I have a Golden Showers and it really did not come impress me until it was three years old. I had bought it as a beginner at Home Depot and first planted it in front of a lemon tree. After a year, I moved it to its present location, between a plum tree and a fence, where my neighbor's trees are just growing out of control. I have to continually prune the branches that hang over into my property.

It is purely by luck that I picked this shade tolerant rose for this location. It continually blooms and is now closing in on 8 feet tall by 6 wide. I has grown into the branches of the plum tree, poking out flowers in between the plums. The first flush of the season is always the largest, because of the more plentiful light, before the leaves on my plum tree and my neighbor's trees appear.

Even though the blooms open more quickly than some other roses, there are always buds ready to begin a new show. The buds are very striking, bright red tips contrasting with the yellow of the rest of the bud. As the blooms open, the red fades to pink and almost disappears as the blooms age. This shrub is never without flowers, which is remarkable because of its difficult location. During the summer, I would say it rarely gets more than three hours of direct light. The rest of the time, it gets dappled light and never over the entire plant. Despite all this, the plant has beautiful foliage and remains disease free. I am looking for another one to train as a climber in my front yard.

Very unusual blend of pink, apricot, and salmon. The plant I have is only a year old but has been a consistent producer, although the blooms aren't as long lived as I'd like. Another gripe is that succeeding blooms have not been as large or spectacular as the ones it sported when I first brought them home from the nursery in Fremont. Probably this is due to the much cooler climate in San Francisco, where I live. I suspect this plant likes more sun and warmer weather. However, I would still buy this rose, even knowing what I have learned.

I will probably be transplanting this bush from the ground to a container, to make room for a larger bush, Sheila's perfume, which I just purchased. Later report to follow, on how it fares from this change of scenery.