Helen yours is glorious. Mine is still struggling along but it is blooming like crazy but certainly no beautiful blooms like yours yet . hopefully next year once it settles in I'll be able to have one just as pretty as yours

Helen, DA should pay you to market their roses. Your photos and specimens are better than their catalog

Completely agree—I love this rose, and your photos are exquisite!! :-)

My Thoughts exactly!

Ditto :)

jin

So pretty!

You are all very kind. I'm glad you like the pics.

Kristine, yes this rose is a blooming fool. I have been giving it extra water because with the way it blooms the plant won't have enough water to support its own health, LOL. Mine is grafted on Dr. Huey. Is yours own root or grafted? Helen

I'm not sure. I got it as a mistake from David Austin

I bet it is own root

At 1st the blooms were super tiny and the leaves were very pale so we finally got in the leaves greened up and the blooms are getting bigger

Hopefully they will look like yours next year because yours are pretty fabulous

Amazingly gorgeous. I love the look of this rose in your pictures.

Beautifu, Helen, like all your roses!

Beautyful, but so sad to hear the blooms are tiny, as I've never seen it in real life.

Only mine are tiny, Helen's aren't. Hers are huge which mine will be

Mine has struggled but is finally taking off.

I got mine as mistake. I had ordered Bishops Castle and got CRM instead and I loved the pictures so much that I decided to keep It. I love the color so much and when it gets those large blooms it will be perfection.

bayarea_girl z9ca I was looking at DA rose website and saw your comments about this rose. I ordered Spirit of Freedom. But your picture of this rose is so much better than the one on DA rose website. Do you have SoF? If so, what is your opinion of these 2? I have a small garden and can only pick one. Which one blooms more often, how long does it last on plant, fragrance, shade/sun, Thank you Helen. Yen

Mine finally took off. The blooms aren't huge on mine but it is producing much more frequently

Helen, just gorgeous! I wonder if this is one Palatine has in their old Austin group from John. I hope they offer them again. This is one I'd like to grow. Actually, I'd like to grow all of them! Judging from your second pic, he looks like a good bloomer.

I used to grow it. Famous for thriving in heat (true) and viciously thorned. The scent has been variously described as baby powder or grandma's soap - a kind of old fashioned sweetness.

flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA you can get it at David Austin rose online.

@nle3 I'd go with Spirit of Freedom. They both repeat well. CRM is a short bush and SoF is a tall climber. I have them in full sun so I don't know how they will perform in shade. From my experience, multiple petal blooms need sun. SoF has stronger fragrance than CRM. Helen

nle3, thanks! I assumed it was out of commerce, or at least, hard to find.

I remember being so frustrated, that this rose did so poorly here. NOW, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that it has a goodly dose of Rugosa genes . . . So, today, I wouldn't even try it.

Jerijen What zone are you? I am in 7a. Do you think the area has to do with how it behave?

bayarea_girl z9ca Thanks, Helen, I will go with SoF. Do you have Yves Piaget? I just placed an order with Regan Nursery- along with Bolero, Liv Tyler, and Poseidon. I have Bolero and love this rose. It constantly in blooms. Do you have those 3 that I ordered in your garden? They look beautiful on Regan website but I always look forward to see your pictures of your roses. Yen

@nle3 I have all 3 and I like all of them. Helen

Thanks, Helen.. I ordered them all in tree form. I can't wait until Spring.

Is there anywhere else to buy this besides DA online? They're already sold out 😕

longago roses($25) have it and so does hummingbird roses($20) - AUSRen

Mine really took off this summer

It is a a continual bloomer and honestly, it takes care of itself. No disease and the blooms last forever.

I have an own-root CRM and I concur that is really one tough little plant! We received it in the summer in a heat wave as a tiny potted rose. We thought it was dead as it looked so rough after getting parts of it broken off in transport and what must have been heat damage from transport in the unusual boiling weather. We watered what was left of it just in case, and left it in the shade as we then promptly left on vacation, and it managed to bounce back, and began producing flower after flower into autumn, first in the shadier spot and then after we moved it to sunnier spot, and it just sort of kept going, no matter what happened to it (like the fact my dog seems to be attracted to biting off and chewing parts of it, esp. the buds, and so the fragrance must be particularly interesting because he leaves most of my plants alone), and yet we still got quite a few flowers despite its shaky beginnings (and the canine devourings) more than many DA roses I have tried, and it just kept going. And now, at the end of winter, it has all sorts of new growth for spring already, and is just really healthy and green. It is a smaller rose than SoF, which I have had it for two years and am so far unimpressed with. The flowers of SoF seem to rot/ball rather easily and it does not bloom as consistently or as much as CRM, and yet it was in a much sunnier spot, but other people seem to have good luck with it. It may be that once the rain stopped, the heatwave sort of cooked into a sort of dormancy. It only had one real flush for me this summer. But I did have a flush in late fall/winter last year.

This rose is special-possibly the only under-rated Austin,lol!

I agree Bart Bart, I got my as a mistake instead of Bishops Castle and it is a rose that I never need to baby.

It is so underrated and I'm not sure why. It's one of the few Austins that stays contained and doesn't send out octopus arms.

Just a nice little rose that doesn't require a lot of fussing over.

CRM sounds beautiful and it's not a rose I've looked at before (I love Austins). How do you think it would hold up to heat and humidity? (z. 10b, 80-92 degree days constant in the summer, with brief afternoon showers.)??? I see that HMF says CRM is suscept. to blackspot and mildew.

I’m in 10a and this rose is in full sun, but i only have it one 1 year. Frankly i dont pay attention to my roses in the summer. Spring is my best season here.

Kimberly, we get really hot summers but low humidity so not sure about Black spot.

CRM does well in FL. It gets a little black spot during the rainest part of the summer but nothing crazy. It gets very lilac tones here. It has stayed short. It would probably be really good grafted on Fortuniana.

That is what I love best about Charles Renne Macintosh is that lilac pink color.

Mine has also stayed short.

Good to know about his black spot tolerance

Huh.... I'll add it to my 'short list' of possible Austins to get. Seems SOOO odd that the Austin people themselves have no clue what will grow where and in what zone. You all are a better resource seemingly! Thank you.

Darn, I'm disappointed to hear that it's not very fragrant. It's SUCH a beauty!!

I personally think it has a lovely fragrance, perhaps not the strongest, but stronger than that of Olivia Rose Austin, for example, or Iceberg.

It has fragrance. It is a light fragrance but definitely there. I get old rose notes.

CRM with The Poet's Wife

Rose - yeah I get zero fragrance from Olivia Rose Austin and Iceberg. All right....CRM is back on the table. :) Thanks!

Sultry - thanks! You know, I just love light pinks and yellows together...wonderful picture!