I’ve been doing a little research and John Clements
I have experience with only one variety: ‘The Impressionist’, a “climber”. (in the ‘Altissimo’ style of climbers: stiff and upright)
I was given this as a gift about 9 years ago and it has done very poorly for me. In fact, it is one of a few cultivars I regard as my “Blackspot Canaries”: the first to show when Blackspot is about to take off for the season. It is quickly defoliated and cannot be kept looking presentable without spraying. Judging by their catalog descriptions, I think Heirloom has a very optimistic concept of "disease resistant’ in general.
lol I love Heirlooms but Paul is correct. However, they carry a lot of disease-resistant types by others. I am guessing a few of Clements are pretty good, like Orange Wave, but I do not think most of them are all that disease resistant to blackspot. One of their flagship roses is Morning Has Broken, which is bred from two horrifically blackspot prone roses, Graham Thomas and Gold Badge. I think MHB is generally healthier than its parents but the point is the general thought of combining those two roses together in the first place. The one thing Clements was good at was color and fragrance, which Heirlooms is big on.
One of the few roses bred from Clements that I like is called The Magician, which I refer to as Bloomfield Dainty 2.0
Thanks guys,
That
Stars N Stripes Forever gets terrible mildew here. We don’t get blackspot at all in these parts, so I can’t tell you about that. But it’s also not a particularly prolific bloomer – Rock & Roll is a much better rose with the same look.
Kathy
Rock n Roll (Weeks, not McGredy) is bred from 2 blackspot prone roses. Its the same dilemma with a different disease =( I considered getting it because the color and foliage is so dramatic but I had to keep my impulses in check. The McGredy version, oddly enough, is the same story.
Paul G, when I vist Heirlooms, which i do yearly, I usually just skip over the “house” roses in favor of roses imported from everywhere else. The Magaician caught my eye because it is at an abandoned area of the gardens where it was left to grow on its own. I really loved it, especially in the autumn. It was very much a nice pillar rose with very pretty colors, growth pattern and hips. The disease resistance seemed average. I am sure it is nothing to write home about, but the plant itself felt graceful and smooth. It did not have a tag so it took me a few visits to ID it. I thought it was Sunny June, Capt. Thomas or Bloomfield Dainty but none of them matched correctly. It was then when it hit me that this was a variety they created a while back in time.
As for Heirlooms descriptions, one has to consider their market, which is female baby boomers. They cater to those who want romance, fullness and grace into their gardens. They do not specifically cater to the educated rosarian. It is a smart approach that has held them over in a time of economic downfall for most nursery businesses. They have their hand on the pulse of the market group which has their hands in the pockets of America’s diversified wealth OR their husbands pockets 
haha. It is also a category with their hands on an even more rare commodity – the time to garden.
So, my point is to consider the source of the words.
I used ‘Morning has Broken’ a few years ago with some of my banksia derivatives on Pat Henry’s recommendation.
Blackspot resistance has been good in the South.
It’s quite fertile as pollen parent. Descendants need further evaluation for Blackspot resistance.
I’m not expecting much. At least they don’t Mildew so far.
Yeah, I noticed a lot of the Gold Badge descendants have a lot of favor in areas with high heat, arid air and mildew prone conditions. It probably helps that it is stacked with Pernetiana (yet decent branching habit) and the color saturation helps ward off the color degradation from UV. I always wondered if the chrome yellow spectrum of yellows is the most reflective, therefore the most UV resistant yellow? Freedom is really similar to Gold Badge in this regard. Sunsprite is not too far off. Midas Touch also comes to mind. And then there are the newer yellows that are like this odd neon lemon-lime tone. I’m thinking of Mellow Yellow and Apertif. I was so excited when Mellow Yellow came out cause I remember the drink as a kid in South Dakota, but good lord what an ugly rose x_X. It’s like a fountain of vitamin-B laced urine in the garden =/
“but good lord what an ugly rose x_X. It’s like a fountain of vitamin-B laced urine in the garden =/”
Jadae, you say that like it’s a BAD thing! LOL! You know how hard it is to find a GOOD yellow rose. A friend’s favorite story about Ralph Moore is when a gentleman took him to task about WHY breeders hadn’t come up with a perfect yellow rose. Ralph just stood and listened, then responded, “If you knew how hard it was to get where we’ve gotten, you’d thank breeders everywhere you have ANY yellow roses!”
Thanks for all the good input,
That
I wish they would list the parentage for their roses. Most don’t have it listed.
Some don’t list them, feeling the information is “proprietary”. Personally, I feel more don’t because they don’t know it or don’t want to make the effort to make it known.
From what I gather regarding general atmsophere there, I just dont think they care. It just does not seem to be a part of their world. Its like some unique perceptive state there, lol.
Heirloom catalog came today. It was probably the fewest new intros I have ever seen them do, which is likely smart. They keep renaming their UK introductions though, which I find maddening. As I have stated before, they do it for the image of charm and appeal. They could care elss about classifications, the ARS and all that jazz, lol. I do not mind that they do it for their market, but I wish they could let the rest of the world remain organized. I have Red Abundance from them, which I love (best red FL I have ever grown) but… they have sold it under multiple names. Deciphering which variety I was actually buying then was like solving equations. Imagine if I was Joe Blow the Weekend Warrior… ugh.
Don’t worry, Joe Blow, the Weekend Warrior, is ONLY going to drop his dime at the home improvement or 99 Cent store for something mislabeled and dried out. Think Garden Web, “Happy, happy Rose Dance”. That was from his wife!
I will long chuckle over the Home Depot plants of Rise’n Shine patio trees tagged “Harison’s Yellow, The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Dang! I didn’t know THAT!