Purchased today from Palatine Roses, Ontario, to be shipped end of April.

Really appreciate what Badger rose wrote about Dark Desire: "Going into 5a winter I expected certain death but nevertheless mounded a bit of dirt over it to mark its grave. To my surprise the thing exploded in spring like Mission Impossible. It has weaponry to match--numerous daggers up and down the canes. It avoids the bullets of blackspot, mildew and rust. And just like I can't smell the movie, I can't smell this rose. Strange that I can't smell Summer Romance pretty much at all, either. I can, however, smell Beverly, First Crush, and Savannah which are a delight, so not sure what's going on there." Badger rose.

1 gallon delivered from Chamblee's 4/7/2016

*** Growing near Houston, TX: sub tropical zone 9a. Mild winters, hot, extremely humid summers that last half the year. ***


Purchased from Roses Unlimited Spring 2015.

9/4/2015- Slow to get going for me (ownroot). No blooms, not much growth.
4/2016- Planted in garden, full sun. Very thorny.
4/28/2018- this has been a weird rose for me. I've cut it back several times, but it won't stop throwing these long, stiff, arching canes with blooms at the ends. The flower is drop dead beautiful, but what an awkward plant. Size is an open 7h x 5w. It's probably doing this because it wants to become a monster in size.
4/17/2021- Size is about the same. I guess next year, I'm going to prune it back hard to try and tame the beast.
5/11/2022- Pruned down to about a 3 foot meatball to see if when it grows out it will be a little more uniform.
4/13/2023- DD will not be tamed, I guess, and ended last season a very awkward 7h x 8w. Oh well. I gave it a pruning just now down to about 5h x 4w, but by the end of Summer it will be massive again. At least it's dependable.