Available from - Old Market Farm
www.oldmarketfarm.com

My experience with this rose is quite different to others posted here. In Melbourne Australia, 20 years or so ago, I grew it on a north-south oriented trellis with shelter from trees on the western side. With good airflow there was little disease and the plant was enormously vigorous. It grew rapidly with no settling-in period and each year would send up massive water shoots 3-4m long. These were far too thick to train and I would just anchor them to the trellis to stop their breaking in the wind. However, it seems to be very sensitive to drought and during the Millennium Drought the plant progressively declined.

Its flowers are quite glorious, with an extraordinarily good scent (to my nose) but they are not as intensely coloured as depicted in many of the posted photos. My plant was a bit of pest because it was so huge and awkward to deal with, but it was well worth the trouble, despite being once-flowering and possessing enormous prickles. I think it is a wonderful cultivar if you get the conditions right.

September 18, 2011...I am so excited to share with any lovers of Alchymist that one of my three plants (which I cut back harshly about 5 weeks ago) is showing buds! I have had Alchymist for about 10 to 12 years. and this is the first time I have ever had a rebloom. This one is in a pot and I transplanted it about 5 weeks ago to a bigger pot. Since it was in the summer, I cut it way back, probably to about a foot from the top of the soil. So, it can rebloom if you cut it back harsh. Yeah! I live in Mill Valley, CA.
Joan Goff