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'Red 'n' Fragrant' rose Reviews & Comments
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I planted three Firefighters last May in zone 6 A from Heirloom Roses. All three took off like gangbusters. Healthy, extremely vigorous and started blooming within a few weeks. The fragrance is wonderful...very old rose with hints of raspberry at times. It has had a tiny bit of black spot that didn't bother it at all. I removed the affected leaves and it has remained healthy. My plants are over 3 feet tall since planting and it blooms continually.
I've fed it a 2 2 2 Kelloggs Organic Fish and Kelp emulsion every two weeks during growing season and kept it well watered. It has full sun and 4 inches of shredded, untreated wood for mulch. A lovely rose in every way and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a beautiful red, fragrant rose.
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#1 of 4 posted
2 OCT 23 by
 Lee H.
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Annie, I would agree with everything you say, but I’ll add a few downsides (I have five, planted in spring of ‘22): the blooms fade and blue at the petal edges very quickly in warm weather, and they do not like to later shed their petals. And unless you consistently deadhead, they become quite unsightly. That’s just my slightly disappointed opinion, and it really isn’t in line with the majority of rave reviews I read before I purchased them.
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Oh, that's terrible. I've had no bluing on any of the roses. As far as them shedding petals, my plants are in their first year, so, to help the bush I've cut each flower as soon as they open a bit and put them in a vase. I want the bush to concentrate more on the roots. Lee, are you positive you have Firefighter? Could it be you were sent the wrong red rose? I'm also wondering if your soil and mine are different, causing you problems that I haven't had...at least, yet. I have noticed the rose holds it's petals even when it's looking pretty bad in the vase. I don't mind that because I check my roses every day. I'm retired so have the time to do so.
May I ask what you use for fertilizer and how often you are feeding them?
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#3 of 4 posted
3 OCT 23 by
Lee H.
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I got mine from Edmunds, and they certainly seem to conform to their description, otherwise. I feed a blend of nutrients, but the foundation is Alaska Fish fed weekly. I have a lot of red roses, and none of them fade quite so badly on the same diet. And we're right on the banks of the Ohio river, a rich silt loam. I don't know, maybe they're just spoiled ;-)
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Possibly, next year I will see the same bluing as you do because I will leave more roses on the bush. My main goal was to have my roses develop good roots, so, every single bloom has ended up in a vase. I hope they don't turn blue, but, I still love the rose. BTW, I don't think your fertilizers have anything to do with the bluing....I was just curious because some people don't fertilize at all or rarely.
Maybe you'll be happier with FF if you bring more roses inside. I cut them when they are about one half opened and they do well...stay a long time and are fragrant till they are drooping and ready to toss..
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I had this own-root rose for several years in a 20in x 15in (W x H) resin pot in part shade and full sun. It didn't do much at all, even after being moved to full sun and given regular water. As an experiment, I moved it to a 5 gal air pot and connected it to drip irrigation just to see what would happen. This meant reducing the root ball a bit to fit in the pot and cutting it back a bit (it was only about 12in tall anyway). What a difference that made!
After about 2 weeks, it had vigorous new growth and maybe a week or so afterwards, buds and blooms. Since then (mid June, 2022) I've seen it push out about 2 rounds of blooms, with the foliage looking more healthy than it's ever been. It's grown to about 2ft tall and it's actually trying to push out one more flush with more numerous blooms - in October!
Clearly, the Air pot made a difference here. I suspect plastic pots perhaps tend to suffocate or maybe overheat the roots of hybrid teas (they all have plenty of drainage holes). I say this because every hybrid tea I've had in the same or similar plastic pot (Mister Lincoln, Chrysler Imperial, Papa Meilland, Oklahoma) has given me the same lackluster performance. My David Austin roses haven't fared as bad, though I suspect the same is true for them as well.
Mister Lincoln is the only one that I haven't gotten rid of since then, so I'll try it in an Air Pot next season to see if it makes a difference. For now though, I now see why people rave about Firefighter. While it's not my favorite looking bloom, it just keeps going and going with them!
EDIT: I forgot to mention the fragrance. Just one of these blooms was enough to perfume a large area in my house for days. The blooms seem to last a good 7-10 days before they need replacing. And I put in minimal effort, only changing the water once most times.
Pound for pound, this is the best red hybrid tea I've grown so far overall. This one does it all!
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I won't grow anything in black plastic pots, except that unfortunately the air pots available here are all black plastic. Judging from last summer (zone 9b) they'll need shading from afternoon sun.
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Thanks for the info on Firefighter. I will plant him in part shade with heavy mulch. I love the strong fragrance. My nose detects no fragrance whatever in Mr. Lincoln, Oklahoma, Crimson Glory or Papa Meilland. I can smell Firefighter, Don Juan, Royal William and a couple of other reds. Hopefully in a new location Firefighter will do well in my zone 6b garden.
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Note to breeders: Absurd height seems rather dominant in seedlings. Reminds me of when I used to use Selfridges.
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