In my experience (on the ocean ten miles north of Boston) this rose is extraordinarily susceptible to blackspot. Without spraying it would always completely defoliate. It also struggled to open its flowers. After it died one winter after only one or two years in the ground I did not replace it.
Clearly location seems to make a big difference with this rose. In my garden in Southeast England the flowers don't ball in the rain. The downside is that only in the midst of Summer is the English sun strong enough to lend the petals their characteristic reddish flush: in the Autumn they look a very pale pink, verging on white.
it tends to lose a lot of buds with heavy rains. The flowers wither badly and are eaten by cetonias. (Oxythyrea funesta). The colors of the flowers attract these insects a lot. It suffer blackspot.The color of the flowers fades in the heat
This elegant Bourbon has very poor rebloom in my zone 9 garden. I think rebloom might be better in a more temperate climate. That said, the flowers are among the most elegantly colored and shaped in my yard. They are a soft white with pink shading, and are the same cupped shape as those of the sport parent. I think they are far more beautiful than those of la Reine Victoria, and the plant seems somewhat less susceptible to mildew than La Reine Victoria.
