My MM was just TOASTED over the winter. It's a very mature plant, but it took a beating from the winter storms. It is just now trying to create growth buds, from canes that were blackened and cut down quite short. I have Sunset Celebrations, which had no cold damage (surprisingly, really) and Sheer Elegance, which is also fine. Go figure. I'm in Zone 8B, so this was a shock.

Still, MM is a great rose. It requires very little water to perform very well in August. And it stops growing at waist height, which is a really nice trait for an HT, which tend to want to become skyscrapers.

Update: It was back to normal but it took 2 years to recover. Still going strong. Just remembered to update this because the city is currently digging near it. The last time the city dug there, I found a 10 year old 'Stretch Johnson' dead on the sidewalk lol. Mid-August crispies.

I got Marilyn in a raffle at my local rose society....in a pot...put her in the soil very early spring (we rarely frost here) and she was my first Blue Ribbon, and third! Even got in the court of honor. I love her, she lasts a long time. BUT BUT BUT, she is VERY high maintenance for her rusting problems...oh my god..I am on her all the time! I just got a new solution recommendation of actinovate...started a test run on it...I know in November that is a tough trial, but she is still blooming..so why not. Anyone else have this trouble?

I have been very, very pleased with this rose so far in Houston:
1.) The blooms have a wonderful shape and the coloring is lovely. It isn't as loud as Brandy, which is a nice contrast. I have't had much of the green edging so far, but on the buds that did it faded out quickly.
2.) I've had mild fragrance from MM. Nothing notable, but it certainly has more than a slight fragrance.
3.) MM has been a bloom machine so far punching out rose after rose. At one point I had a vase of just MM in the house. It was quite striking.
4.) MM has been very disease resistant. I see where others have had an issue with winter hardiness, but luckily we don't have that problem here in South Texas.
5.) My one complaint about this rose is that...those prickles are ridiculous! It's not that there's more than other roses, they're just massive...the largest I've encountered on a rose. They're like a sharks tooth. Even the leaf stems have prickles on the underside of them. Handle with care!

1/10/19 Update: Marilyn has been a bit of an enigma to me. In the spring she's a stunner. And she's prolific in her attempts to bloom in the extreme heat. That said, I absolutely despise her growth habit. New branches grow almost perpendicular to one another which creates this sprawling, tangled mess of a bush. That coupled with her shark tooth sized prickles makes her a beast to prune.

I have been disappointed with the winter hardiness of Marilyn Monroe. I received a very vigorous bare root with plenty of roots last year, (spring 2014). It bloomed the first time with for or five large well formed blooms. Then it black spotted so bad that it lost all of it's leaves and even after spraying and being more careful in maintaining a spray cycle new growth was spotty and small. It had a couple of small well formed flowers for a second bloom late in August, but that was it. It tried to sprout this spring (2015) but all sprouts were stunted and it died. I have purchased another bare root and planted it this spring (2015). Spring was very cool and long, and it has not responded very well at all. Therefore, I wonder about it's cold hardiness.