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'Memorial Day ™' rose Reviews & Comments
Discussion id : 95-564
most recent 25 OCT 16 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 25 OCT 16 by Alexday
I've mixed feelings about this rose. I like it because it has a nice sweet damask fragrance and is low in thorns. I don't like it because the bush is a giant that is both too wide and tall, the blooms do not have an attractive form, and it's a pink color that has some lavender in it which to me looks dull. I will probably replace it with another fragrant pink if I can find someone to help me dig out this monster of a rose.
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Discussion id : 61-119
most recent 17 OCT 12 SHOW ALL
 
Initial post 18 JAN 12 by goncmg
Oh boy this is one of the ones that will soon have me over a barrel as my space is limited. It is a HAPPY rose, that is what hurts me. It grows willingly, grows big, blooms willingly, blooms big. The fragrance is notable. The color is actually, being brutally honest, not that appealing! A wan lighter medium pink with sullen tone to it, I think this is spun in the marketing as "orchid." The plant also, big and happy and lusty as it is, does grow a little zig-zaggy with canes jutting across and over and making a mess...........and the thrips! They love this one and they love Tiffany and leave my other 98 alone. If you are starting out as a rose grower and want that SMELL of a rose and need something that just GROWS then I would say try this one. For those of us who have been growing for many years, I think we can appreciate the healthy plant but there are just better, clearer colorsn and more interesting varieties in this range out there............curious to see how this one ages in the AARS ratings and so on..........reminds me of SWEET SURRENDER to an extent............for anyone who has never HEARD of Sweet Surrender, well, those are the lines you just read between..........
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Reply #1 of 4 posted 28 MAY 12 by LauraG
Interesting to read this...because I'm also lukewarm about it. While it grows and blooms like crazy, and is very healthy, I'm just not that fond of it.
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Reply #2 of 4 posted 28 MAY 12 by goncmg
Laura, your timing is flawless. This one "wins" my award for BEST FIRST BLOOM. It is stunning now, 12 long stemmed fragrant "beauties".....in its 4th year and NEVER have I seen this performance, this is catalog picture stuff. Kicker? I STILL DO NOT "LOVE" IT. !!!!!. I hugged it (!), I told it I was PROUD of it, I will not discard it, but just not into it................
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Reply #3 of 4 posted 7 JUN 12 by Gagnon98
I'll agree with you. This is only year three for me with my Memorial Day. I wanted it for YEARS because of the pictures in the catalogs. Last year it bloomed very well, not overly profusely. The army of voles last fall took it's toll on this bush. Thought I truly lost it. I could have easily plucked it from the ground but instead stomped on it. This Spring it is blooming for me, again not profusely, but big gorgeous form. I have ONE in a vase in my office and it was almost too much for me and nearly got rid of it. But after a couple days the scent has calmed down a bit. Like, you both I cannot stand the color of this rose, especially in the middle of summer when the flower is opened wide. For me, it's almost gray.
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Reply #4 of 4 posted 17 OCT 12 by mtspace
I grew Memorial Day (3) in my zone 6b garden In the same bed were planted New Zealand (3), Gemini (3), Double Delight (3) MAAB(3) and Belami (3). Belami, MAAB, and Double Delight died of blackspot before the first fall. Gemini and New Zealand were removed at the end of the second season because they were being reduced to nothing by the same disease. Memorial Day was symptom-free the whole time. It was also the least cold hardy of these roses: I lost one of three over the first winter.

I must say that I was impressed by the plant: it was vigorous and shrubby, and clad with very dark green and disease-free leaves. But the flowers always seemed a little plain to me. The dusky pink of the petals is not a color that appeals to me much. They aren't that long, by HT standards. And there is precious little of the reflexing petal thing going on that I think defines the classic HT form. It's definitional not for arbitrary reasons but for aesthetic ones. A hybrid tea rose with a petal that doesn't curl just a bit is really more of a shrub rose, IMO.

While it is marginally cold hardy to zone 6b in the east, I lost one here in zone 7b AZ mountains. Not completely sure whether it was spring freeze/thaw cycling or lack of water. Two years later the rootstock is seven feet tall and awaiting budding to serve as a tree rose. Many roses I feel sad to lose. This one, not so much.
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Discussion id : 57-859
most recent 11 OCT 11 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 11 OCT 11 by Ophelia Payne
Yeah this one gets the shovel... not that impressed I'll plant it somewhere else in the yard if it makes it fine if not good riddence......
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Discussion id : 55-892
most recent 11 JUL 11 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 11 JUL 11 by Judith C.
Available in France from Pépinières de la Saulaie.
www.pepinieresdelasaulaie.fr
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