Well, hopefully someone can clue us in. I have lots of roses defoliate but then push new growth....
Hope you are doing well!
Susan

She has NEVER been a good rose for me. She won't bloom but she won't die, either, so she lives hidden by other roses.

Leafs out nicely in spring, MAY throw one bloom, defoliates when the weather gets hot then starts over in the cooler fall. Lovely bloom in photos, I just haven't had good results with her in 2 different climates.

I uses to get a great spring flush-it was in front of my windows and the whole house smelled great. I planted a late blooming clematis to disguise the bare canes.
It's strange but I feel like I'm always taking a chance-my first Sally Holmes did nothing for 3 years-replaced it with another one which is doing great. Both own root. But honestly must of my hybrid musks are not at their best this time of hear, except for Ghislaine de Feligonde and Darlow's enigma. However I have NEVER seen Darlow's covered with blooms. Strange.

Mine always produced a beautiful spring flush, then defoliated from blackspot and pretty much sat there. Spray it, or move it to an inconspicuous place, or get rid of it (which I finally tried to do, although bits are coming up all around the new replacement).

It is supposed to be hardier than other HMsk. I guess that is the main asset.

My Lavendar Lassie is having an amazing season. It bloomed like crazy for weeks in early summer. Since then, no blooms but amazing basal breaks: four new main canes. I think it's been in my garden 6 years? I'm not sure. The last couple years I have done little to my roses. What I have learned is how resilient they are and that many roses truly do take years to hit their stride. In their 5th, 6th, 7th years, many of my roses are surprising me. For example, I planted Alchymist about 5 years ago and it was always a small, pitiful rose. This summer, it was huge and breathtaking. Gorgeous. Had I gotten rid of it, I never would have realized its potential. Just my experiences...
Shelley

I'm a few zones colder than you, but my ownroot Lavender Lassie wasn't a strong rebloomer in the 5 or 6 years I've had it in the ground, except for a decent spring bloom. I can't recall if it had much blackspot, it just didn't bloom much after spring. It's in part shade, but so are my other hybrid musks and they bloom a LOT more than LL - Wilhelm, Francesca, Cornelia, Petit de Terre Franche, offhand - all those put LL to shame.

Bottom line is that I don't think it's you. It'll survive the BS fine in all likelihood, but it's not that exciting a plant in mid-summer.

Cynthia

Ours in the cemetery has a nice spring flush and has occasionally looks fabulous. Here's a photo of it on a rebar arch - Cornelia is to the right and Cl American Beauty is on the arch behind. Our plant has Rose Mosaic Virus and even in our dry climate gets blackspot and defoliates a bit. Gets some powdery mildew, too. Very little repeat bloom if any. Not my favorite rose by far. In fact, now that I think more about it, I don't know why it's still in the cemetery... not a found rose, not an old rose, diseased and once-blooming. Phooey.
Anita

Thanks you all. I guess I chose her back several years ago when I was enthralled with all the rose hype there seems to be about certain roses. I feel like I read something stating that she isn't even a HM?
Anita, my spring flush looked like that. For some reason I thought she had "scattered blooms all summer".
No new growth means no fall flush so she is done for the season.
She's in a pretty inconspicuous spot but my real real estate is super valuable.
I will leave her until I find something to take her place but I'm truly disappointed...
Live and learn and thanks to all for opinions and sympathy!
Susan

Rats! I planted one in front of my mother's window about a year ago. It is a nekked one cane wonder and now I am so disappointed to hear of its history....

Mine had a lovely spring flush. At the moment she is denuded by blackspot and soggy with rain. But she'll come again. Not everyone is wonderful all the time.

Now I don't feel so bad!

Hi Susan, all is well here, thanks!

Diane

Anita, LOL! The Lavender Lassie in the cemetery looked (and smelled) so stunning in April, that I ordered one from Rogue Valley. Obviously it's still small, but it's doing quite well in its pot. There is an enormous bush of LL planted on either side of an arch in the display garden of Heirloom Roses, and it's really gorgeous. When I was there two weeks ago, there were quite a lot of buds on it.

Duplicate post- annoying, sorry.

This post was edited by zjw727 on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 1:00

I put 'The Generous Gardener' in Lassie's crappy site with the same laissez-faire cultural policy. After about 12 months, his leaves are spotless and he is starting to repeat a bit.

This is a rose that is on some peoples most beautiful list but I personally have never seen a great looking one. I keep looking and so if anyone has an outstanding one please share it.

Kitty were you referring to The Generous Gardener or LL?
Michael thanks for the info. I will check out the Generous Gardener. What size is he for you?
Susan

Mine is a big plant, very pretty in spring, very fragrant, but with all our rain this year mine has mostly defoliated too. I think it defoliated last year, but it remains very vigorous. I don't know how to post more than one picture per post. That cemetery LL is gorgeous.

I haven't been able to get a very good whole plant picture but you can see it has a lot of blooms in spring:

I've had a funny experience with LL. I have two of them in different areas of the garden. One is a big plant which one year threw itself up into an oak tree and was magnificent. The other one has dithered for years. The situations they are in are similar. I agree about the rebloom. Mine blooms until July and then just stops. It doesn't push out new growth well either, which is part of the rebloom problem I think.
Thanks for the gorgeous photos everyone.

Thanks you all. I'm glad to know it isn't me. Erasmus, yours is gorgeous. Do you get a fall flush? Is she really a once bloomer?
Susa

Thank you. It seems to me it used to repeat better, but I have a shade problem in my garden that has only gotten worse the bigger my trees get. Luckily a big tree was hit by lightening this spring and without that tree many roses that were declining are perking up and blooming right now. I think my LL will bloom in fall. I have a little one in my front yard that has repeated already. It's one of my favorite hm's. Does get more bs than some. My big one is going up into an apple tree. Pam, it's funny how the same rose can be great in one location and not so good in a similar location. I've seen that several times. Susan, you might try growing LL in a different spot and see if it does any better.

Susan, my Generous Gardener is only a year in the ground from 1-gal. But I have seen a mature plant that was 7x7 after spring pruning to 4'. This plant was free of blackspot.

It has pretty, fragrant flowers but needs deadheading to repeat. It seems to be fairly shade tolerant since mine is blooming in a bad location. I don't know how well it will repeat, but at least some buds are forming.

GG can be grown as a climber.