Rosa ‘Mignonette’

With this unusually warm weather we’re having, there is much to be seen in the garden right now as everything is waking up. Unfortunately this gardener has been hit hard with allergies and I’ve been hiding out in my cool basement studio, so I apologize for not keeping up with my plant related updates. But I will tell you that I’ve seen many a bluebird, the snake’s head fritillaries are beginning to bloom (must get a photo of that), and the roses are breaking dormancy. In the meantime, I have been wanting to share this sweet little rose, a light-pink Polyantha by the name of ‘Mignonette’ which I was introduced to last summer at the Rose & Fragrance Garden at PSU.

Each blossom is very petite, little more than the size of a quarter, and as you can see in the photo above, is found in profusion. Introduced by Guillot in France, 1880, this rose grows in a mounded shrub up to 3 feet in zones 4-9 and blooms in flushes throughout the growing season. If I remember correctly from my visit to the garden last November, it was also quite covered in tiny hips, too.

Polyanthas are charming roses, think ‘The Fairy’, and I’m now wondering why I haven’t been adding more to our garden. One snip and you have an instant bouquet! If you’re looking to add Rosa ‘Mignonette’ to your rose collection, here are two growers who say they carry it.

Hopefully I will be out in the garden soon for some photo shares. Until then, “Atchoo!”