One of the top local nurseries sent out a newsletter offering 40% off
all "potted bare-root" roses this weekend. Hmmm.... potted
bare-root??? Turns out they got a MASSIVE shipment of bare-roots
from Weeks, which they potted in 3-gal containers there at the nursery
and put out for sale at $22 a pop.

Way overpriced, but 40% off brings it back down to earth, so I did a
little shopping. I bought Rio Samba, Oktoberfest, and Chihuly. I
guess tropical blends will be one of the themes for my garden this
year, since I have Love And Peace on order plus established Granada
and Voodoo bushes already in the yard.

Add those to the Tumbling Waters that has already broken dormancy
soaking in a plastic tub in my kitchen, a Fair Bianca, Kathryn Morley,
Scentimental, and McCartney Rose that are already on order, and a
Betty Boop waiting for me in my mother's yard. Planting season hasn't
even begun, and I'm already out of space!! (Heaven help me when the
late spring clearance sales begin.)

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.

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).

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).

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).

In torgo wrote:
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...

I think you might be able to find La Passionata in England, torgo. It's
certainly mentioned on the Peter Beales site, as I recall.

And as for 6" blooms being the small ones, that's a little bit
exaggerated - although nearly all of the blooms ARE 6" plus when fully
blown. It's definitely the largest red bloom I've ever seen, and one of
the most fragrant. It's a nice healthy bush too, with very large
foliage and very thick stems.

Unfortunately, Classic Roses does not seem to carry it. Same story
for a chain of Canadian garden centers that carries most Delbard
roses.

However, it is once again listed on Delbard's own web site. (Do we
have you to thank for waking them up and reminding them they once sold
a very nice red blend HT with huge fragrant blooms?) I've sent a
few e-mails to places here that have Delbard connections, and one of
them is already looking into ordering it.

So maybe there's hope for getting it here in North America after all.

Other tidbits I've found on it: it also sold under the name "Betsy
Ross". It's not a true red, but a "red blend". It appears to be a
small bush, typically less than a meter tall. Does this sound like
the La Passionata that you have? How well does yours rebloom?




On 11 Feb 2004 21:04:57 GMT, Daniel Hanna
wrote:

In torgo wrote:
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...

I think you might be able to find La Passionata in England, torgo. It's
certainly mentioned on the Peter Beales site, as I recall.

And as for 6" blooms being the small ones, that's a little bit
exaggerated - although nearly all of the blooms ARE 6" plus when fully
blown. It's definitely the largest red bloom I've ever seen, and one of
the most fragrant. It's a nice healthy bush too, with very large
foliage and very thick stems.

Unfortunately, Classic Roses does not seem to carry it. Same story
for a chain of Canadian garden centers that carries most Delbard
roses.

However, it is once again listed on Delbard's own web site. (Do we
have you to thank for waking them up and reminding them they once sold
a very nice red blend HT with huge fragrant blooms?) I've sent a
few e-mails to places here that have Delbard connections, and one of
them is already looking into ordering it.

So maybe there's hope for getting it here in North America after all.

Other tidbits I've found on it: it also sold under the name "Betsy
Ross". It's not a true red, but a "red blend". It appears to be a
small bush, typically less than a meter tall. Does this sound like
the La Passionata that you have? How well does yours rebloom?




On 11 Feb 2004 21:04:57 GMT, Daniel Hanna
wrote:

In torgo wrote:
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...

I think you might be able to find La Passionata in England, torgo. It's
certainly mentioned on the Peter Beales site, as I recall.

And as for 6" blooms being the small ones, that's a little bit
exaggerated - although nearly all of the blooms ARE 6" plus when fully
blown. It's definitely the largest red bloom I've ever seen, and one of
the most fragrant. It's a nice healthy bush too, with very large
foliage and very thick stems.

In torgo wrote:
However, it is once again listed on Delbard's own web site. (Do we
have you to thank for waking them up and reminding them they once sold
a very nice red blend HT with huge fragrant blooms?)

If you mean this:
http://www.delbard.com/boutique/fich...t.asp?id=10788
then that's the 1997 La Passionata (varietal name Delapo), not the 1969
original (Delup).


Other tidbits I've found on it: it also sold under the name "Betsy
Ross".

Yes, it was also sold under that name in the US.


It's not a true red, but a "red blend". It appears to be a
small bush, typically less than a meter tall. Does this sound like
the La Passionata that you have? How well does yours rebloom?

That description must surely refer to the new La Passionata, which does
look like a red blend. The 1969 one is definitely straight red. At
full height it grows over 1 metre. It reblooms very well for me -
steady production all season rather than flushes.

For more, have a look at:
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=15453 (read the comments there)
http://treloar-roses.com.au/files/la_passionata.htm
http://www.hanna.id.au/roses

Good luck in your search.

In torgo wrote:
However, it is once again listed on Delbard's own web site. (Do we
have you to thank for waking them up and reminding them they once sold
a very nice red blend HT with huge fragrant blooms?)

If you mean this:
http://www.delbard.com/boutique/fich...t.asp?id=10788
then that's the 1997 La Passionata (varietal name Delapo), not the 1969
original (Delup).


Other tidbits I've found on it: it also sold under the name "Betsy
Ross".

Yes, it was also sold under that name in the US.


It's not a true red, but a "red blend". It appears to be a
small bush, typically less than a meter tall. Does this sound like
the La Passionata that you have? How well does yours rebloom?

That description must surely refer to the new La Passionata, which does
look like a red blend. The 1969 one is definitely straight red. At
full height it grows over 1 metre. It reblooms very well for me -
steady production all season rather than flushes.

For more, have a look at:
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=15453 (read the comments there)
http://treloar-roses.com.au/files/la_passionata.htm
http://www.hanna.id.au/roses

Good luck in your search.