While in the ground less than 6 months, the rose has taken off. Beautiful healthy foliage and loaded with buds. I've already doubled the size of the rose bed and purchased another Variegata de Bologna ! The fish emulsion fertilizer is stunning. Using on older roses with marked improvement in growth. Zone 9a, planted eastern side home. I feel like this could become an obsession ;-)

This rose is described as "moderately fragrant" but I find it one of the most fragrant roses I have ever grown. The blossoms themselves, though gorgeous in a bouquet, are fragile and not long-lived. I rarely get more than one bloom from the bush per year. And yet this is a hardy rose that has survived neglect on a rural property in zone 7a for more than 20 years, and the blossoms are among the most beautiful of any rose I have grown, if not the most beautiful.

I made a point of tracking down "Variegata di Bologna" when I saw it in bloom in a heritage rose garden many years ago, simply on the beauty and scent of the blossom. I wasn't expecting it to be such a survivor, though. It requires little care, although it's particularly tasty to rabbits and does better with a small wire cage at its base to keep it from being eaten and nibbled down. It also likes a bit of support (mine is growing on a chicken wire fence). Because I hear it does well in containers, I've just bought two more for a small city house where space and sun for roses is fairly limited----when there's such little space for a rose, it's hard to choose, and yet, if I could grow only one rose (apart from the stellar "New Dawn,' beloved by all) I think it might be this one.

A classic striped old garden rose. Upright stature makes it a good pillar rose. Seems to be indestructible in my garden. Has a bonus feature of putting out canes of huge solid purple blooms that are most likely a reversion to the original rose of which I have heard it is a sport of (?) Great fragrance too. Some black spot however during spring blooming period, after that, vigorous new growth stays clean throughout the rest of the season.

This rose is indestructible. Because of its upright habit you can place it into a corner of the border without taking over the entire bed. Seems like it would be a good climber with support. One bonus I have found with my VB is that I get branches that revert to huge blooms of solid purple with amazing fragrance. I am going to try to root a cutting of the solid purple reversion to see if I can get an all-purple rose, I remember reading that Variegata di Bologna is a sport of a purple rose so it might already be a named variety. A great example of why we should grow old garden roses!

So far, I am happy with my order.