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'Dark Lady' rose Reviews & Comments
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Here it is mid January in the San Francisco Bay area and my The Dark Lady has 26 big fat red buds on it and I haven't fertilized it since early Sept. Also it has no disease; quite a rose!
February 2022: Loaded with diseased foliage after rain: blackspot and rust. Other roses next to it, including Young Lycidas, are fine. I sprayed with Neem oil, perhaps should have used copper instead, This spreads wide; I should have planted it farther apart even though plenty of air circulation due to pruning.
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Sonnet de William Shakespeare
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I grow the Dark Lady in my Chicago-area zone 5 garden and absolutely love it. She enjoys some afternoon shade (in fact she is surprisingly shade tolerant), and suffers if she is in full, blasting-hot sun all day. It is true that the necks are a bit floppy, but that is easily fixed by feeding her banana peels in the spring. I grow 18 rose varieties and this is my favorite, with astounding blooms and a gorgeous scent. She is prone to black spot, and will defoliate a bit, but is so beautiful I don't care. The fall display is particularly impressive and the blooms turn a gorgeous purple in cool weather. Sh would enjoy some winter protection, but I don't provide it and she always come back. Feed her heavily and water deeply a minimum of twice a week for best performance. Do NOT over-prune this bush as that is the fastest way to kill her -- tip pruning and removal of dead wood is all that is required, or tolerated.
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Thank you for a fantastic review !!
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This is one amazing rose! I planted it last year so it is still a little bush less than two feet high. Right now it has thirteen buds and I picked one blossom which smells wonderful. I am so gratified because I have had some David Austin roses which were a little fussy to get going. There are no foliage diseases in spite of some rain and Winter weather.
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Anita: I appreciate all your comments, esp. about how long the bloom last in a vase. How long does the Dark Lady last in a vase? I really like my William Shakespeare 2000 blooms (at least 4 days in the vase) and would like something similar (but more red). Also what are your favorite cut-blooms for the vase? My favorite long-lasting cut-blooms are: Versigny, Firefighter, W.S. 2000, Betty White, Dee-lish, Stephen Big Purple ... those last at least 4 days.
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This is November and I'm trying to remember how it was in the vase a few months ago; as I remember it lasted four days or more. I'm in the San Francisco Bay area so we have had water rationing for quite a while due to drought so roses don't last as long because they are thirsty.
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Thank you for the info. The Dark Lady has Rugosa heritage so it's more drought-tolerant than other Austin water-hogs.
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I looked it up on David Austin USA website. Unfortunately they state that it is happy in a Mediterranean climate and Southern US. http://www.davidaustinroses.com/american/showrose.asp?showr=2791 I hope you find something else similar of theirs that would work for your climate. My experience with their website is that they respond quickly to questions.
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Anita: Thank you for the info. I saw the Dark Lady at Chicago Botanical Garden, after tons of spring rain, and it's the best among their thousand of roses. It's very small in zone 5, but lots of blooms, and smelled really good at the park in partial shade.
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