I grew two Geoff Hamilton shrubs in my old home in California Zone 9b. It grew beautifully for me even through terrible drought. The form of the bloom was always perfect; like a painting by Redoute! By it's third year it had 20+ blooms on each plant in a large flush. I grew it in partial shade to protect from the scorching sun and 100+ temps all summer. It was a perfect light pink color and did fade a little to a softer pink in the unrelenting heat of August, which made it look like a sweet blush color that I adore. I always had the first bloom for my birthday in April from Geoff Hamilton. The fragrance was a light fruity scent reminiscent of apple. The plants were virtually thornless. The blooms all came from the tops of the canes. I did not spray often and some of my roses did get blackspot, but GH kept blooming and looked great anyway. The blackspot didn't spread too much on GH or seem to affect it much. An amazing reliable rose even in the worst drought it bloomed beautifully!
I bought a new Geoff Hamilton to grow in my new home in Illinois Zone 5b. I plan to peg this one and see if more blooms will grow from lateral canes. I love the form and color so this rose is a keeper for me. Hopefully it will thrive in this colder area. I will post an update after I have had it in this zone for awhile.
I highly recommend Geoff Hamilton Rose. It is one of my favorites!
Just informational David Austin's website lists Geoff Hamilton rose as zone 5-9. It would be nice if the zone and/or state was listed by the members name for quick reference when sifting through the comments to find comparable zones to your own, just a suggestion. Thank you for your excellent job on this site. :)
Zone 5b added. That is an excellent suggestion Nola Z5. Many members do what you have done and added their zone to their name. I would do it but I have this mental block to whatever my zone is. My garden never gets below 7 degrees centigrade in winter. Does that make me a zone 11?
That's so true Nola, when someone writes a review saying that a particular rose grows very well or very poorly but the only indication to where they live is "United States". It is not really any help at all. Like Patricia this zoning is not particularly accurate where I live, technically I am about zone 7 but if I tried to grow roses from that zone they would not thrive because I have such cool summers.
I'm sorry, it is very difficult to compare due to so many different climate variables. I would guess trial and error of what roses survive in your garden and those in nearby botanical gardens would be an indicator of what "zone" will work for you. Maybe zone, state and country (and the equivalent in other countries), would be helpful by the members name. So then if I noticed that say Patricia's experiences in zone 11, Brisbane, Australia with certain roses were similar to mine in zone 5, Wisconsin, US, I could glean the comments and look for anything she might post. Or if there were an option to follow her comments, to open doors to new roses that might work in my garden. Of course these are just suggestions. This site is so useful and it is great to be able to hear of members experiences in other parts of the world and our shared passion for roses!
I have 2 of these roses own root-one full sun, one 1/2 day sun. Here in Coastal Ga Z8B this rose does nothing but put out a couple 6-8ft+ canes with only an occasional flower at the very tips (when it's cooler). It would be much larger on rootstock. Poor heat and humidity tolorance. Blackspot is a big issue if not sprayed regularly, which I don't. 1/2 of the bush is naked knees and the other not well foliated. My Austins are healthy monsters here...quite disease resistant little-to-no-spray, but not this one for me. I am replacing them.
Same issues here in East TN mountains. Always defoliates immediatly after producing leaves and doesn't bloom well. Mine is also ownroot and extremely slow grower.
Maybe its meant to only grow in England or in similar climates :( Such a shame that we all have had bad luck. It looks like the blooms are beautiful, given the right conditions.
I am sure I wouldn't know. I never saw one. The chafer beetles devoured them before they even opened. Some roses went on to bloom again after the once annual beetle infestation. Some withheld bloom until after the infestation. Not Geoff.
