Has anyone compared this to 'Clotilde Soupert'? The foliage and bud clusters really remind me of my CS plant, as do the prickles I DON'T see in the pictures. Something just doesn't scream "Noisette" when I look at the pictures, but perhaps the few posted simply don't give an accurate representation.

:-)

~Christopher

"Old grey cemetery rose" must be named for the historic cemetery in Knoxville, TN. I live in Knoxville and this is the only "old gray cemetery" I can find in a google search, anyway.... It is spelled old grAy, not old grEy.. I am currently trying to find out more about this found rose since it is so local, if I find out more I will update you further, and if anyone else knows more about it please let me know!

This plant did beautifully in north Alabama, but developed severe mildew when moved to coastal Washington State in early 2010. It grew well during early summer but was removed to the compost pile in the late fall of 2010 after constant heavy mildew problems. In the spring of 2011 I found it in the compost pile where it had started to grow leaves. I removed it from the compost pile and repotted it. The leaves mildewed and it appeared dead at the end of summer 2011.

The size of the blooms was very different in Alabama and Washington. The Washington blooms were about 1 inch or less while the Alabama blooms probably 2 inches. I don't know if it is the heat difference between the two locations that affected bloom size. There was no blackspot on the shrub, though, and it was a very vigorous grower. If I move back to the southern US, I will grow it again.

I just planted Old Grey Cemetery in my zone 8b, Louisiana high humid garden this spring (2010). Its blooms don't look a lot like the currently posted picture here as has very white blooms with perhaps a hint of pink at the center - nowhere near as pink as the existing picture though. It has bloomed almost non-stop since the season began (late this year in late March), and so much that the blooms are often too heavy for its still very small structure. It holds up fairly wll to the rain and humidity; the blooms do tend to ball and flatten somewhat after a hard rain, but not so much that the bloom is ruined. Overall, I am so far very impressed with this little rose.