Unfortunately, the summer weather in Georgia is closer to that of
Brisbane and Perth than that of Sydney. We do get some freezes in
January, though usually nothing drastic.

But summers are both hot and humid. Take January and February with
Perth's high temperatures, Brisbane's low temperatures, and Sydney's
average rainfall. Put all that together and you've got July and
August in Atlanta. Once the rose bushes get established, they usually
do okay, but it is qute stressful on first and second year plants.

I don't know how La Passionata would fare in the heat, but if I could
get it here, I'd love to find out. A fragrant red whose 6 inch blooms
are considered the small ones certainly merits going to great lengths
to obtain.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a source for it in North
America, and there is some sort of restriction preventing direct
import of roses from Australia or New Zealand. I didn't follow it
entirely, but it has something to do with a potential virus that most
experts believe does not really exist. (Some kind of rose WMD, I
suppose...)

I'll have to look into the legality of having it sent to an
intermediary destination (England or Italy, perhaps) and then from
there to here. Or maybe I'll just have to take up hybridizing and
spend the rest of my life trying to create my own...





On 10 Feb 2004 12:47:43 GMT, Daniel Hanna
wrote:

In torgo wrote:
Last year's theme was testing out every red I could find to see what
performs well in hot climates. (I'm still hoping to eventually get La
Passionata here in the USA. Georgia and Florida have similar climates
to Brisbane and Perth, respectively. Does La Passionata do well in
those areas?) So far most of the dark reds and fragrant reds have
struggled. Kentucky Derby, Chrysler Imperial, and Oklahoma seem to be
doing best. We'll see if the others fare better in year two.

Torgo, I am in Sydney rather than Brisbane or Perth. Brisbane is not
really renowned for roses as its humidity is a little too tropical -
Perth is a bit better but the summers are really hot.

Anyway I can say that Sydney, which is frost free in winter and warm
temperate overall, is great for La Passionata. It's my best red. Huge,
shapely, and one of those fragrances that makes you draw breath
involuntarily. Interestingly the other reds you mentioned all do fairly
well here too, especially Kentucky Derby (and we're a LONG way from
Kentucky!)

Good luck trying to find La Passionata in the US. The breeders, Delbard (
France) were so convinced it had disappeared that they recycled the name
and gave it to a new rose that's a yellow blend. I kind of shocked
their PR department when I told them, in broken French, that the
beautiful 1969 rose of that name was alive and well here in Oz :-)

You can find some photos he
http://www.hanna.id.au/roses (search for Passionata).