I bought this potted from Lowe's in 2006 and planted it directly into my garden. It's first year it was a good rose and grew vigorously with very pretty and thick medium green foliage. The blooms had good petal substance, were plentiful and very colorful, and very fragrant for me. It initially seemed to survive it's first winter well, but did suffer some damage from the late spring Big Easter Freeze that occured after most everything had already broken dormancy. The plant is rebounding okay from that freeze, but will be behind all spring and summer as will all the other roses.
I will still recommend this rose to my fellow rosarians as I think it is a good rose and they will like to have it in their garden. I think it is going to develop into one of my favorites as well.
UPDATE 2010: I have now grown Tahitian Sunset for 4 years and it continues to impress me every year. It has proven to be very sturdy and dependable as it handles winter with no protection and stays free of any disease so far. I have never seen any BS or PM on it at all. The blooms are large, beautifully colored and formed, and plentiful. Big flushes and quick repeat are the norm. My bush gets about 5 1/2' tall each year very quickly and has lots of canes and stems for plenty of blooming. The fragrance is a delicious strong licorice/spice note and is strong the entire life of the bloom. I have tried propagating cuttings and it does very well and grows well on it's own roots! I am going to try it in my hybridyzing this year to see if it is fertile and passes it's good qualities to it's progeny.
This is a very good garden rose and exceptional blooms could even be exhibition blooms. I highly recommend it of the 300+ roses I have and think it will make any gardner and/or rosarian very happy to have it in their garden.
John