In Denver, the original plant, plus the clone in my south hedge, would make deep dusky red/magenta blooms when hungry, but when well fed, especially with kelp meal, would produce medium pink blooms!
My Tampa specimen, maybe because I used a soluble bloom booster a friend gave me a 20 lb. bag of, bore its most recent blooms in uncannily "Gallica-purple" color shades! As I expected, my camera barely captured those sumptuous purple overtones, but these pics give you some idea. What a miracle to be growing this VERY cold hardy once-bloomer in Tampa due to this third attempt in ten years being in a restricted-drainage container that in hindsight I see now was an early prototype of my wonderful Water Wise Container Gardens that are letting me grow Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas, all own root and organic despite the widespread dogma they MUST be budded to Fortuniana and sprayed to even stand a chance. Many Florida rosarians state as fact that, with a VERY few exceptions, the Hybrid Perpetuals and Bourbons "can't" grow here and that once bloomers like "Fairmount Red" can't grow here at all.....good thing my roses don't know these "rules"!
Denver rosarian Cheryl Netter and I used to speculate that "Fairmount Red", which I discovered in Fairmount Cemetery in 1989 I think ( I just found some OLD notes!),might be a Hybrid China derived from a Gallica due its matte foliage, saturated color, and capacity to sucker. It can be purchased from High Country Roses in Utah. Enjoy, John
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