Affirm is a beautiful rose. The bush is vigorous and healthy and winter hardy with no added protection in my zone 5b/6a midwest garden. The blooms are extremely large and in warm weather bloom into flowers with superlative exhibition qualities--pinpoint centers, highcentered form, and perfect color. The flower has so many petals that it takes dry heat to get them to open completely. The flowers don't water spot in the rain. To get this rose free of RMV virus I would suggest getting it from Wisconsin Roses.

I am planning my crosses for my hybridizing activities and am surprised to see no first generation descendants listed. Has anyone tried using it unsuccessfully as either a pollen or seed parent? As nice of a rose as this is it would be nice to pass along its' good qualities to offspring if at all possible.

Look out everyone!!!
Jackson & Perkins is up to their old tricks again with this rose. Just as they did with the Cesar E. Chavez rose re-naming it Beloved, they have renamed this rose from Diana, Princess of Wales to Elegant Lady. With the Beloved rose they claimed the Cesar E. Chavez name was hindering sales. I don't know why they re-named this rose as Princess Diana is certainly a very loved person in history and I doubt that name hurt sales of this rose.
All that aside, I have found this rose to be very good. The bush is nicely vigorous and healthy and the blooms are absolutely beautiful. It has very good color and the form is very exhibition with a good high and tight center and plenty of petals to maintain the form for a long time. I would really recommend this rose highly and think you would enjoy it immenseley.

This Blackberry Nip rose has been quite an eye opener for me this year. It was started as a budded maiden but when I got it, it was already topped and had started producing basal canes and it has not quit yet in the Fall of the year. The color is electric glowing plum with some hint toward a bi-color effect as there are natural shadings inherent to each bloom. The fragrance is wickedly strong and sweet which most people find quite appealing. For me it has been a very vigorous bush grower and flower producer as well. The form of the blooms is kind of all over the place so far as I get some with very good to excellent exhibition form and some with very mediocre decorative loose form. Either way, the color is still to die for. It has blooms on the plant most all of the time during the entire growing season. I think most everyone would really enjoy having this novel colored rose in their garden as it is still a good rose no matter what the color. It has stayed free of fungal disease and insect activity so far this year. At bloom life end, it cleanly drops it petals and repeats it's bloom in a very modest amount of time, so it keeps in flower all the time. You will enjoy this rose if you get it.