I bought this Grande Amore rose as a bareroot rose in the Spring of 2008 from a vendor here on the internet in a special deal. I found an internet deal for five roses from 7 different varieties at a good price. So, I found four others who were interested in the roses as we all went in and got a single bareroot of each variety. I got Grande Amore, Ingrid Bergman, Chrysler Imperial, Granada, Aztec Gold, Sweet Surrender, and Eternal Flame.I graciously took the "least" looking of each rose so that none of the others felt cheated at all. The quality of the bareroots I got ran up and down the scale from very good to pretty weak looking bareroots. This one was one of the lesser looking roses I selected for myself.
Anyway, I always start my bareroots in pots for their initial year so that I can see how the rose progresses and to be sure that it is the correct rose before planting it in my garden.
Although this wasn't the best looking bareroot rose I had every seen, it broke dormancy quite well and the new red foliage was very abundant, shiny, and healthy. When it started blooming I was very impressed with the dark red color and the rich velvety texture of the blooms.
It continued to grow well and I overwintered it with the rest of the "Pot Ghetto" roses in my unheated garage. I pulled all of them out about two weeks ago. Grande Amore is by far the very best of the 20 potted HT's I have this Spring. After Spring pruning I was left with about 6 very good sized plump canes sporting alot of new bright red foliage that is already starting to grow. As well, I can already see the starts of some flower buds promising more beautiful dark red blooms. I just wish they had a bit more fragrance to them. I had five open holes in the garden and a shovel prune list of about 18 more roses. Grande Amore is going to get one of the more prominent spots since it appears that it is going to be a very good growing rose with showy blooms and foliage.
By the way, all seven of the "special deal" roses are doing quite well this year and will end up in good garden spots with ease. Not bad for what I believe was about $3 per rose deal I got here on the internet!! I hope all the others are doing as well as mine.
John