I wish it was available in the US…
Rob,
Carruth’s ‘Midnight Blue’ is just as nice as this, if not better. MB is an excellent breeder, as is International Herald Tribune, which is also readily available.
I wish MB was available in Australia…I would sure think about buying one LOL!
Is that black spot I see on the foliage here? Midnight Blue and Ebb Tide resist it in the Santa Clarita Valley. I wrapped cuttings of Ebb Tide tonight to see if it works. Yeah, I know, “patented”. Sorry, I bought the danged thing and when I saw that cane on it, I thought, “WRAP IT!” Kim
LOL @ Kim…you crack me up… ET does get a fair dose of BS here, plus a fair amount of defoliation…its ability to bounce back with healthy green leaves is lacking in “my” (shared) garden.
When I first purchased ET last year, I did not see any BS, but later on in that season it got BS pretty bad, and nothing has improved this season. My ET obsession is coming/has come to an end, too bad 
Rob,
Rt 66, produces OP seedlings with as nice, and sometimes better, results. I have found them easy to germinate, very mildew and rust free, and it crosses easily with many types. It often passes along it’s fragrance, and I have found that it also is good at passing along the pollen fragrance when it is the seed parent. Maybe someone in a blackspot zone can share it’s susceptibility to that one. The one thing it is hard to get out of it is colors other than purple, but one of my best seedlings from 2010 came from Rt 66 and is a large dbl yellow bicolor. Many of the offspring are quite free blooming.
‘Midnight Blue’ was in Australia (and may still be) but was never released. Swanes brought it in and it was under trial in their test gardens at the same time as ‘Ebb Tide’. They released ET instead of MB. I’ve tried striking ET cuttngs before and failed. I think we need to reinvent the wheel a bit here, down under, when it comes to making suitable purples… ET aint all it’s cracked up to be IMO here. ‘Route 66’ spots as badly as ET here… I’ve not bred any purples out of ‘Route 66’ yet. Just deep burnt oranges with ‘Hot Chocolate’.
Funny you say that Simon!!! Only last week whilst at the rose growers giving away more of my money to all this obsession, I was told that Midnight Blue rang a bell with him… that he had hear it “was around”…but it was all too vague!! Now I understand what he meant!!!
Assuming of course that MB was tested locally, it is entirely possible that the decision to not release MB here was partly to do with its performance in the local climate…interesting speculation.
Also possible that they went in favour of the more double version in ET… Australian rose tastes are so conservative
Paul,
I did pick up Midnight Blue last season after reading about the results you’ve been getting with it. I’m deciding on what additional purples to add for next season to breed with MB. Forever Royal looked like a nice purple to go with. The order list is now: Ebb Tide and Wild Rover. So, hopefully I’ll come up with some very nice purple offspring.
Jackie,
Thank you for mentioning Route 66. I’m having trouble finding a nursery that sells it. Burlington won’t be offering it for about 3 years. If anyone has a source please let me know.
Yep, that is also very possible indeed Simon. The next time I visit Dural, I might pop into Swanes and ask them about it. Why not?!