Hybrid Tea Rose ‘Marilyn Monroe’

Hybrid Tea Rose ‘Marilyn Monroe’
Synonyms: WEKsunspat

I must say this rose is a beautiful apricot blend with just a hint of green. It was blooming profusely at the NYBG. It had what I consider a light fruity type of fragrance, its real beauty was in the delicate shading of the inner petals.

Parentage: Sunset Celebration × St. Patrick

Petal Count: 30 to 35

Breeder: Tom Carruth. Here is an interesting article on Mr. Carruth’s career as a rose breeder:

SFGate.com/King of the Roses

From the article by Rayford Reddell, a list of Mr. Carruth’s AARS Award winning roses:

/start quote/ 'Scentimental' No two blooms are exactly alike, with petals randomly splashed with burgundy, red, cream, and white. Blossoms are fragrant as all get-out.

'Betty Boop' Single-petaled and bicolored Floribunda with shades of red and white.

'Fourth of July' Red and white climbing rose.

'Hot Cocoa' Blossoms are notably fragrant, foliage is glossy green and plants are resistant to common rose ailments.

'Memorial Day' Heavily petaled Hybrid Tea rose with strongly scented blossoms. An undisputed hit in areas with hotter-than-normal summers.

'About Face' Gold and bronze, for which Hot Cocoa served as the parent.

'Julia Child' Butter-yellow and fragrant Floribunda.

'Wild Blue Yonder' Deeply fragrant Grandiflora with red-purple blossoms.

'Strike It Rich' Golden yellow Grandiflora. Most blossoms have 30 petals each. /end quote/

For some information on the AARS Awards
click here


I have actually grown a lot of these roses and have had good luck with all but ‘Hot Cocoa’, although it does have a beautiful flower color. I haven’t grown 'Scentimental’ or ‘Fourth of July’ because I am not crazy about striped roses. I have seen them performing well in gardens, though. ‘Strike It Rich’ is one of my new favorites. In the new Rose Garden it is one of the few roses that didn’t have a lot of disease and continues to produce a lot flowers even though a lot of the roses around it were completely devastated by black spot.

‘Strike It Rich’ post