I've got three MariaCallas growing here. The colour is so vividly striking that it outstands most other roses that grow nearby. It has a wonderful but not strong fragrance here in the begining of the season. I'll check again later. Two of my bushes are already 34 years old. They survived everything. Would one call that a fussy rose? They survived the -20ºC winter unscathed with no protection. They get no supplemental water during our dry summers. No even a adequate pruning...No spraying either. The young plant which I bought three years ago did suffer from my recent very late spring freeze. So yes it may require care just initially. All in all I'm more than happy to have multiples of it amongst my almost 400 bush collection.
Our Maria Callas is wonderful. Loves our hot Concord CA weather, blooms prolifically and smells wonderful. We have it in a large container, and it is doing terrifically well up to this point. We prefer this to Electron, which has, in our garden, a similar color, but does not seem to like the heat and the flowers, when they come, burn very quickly. Not Maria!!! She's great!
It put up a better fight against blackspot than did Belami, but it was defoliated by mid June and was dead by the beginning of August in my zone 6 garden in NJ. Definitely not "very resistant" to blackpsot! I've seen it growing in San Jose, CA and I understand why people grow it. Got one from a big box store here in AZ. I love the color and fragrance of the blossoms, but it is not much of a doer here, yet, even at the end of its second season. It really is a prima donna that needs a huge amount of pampering if it is to hit its high notes.
