SIMPLE BEAUTY ROSE SERIES VOL. 4

Another volume of the Simple Beauty rose series is here! If you’re new to this series, check out this first post to see how it all came together. To be clear, this collection does not represent all the roses that were recently added to the new garden. There are two criteria that they must meet in order to be photographed: ONE, they haven’t been included in any previous volume, and TWO, I have to remember to photograph them. That’s why this grouping is so small this year, there have just been too many other things going on that diverted my attention. So, yeah, there are roses that did not get added to this bunch–but that just means they’ll be in next year’s. Let’s get started!

Souvenir de la Malmaison: This old Bourbon is such a popular rose, and for good reason. For such a softly pretty flower, it’s a surprisingly tough plant. I mentioned a few months ago that this rose did not like our new garden due to the issues with poor soil. I have since learned that it wasn’t the health of the soil per se, but pests in the form of Asian jumping worms and voles, a one-two punch that forced me to dig up what remained of the plant. It’s now in a container and bouncing back nicely.

Lyda Rose: An old favorite that has found a home in the new garden. If you enjoy singles, this is one you’ll want in your garden.

Antike 89: This rose cannot boast of clean, disease-free foliage like many of the newer Kordes roses. In our garden, it gets blackspot, but I just clean up the leaves and move on with my life because it’s otherwise a stunning, vigorous rose. I hope it doesn’t eventually disappoint because we gave it pride of place by the garden gate!

Blush Noisette: Another rose with a long-standing, great reputation. We have ours by the front door so we catch that wonderful fragrance every time we pass. My only complaint is that in wet weather the buds ball up and the petals don’t drop very cleanly. For that reason alone I would recommend putting it where it’s not viewed so up close.

Lemon Zen: I took a chance on this one and I’m glad I did. The flowers are very much like Lyda Rose except yellow! The foliage is soft and bluish-green, like an Alba, but sadly, does get blackspot as so many yellow roses do. It has a surprisingly strong fragrance.

Fragrant Plum: Do you ever accidentally purchase the wrong rose? I did in this case. I meant to order ‘Plum Perfect’, a much better rose from what I hear, but purchased this one, instead. It’s not great. We’re giving it another season, though, to get it’s act together!

La France: There’s a patch of ‘La France’ roses growing at Biltmore and the general consensus among us society nerds is that only one of them is actually the “true” La France. I recently was given a clone of that plant from Jim Wilson, rosarian extraordinaire. It just might be the most fragrant rose in our garden right now.

Mme Abel Chatenay: Jim also kindly gifted me this old Hybrid Tea, which I love so much already because the apricot to pink coloring on the flowers is just perfection. I can’t believe I have so many (for me) HT’s in my garden right now. What is happening?!

Twilight Zone: I honestly don’t know why I haven’t gotten rid of this rose, yet. It’s probably the color, which is just stunning, that makes up for the fact it gives me 1-2 flowers a year. Mine is own-root, and it’s literally about a foot tall, if that. I guess I can’t complain since it doesn’t take up much space. 😉

Italian Ice: Proven Winners gave me one of these last spring to try out and I flipping love it. But I won’t say any more about it now because I’m saving all that for it’s own post.

Rock and Roll: I had this idea last spring to add as many striped roses as I could find because you can never have too many, don’t you agree? Unfortunately, that plan went out the window, but I did get this one, at least. In it’s freshman year in our garden, it hasn’t done that well. I’m hoping it improves as it establishes itself because the flowers are out of this world gorgeous.

Bonica: This rose is a perfect example of why you can’t believe everything you read and how everyone’s garden is different. I’ve grown Bonica in PA and again in NC and both times I have had issues with blackspot with this rose. Apparently, it doesn’t read it’s own reviews of how it’s so disease resistant. Why do I still grow it? I love the hips it produces after the flowers and besides, I got this one for only $5.

Rhode Island Red: Susan of Restoration Roses gifted me this beauty and it’s one of the most exciting recent additions. This particular photo isn’t doing it any favors. In person, the flowers have a graceful cupped shape and are the most perfect shade of lipstick red. We planted ours on the other side of the garden gate and are hoping for lots of new growth next year.

At Last: Another trial from Proven Winners which I wrote more about HERE.

Candy Cane Cocktail: Full disclosure, I no longer have this rose. I dug it up one day last summer in frustration at it’s lack of disease resistance. In hindsight, I kind of feel I was too hasty. The flowers on this rose are very beautiful when they’re about half-way open. At maturity, they appear a bit worn out looking. I think that, coupled with the leaf drop from disease made me shovel prune it but if I could do it again, I’d give it another year before deciding. There is an interesting discussion in the comments section on HMF regarding disease if you’re curious!