I purchased this rose last year believing it to be “very disease resistant” only to find it rapidly defoliated as a result of a bad balckspot infection. I proceeded to throw it in the bin, and kissed good-bye a damned good amount of money I spent on it.
Just out of curiosity, has anybody bred with this variety?
George,
There are several races of blackspot. It’s possible that this roses is quite resistant to those races common where it was tested–and not at all resistant to the blackspot where you live. Susceptibility to fungal infections is also affected by endophytic fungi and by nutrition and other environmental factors.
I haven’t used this rose in breeding–hadn’t even seen it before. It has a wonderful color which probably does not look especially good with black and yellow spots. 
Peter
Yes, too right!
Sydney has a fairly humid climate, and whatever blackspot race we have, it seems to defoliate nearly every hybrid tea I have seen here, and this is no exaggeration.