Growing ‘La Reine’ Hybrid Perpetual Rose
‘La Reine’, a Hybrid Perpetual, was brought to our garden last summer as a banded rose, so until this spring I had yet to see her blooms in person. This season, she is still in her 3 gallon container, but has stretched out healthy, long canes upon which there were several roses each. The sheer beauty of ‘La Reine’ is breathtaking, from the form of those perfectly cup-shaped blossoms, the strong, old rose scent, the sturdy stems and the purplish-pink color. ‘La Reine’ is romantic, fragrant, voluptuous, strong and luminous–the Joan Holloway of roses. I can’t wait to see how ‘La Reine’ performs in our garden in the coming years.
Ooooh, she looks lovely. I don’t have any really old roses in my garden (mostly David Austins with a few rugosas and a couple others thrown in… I’ve actually lost count of how many), but an old rose (or two or ten) will probably be my next addition(s) (once I tear up some more grass). I see that you like Mme Hardy and Mme Calvat. Might have to give those a try. I’ve also been thinking about Louise Odier. Any others you’d recommend as the most delicious smelling of all (I’m in zone 6A)?
I stumbled upon your blog when I was looking up info about Dr. Huey and I have to say I pretty much fell in love. I am addicted to roses and love finding other people who are, too. Your blog is lovely. Can’t get enough of your rose photos!
Hi Anne! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I’m so pleased you found my little blog. 🙂 I just love the look of ‘Louise Odier’ but I see that she’s susceptible to blackspot. Are you finding that to be the case? Your garden sounds delightful. I was just saying to my husband the other day that I would like to continue adding more David Austin and Romantica roses to ours. As much as I adore those OGR’s I wish they would bloom all summer! Ours are very young still, but I have to say some have been real standouts so far. Off the top of my head: ‘Georges Vibert’, ‘Apothecary’s Rose’, ‘Madame Plantier’, ‘Félicité Parmentier’, ‘Celsiana’, ‘Comte de Chambord’, ‘La Reine Victoria’ (technically not an OGR but close enough), ‘Marchesa Boccella’, ‘Aimée Vibert’, ‘Rose de Rescht’, ‘Arcata Pink Globe’,’Rosa Mundi’, ‘Tuscany Superb’, and of course ‘Madame Hardy’, ‘Madame E. Calvat’, and ‘La Reine’. Whoops! Looks like I named practically all the OGR’s in our garden! Guess I love them all. 😉 The only ones that I seem to have trouble with in our climate are the Bourbons which are more susceptible to blackspot and powdery mildew (somehow ‘Mme Calvat’ manages), and my Moss roses, with the exception of ‘Red Moss’ are being stinkers. Let me know what you end up trying out!
Gorgeous rose!
Love your information on roses! I live in Maine, zone 5 and was wondering if La Reine will tolerate any shade? Appreciate your opinion. I am redoing my whole garden with about 15 roses and focused on the ones more shade tolerant, rugosa, climbers, etc., but this one looked so lovely. Thank you,
Cathy
Hi Cathy, thank you for your visit!
La Reine would be fine with a little late afternoon shade….just make sure she gets sunlight from morning well into the afternoon. The critical bit is “morning sun.” All roses that are classified as “shade tolerant” need sunlight in the first half of the day in order to do well. That being said, La Reine may also require some winter protection in your area. (While hardy to zone 5b you may see some winter dieback.) Here’s a link for more info about La Reine if you’re curious! 🙂