Ooo, that’s adorable, Robert! What a pretty form!
I think it’s gorgeous, very exotic looking. The blossoms are huge!
So far it’s handling the desert heat ok too. Repeat is supposed to be pretty good but many climbers don’t repeat well here.
I’m guessing it would will bloom perpetually at the coast.
It supposedly sets seed like mad. I am trying it now. There must be over a hundred buds on this specimen I budded in September of last year.
I really like my Gold Medal, Marilyn Monroe, and St. Patrick in my zone 5b/6a midwest garden. I know many people have issues with winter tenderness with them–especially with St. Patrick. It is a heat lover and at its’ best for me in the heat of summer. I don’t think it’s blooms or Marilyns shrink at all in the heat, but Gold Medal will. I winter protect with a newspaper collar filled with cotton burr compost and mine seem to winter well. Coincidentally I specifically checked this afternoon, and my two MM bushes have 6 and 8 canes apiece starting this spring. SP had 5, and I think GM had about 6 if I recall that one correctly, so I must be doing them right one way or another.
I haven’t tried any breeding with St. Patrick or Marilyn Monroe yet. I tried collecting pollen from SP, but I got almost nil from I believe four roses worth of anthers. I have used Gold Medal as both pollen and seed parent with good results as a whole. I think I will try MM’s pollen this year just for fun to see what I get. I really like MM as a whole but wish she weren’t so darned thorny making her not fun to work with.
John