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I am always interested in the roses that Paul Barden bred. It is so vigorous and carefree with a flexible cane so I train it the way I want to. The petals are almost quilted because it rolled back so much. The fragrance is very tea-like and sweet and a hint of fruit as an undernote. They are born on the end of a stem and in big clusters. The color is a delicious fluffy pink that reminds me of a strawberry milkshake just a little deeper than Cecile Brunner. I will definitely rank Mels much higher than Cecile. There's no trace of mildew or disease and the plant is grounded in semi-shade most of the time of the yr and total shade in the winter. Mel's a real winner in my book.
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This rose lived in my garden for 3 1/2 years. I gave it a chance. Perhaps I'm one of the few who had a negative experience with this, but it did not give off much fragrance no matter how I adjusted the pH. Secondary, it defoliates at the drop of a hat. It struggled for the entire 3 1/2 years. It requires regular spraying and I'm not about to do that. Quite possibly is a good rose with regular spraying, but that's why I'm not one of it's fans. Shovel pruned.
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That's funny, I find mine to be one of the most fragrant, easy to grow, disease-free roses out there. I never spray mine. It blooms continuously and is a joy covered with yellow blooms and bright shiny foliage.
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lancer, would you be willing to share with us what zone you live in, and maybe what kind of soil? Mind, I am not asking for personal info at all, just some idea of the sort of climate in which JC might be expected to thrive.
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Yes, of course. I am in zone 9 in San Francisco, CA. And I will admit that due to the arid climate we do have an advantage in being able to grow some of the more difficult roses although sometimes I wish we had more summer heat but we cannot have everything. The soil here is just regular. I used to live closer to the beach and had sandy soil but here it is regular loam with a clay base. We enrich with a lot of leaf mold, manure, compost and these things help roses immeasurably. A nice mulch helps too. Julia Child though would thrive in any rich soil but may not do as well in more humid areas like Louisiana or Hawaii as I now see the writer came from.
I also see the writer listed the PH at 5.8 and I think that may have something to do with their problem with Julia Child. I would suggest maybe some wood ashes or lime added to sweeten the soil a bit.
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#4 of 4 posted
18 AUG 21 by
 Plazbo
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I think a lot of Carruth's roses are location specific. They often have good reviews in the USA but then here in East Coast Australia and I wouldn't class many of them as being particularly resistant. Julia Child (aka Soul Mate here) regularly blackspotted and defoliated and wasn't particularly vigorous in either garden (sandy or clay) for me but it clearly does well in other places around the world for whatever reason.
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