackspot than she does - I stripped most of the leaves last winter - she is about 5 feet - and she is really clean this spring. The foliage is so dark and red in the early spring she is worth planting for that alone.

  • seattlesuze
    15 years ago

    Olga, I can't see your photos yet, probably a browser problem, but want to make a quick post here about Uncommon Rose. Their stock was purchased by Rogue Valley Roses and Janet can help anyone looking for a particular rose, I'm sure.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Uncommon Rose is now Rogue Valley Roses

  • melissa_thefarm
    15 years ago

    Right. When I did a Google search on "Uncommon Rose" I was led to "Rogue Valley Roses", and from there to a pleasant telephone conversation with Janet Inada. She says their clone of 'Lady Hillingdon' came from Vintage. The Vintage catalog states that their clone of LH was collected. So I wrote an e-mail to Vintage this morning asking whether their LH is available in Europe. This kind of hunting is fun, and I'm so glad we have a flat rate for international telephone calls!

    Melissa

  • bluesibe
    15 years ago

    Olga, somehow I guessed that your favorite Lady is "the Lady". She is the best rose. Everything from her new red cane growth to her buds to her lilting, fragrant blooms are wonderful to look at. It almost makes doing dishes worthwhile ...

    Carol

  • carolfm
    15 years ago

    Melissa, Lady Hillingdon was one of the first OGR's in my garden. It came from Ashdown. It's been in the ground about 7 years and it grew well from the very beginning.

    Carol

  • melissa_thefarm
    15 years ago

    Carol,
    Thank you, ma'am; that helps. I am continuing my researches.
    Melissa

  • harryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania
    15 years ago

    Olga, methinks you are enabling again. What a bright, happy picture your window shot is!

  • solicitr
    15 years ago

    There is an anecdote, supposedly true, about an English vicar who was somthing of a rosarian. Showing a guest around his garden, he came to Climbing Lady H, which apparently the guest had only seen in bush form. "Ah," said the man of the cloth, "Lady Hillingdon is good in a bed, but she's better against a wall!" Supply your own embarrassment to taste.

  • Molineux
    15 years ago

    In regards to LADY HILLINGDON in a no spray garden, I think it is possible in anyplace other than Maryland. I don't know what it is about our area but we experience the worst black spot in the country. Case in point: COQUETTE DES BLANCHES. This Bourbon/Portland cross was a complete black spot disaster in my MD garden. As an experiment I moved it to my mother's coastal Virginia garden (USDA Zone 7b). No spray and CdB has been completely clean since March. In fact, she has shown better resistance than either BELINDA'S DREAM or DUCHESSE DE BRABANT, both of which get a little BS on the lower foliage.

    LADY HILLINGDON is worth trying no spray in other regions of the country.

  • york_rose
    15 years ago

    Olga, you take the most spectacular pictures!

    What do you think would happen if the Lady was planted in a totally exposed location (in your area)? Would she survive the winters on her own or would you have to baby her through them?

    Molineux, you have the perfect climate for black spot fungus. Your summers are warm, but not too brutal for too long, and your summers are always VERY humid. Up here in Boston, even in my lawn-sprinkler drenched garden, I don't see any black spot anywhere until the first bloom flush is fading out, then just as the new growth starts in the spots suddenly appear on the oldest leaves.

  • olga_6b
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    York Rose, I know several people here who has LH in exposed location. It all unfortunately depend on spraying. If the rose is kept healthy going into winter, it gets very little dieback even in exposed location. If it was defoliated from BS most of the summer, her chances in winter are much more grim.So unfortunately this rose in my climate requires spraying to stay alive.
    I am trying to switch to no spray garden and it kills me to know that my LH most probably will decline. It is so big that this will tike some time, but I know too well what will happen. My sister and two of my friends tried to grow it here no spray. No more LH in their gardens.
    Olga

  • daisyincrete Z10? 905feet/275 metres
    15 years ago

    Olga, Thank-you for posting your beautiful pictures.

    Melissa, If you find a good source for Lady Hillingdon in Europe, please will you let me know?
    Daisy

  • gnabonnand
    15 years ago

    Olga, your 'Lady Hillingdon' is beyond words.
    I really enjoy it when you post pics of it.
    This is one of the very few old tea roses that I have never seen "in person".

    Randy

  • melissa_thefarm
    15 years ago

    Daisy,
    I'll try and remember, and you can remind me if I don't. Do you know how to root roses from cuttings? I can't remember if we've talked about this.
    Melissa

  • daisyincrete Z10? 905feet/275 metres
    15 years ago

    Melissa, I have only ever taken hardwood cuttings in the autumn in the U.K. Most of them rooted, but none of them ever grew strongly. Why, I don't know.
    In the U.K. nearly all roses, except species are sold grafted.
    Daisy

  • floweryearth
    15 years ago

    Olga, I have never cared for yellow roses... until now. These pix, especially (and mainly) the whole bush shot have changed my mind! BEAUTIFUL!

  • Molineux
    14 years ago

    I was reviewing some older threads and ran across this gem.

    Enjoy,

    Patrick

  • york_rose
    14 years ago

    I have linked this thread on a few other posts when the subject of Lady Hillingdon came up.

    I doubt I will grow this rose, living where I do this far north, but I LOVE THESE PHOTOS!

  • buford
    14 years ago

    I just replaced mine. It's a tiny thing but already has a bloom that is almost larger than the entire plant. It's beautiful. I can't wait till it's the size of yours olga.