Back when I first started my garden, about 20 years ago, I planted Madame Isaac Pereire,the beautiful Bourbon. It grew well and flourished, but since then, none of the Bourbons I've tried seem to do well. Now, many, many things have changed in these years.By now, I have more roses than I can count-several hundred. I got cocky, and planted others too near the Madame,too. But the climate here has really, really changed for the worse; Italy has been very hard hit with global warming. Now, the summers have become unbearably hot and long-and DRY. So, I'm wondering if climate has something to do with my Bourbon problems. I looked up the Isles of Bourbon from whence these roses originate,wondering if perhaps they are sort of water-hogs by nature, but it wasn't too enlightening, since it seems like half of the island is dry, the other very rainy. I'd love to hear other rose gardeners' experiences with these roses,to help determine whether the problems here is just the climate,or if I'm doing something (improper soil preparation pops into mind) that is undermining my success with this type of rose. All comments welcome!
