Awwww, I'm glad she got a reprieve. Spice might not be the belle of the ball, but she does churn out her little flowers reliably & she has a wonderful heritage. And I love the scent of her leaves & peduncles.

Glad you're enjoying her. I hate to remove plants & rarely do.

If she is sending you this message I think you better give her another year !!

Florence

Oh, she's here to stay permanently. After all the mildew and blackspot this spring on other roses, any rose that's behaved itself is considered a jewel. Thankfully, even the hard cases like SdlM are coming around and looking healthier. Spice has a certain dainty air about her, and now that she's put on so much new growth and so many buds, she's earned my gratitude and, yes, affection.

Ingrid

I hope she gives you many years of pleasure I'm not familiar with this rose---I will check on HMF

Florence

Ingrid...

Some roses simply takes years before they come into their own. I don't know how long you have had the rose, but with some of my roses, they just looked ratty and like they were in the wrong garden for several years and then they hit their stride and became the rose I wanted them to be. Let's hope that's true for your 'Spice'.

Smiles,
Lyn

I know I've had Spice for at least three years and I think probably longer, but for tea roses, and others too, that's not really to say that they're mature and have reached their peak yet. I have a feeling this rose is going to reward me for being patient (not one of my virtues, although I'm sure no one here has noticed that), and become more beautiful and rewarding with each passing year.

Ingrid

Ingrid

Maybe your Spice has been chatting with Michael's Marie Pavie!

Carol

Anything's possible, Carol, roses can be very secretive......

Ingrid

I love my Spice, she is out front next to the walk, w/Ducher on the other side and Louis Philippe just behind.... they are so valuable especially now that the heat and humidity has set in and the others behind them are B/S, they stay green and covered w/blooms and make-up for the rest of the mess and hide the sad stuff behind them! LOL, sally

Alas, Ingrid. I sp'd mine this year as it did not like it here. Too wet, not enough sun. This year is sunnier than it has been in the last three springs, so it might have done better this year, but in the long run I don't think it was good for here. The thing I liked the best about it in the south was the fragrance - a citrusy- grapefruit. It grew like gangbusters there in heat and humidity. Gean

I bought a Reine d' Anjou' from hortico.com last year and was greatly disappointed, the blooms were very small, pink and common, like a messy Mlle. Cecille Brunner, and I have C.B. in original, Spray, and Climbing forms.
Then Holy Moley Guacamole! Reine d' Anjou turned from being a wallflower to the queen of the garden this year, large sumptuous rich pink and lilac roses in profusion, elegant and deeply cupped with petals arranged perfectly, with a long bloom cycle from plenty of side buds. The light perfume drifts above the plant and I am in love with it forever. The queen of anjou, just needed a year and better amendments to show off her glorious self.

I am glad I didn't move her to "siberia' where I would rarely see her.

My neighbor doesn't like her 'Spice;' much, but it does serve as an excellent background plant, because of nearly constant bloom, to show off a darker blooming, and smaller rosebush in front of it.

Lux.

I'm afraid poor Spice will never be the belle of the ball; she's the plainer sister who makes the prettier ones look even better, but along with that comes reliability and good health, and those are not to be sneezed at.

Lux, I'm glad your Reine d'Anjou decided to be her beautiful self in her second year. I had to look her up; she's a lovely rose. I wonder whether yours will have some rebloom later in the year.

Ingrid

My Spice is a winner for me. She is in partial shade. Relatively small and delicate looking, but full and bushy and healthy. Just wanted to give a good report. Lou

If I hadn't loved her so much in the south I wouldn't have tried again up here with her. It was grown on the north side of my house and seemed to thrive in a shady spot.

It had both a strong pepper fragrance and a strong citrus fragrance, and I never really understood what was the trigger that changed it from the pepper to the grapefruit. It may have been heat that did it; it seems to me that earlier in the season it was pepper and then citrus. So odd one morning to go out and smell grapefruit when previously it had been pepper. I am a fan of the rose and it is one I'd grow again if I lived in a warm area.

I hope yours pleases you later, Ingrid. I do like it a lot. Gean

I'm glad yours is doing well Lou. It does take a few years to build itself up and I suspect yours will get larger with time.

Gean, I've only ever smelled pepper on mine but I haven't sniffed it lately. Scent in roses seems so ephemeral and changeable. A carnation always smells like a carnation but roses are chameleons in that respect.

Ingrid