I'm glad somebody's looking out for those pollen beetles... :>)
Does SGMC keep blooming until frost for you, or does it bloom in flushes? I seem to recall you've had it for quite a while, so it must be a good performer for you.
Hi Virginia,. yes it was continuously flowering until late autumn, always clusters of flowers, totally ruined by pollen beetles from June to August, after which they disappear. A vigorous climbing rose with lovely foliage. I no longer have it. Here it would be best grown away from areas with Oilseed Rape fields, which attract the beetles.. Difficult to find this rose in Europe now, unfortunately.
So what I hear you saying is that anyone planting fields of rapeseed should also plant this rose as a trap crop? Or maybe anyone wanting to grow SGMC needs to plant sacrificial brassica plants nearby. At any rate, it sounds like a rose with a lot of pollen on offer.
It's a shame your lovely roses were ruined by the critters...are the beetles no longer visiting your garden since SGMC left it?
Oh they're here every summer but not so many these days, some of the fields with those crops have disappeared.. I think it was due to the scent given off, as other single flowered roses were not affected so much.. I used to have a photo of the ruined flowers but seem to have lost that too.. This is an agricultural area so I have to take what comes.. I would try again with it, if I could get one. Never mind.
