Cherry Parfait Grandiflora Rose

 

Grandiflora Rose

Rosa 'Cherry Parfait'

(RO-zuh)

Registration name: MEIsponge

US Introduction: Conard-Pyle (Star Roses) in 2003

Synonyms: Fire & Ice (Australia), Jubilé du Prince de Monaco (Europe)

This is a super deep archive shot from 2007. I can’t say enough about how beautiful this rose can be. Right now I am torn between ordering ‘Double Delight’ or 'Cherry Parfait' for cutting roses. Since 'Cherry Parfait' is a grandiflora it probably wins the day. I am trying to order the roses now for spring delivery.

The shading on these rose flowers is variable but always looks nice. It is also a strong grower with good foliage.

Bonus shot from the same day.

Spotted Canna Lily

Canna x generalis

(KAN-uh) (jen-er-RAY-liss)

Love Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose 'Love'

Synonyms: JACtwin, 71-5324

After seeing this rose in several gardens and becoming enchanted with its bi-colored petals, strong smell and graceful habit I decided to try a couple in the big rose garden. They have performed well and have been reliable. All 4 of the bushes came through the mild winter and bloomed throughout the season. Red roses are not my favorite but this one is extraordinary.

We are working in the office today as it a really rainy and windy New England fall day outside. We are expecting 1 to 2 inches of rain, which we need, and it is off to a good start. We still need some bulbs so I will make a last swing through some nurseries to see if anything is available locally before ordering them from a catalog.

Gold Medal Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose

Rosa 'Gold Medal'

(RO-zuh)

Synonyms: AROyqueli, Golden Medal

We had an order for 18 long stem roses for somebody’s garden and after looking at several places gave up trying to procure them. Sometimes it is just better to wait until the supplies catch up with the demand. ‘Gold Medal’ was the only rose we found that was blooming but there was only one and after getting home and doing some research I am glad we didn’t buy it. You can see from the picture the foliage was loaded with disease and the flowers weren’t that great of a color. Apparently they wash out to this cream color in hot weather and don’t have much of the pink/orange blending they can have during cooler temperatures.

Introduced in 1982 by Jack Christensen it is a tall, fragrant rose that is grown on its own roots (not grafted). This makes it hardier but weaker growing in my opinion. All in all I am glad I passed on ‘Gold Medal’ and we will just have to wait to spring for some new stock.

Octoberfest Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose

Rosa 'Octoberfest'

Synonyms: Lantern, MAClanter

This rose has been a wonderful addition to the big rose garden this year and it is a little hard to be a standout amongst so many great varieties. The colors on this one are pretty amazing and so far it has had a lot of flowers. The rose garden in general has been doing better but needs more sunny days. 

It was funny when while taking my own advice to “stop and smell the roses” a couple of beetles that had been hiding in a flower crawled out onto my face, which of course led me to brush off the bugs with a great flourish. My co-workers really found that hilarious and I guess I did too upon later reflection.

Here are some details on Octoberfest:

Breeding and Introduction : Samuel Darragh McGredy IV, introduced (US) by Weeks Roses as ‘Lantern’, 1999.

Parentage: 'Louise Gardner' × 'New Zealand'

Petal Count: 25

Fragrance: Moderate, fruit

Earth Song Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose

Rosa 'Earth Song'

Since we were working on the rose garden all day yesterday here is a shot from a previous year. Most of the roses made it through the winter but this year we are being a little more aggressive with removing some of the plants that haven’t preformed well. A couple of roses have really struggled and it was time for them to go. All together we need about 20 replacements to fill out the garden.

‘Earth Song’ was not on the removal list since it has been vigorous and healthy and appears hardy. The vivid pink flowers bloom in flushes and have a nice scent. It is a pleasant rose on all accounts.

We had our “hard freeze” on Tuesday night and thankfully it didn’t drop as low as the said it was going to. We had high 20’s for several hours and it didn’t do as much damage as I thought it would. The Magnolias are toast. The Star types are just a pile of brown mush and the Saucer type had damage to the outside petals, which doesn’t look good. Cherry, Andromeda and bulbs seem to throw it off. I am sure there will be more damage after a few days but it could have been worse.

Catalina Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose

Rosa ‘Catalina’

Synonym: JACcolap

This rose presented large flowers with a complex color shading scheme. This was taken at a nursery so I have no direct experience growing it but it would be welcome in the garden. There was some scent present but you would probably not grow it for its fragrance.

Here are a few facts about Catalina Rose:

Breeder: Keith W. Zary

Introduction: 2008 by Jackson & Perkins

Parentage : Color Magic × Seedling

Height: Up to 5 feet tall

Flower Size: large, 4.5 inch diameter

Petal Count: 28-40

Since I said I would be posting a picture that isn’t a flower here is a weird house we saw on Catalina Island. Both the Island and house have a funky history. The Holly Hill House in Avalon, California.

Grandiflora Rose Sunshine Daydream

Grandiflora Rose ‘Sunshine Daydream’

Synonyms: MEIkanaro, Raffaello

I would like to introduce you to a 2012 All-American Rose selection called ‘Sunshine Daydream’. This one was spotted in the small but nice rose garden inside the Magic Kingdom. The garden itself was a surprise and I was excited to see that it featured AARS roses. In general the roses we saw in Central Florida were fabulous. They were blooming seemingly everywhere. Knockout roses were leading the charge, of course, but there were plenty of hybrid teas, grandiflora and shrub roses. One type that was “missing” was the ground cover/landscape roses but they were hardly missed.

‘Sunshine Daydream’ is listed as both a hybrid tea and grandiflora rose so I don’t know what’s up with that. It looks more like a grandiflora to me. Its disease resistance is supposed to be very good, which makes it more environmentally friendly rose. It also grows tall (up to 5 feet) and bushy. The specimens we saw were clean and vigorous. There was no discernable fragrance.

Two Roses

Two Roses
Grandiflora Rose
Rosa 'White Lightnin'’
Synonym: AROwhif

At first I was not enamored with either of the roses in this post. 'White Lightnin'’ (not a spelling error) really struggled for the first few years of my taking over the big rose garden. It didn’t grow much and threw off a few flowers here and there. After sticking by it this year it has grown almost like a regular rose. It has been covered with flowers and the foliage seems strong and healthy. Listed as white, near white and a white blend on a lot of sites that pretty much covers it. This flower has a bit more cream yellow than most but that isn't really apparent when viewed from a couple steps back. When viewed from a reasonable distance these roses have an all white appearance. 'White Lightnin'’ has surpassed ‘Moondance’ as the number one white in the garden. I have to add 10 roses this year and am trying to get ‘White Iceberg’, which will give it a run for the money.

This next rose has already been featured here before . This rose has also risen in my little rating scale. It is a constant disease resistant bloomer. With parents like ‘Playboy’ and ‘Peppermint Twist’ what did you expect?


Floribunda Rose ‘Scentimental’
Synonyms: Scentimental Sunflor, WEKplapep

As a side note both of these shots are from my Sigma 24mm/1.8 lens (mine is the Nikon mount version). I decided to throw it on the camera as a fun challenge. It is a real nice lens and I love the way it handles the light and shadows. The Nikon 60 and 105mm are sharper but the Sigma isn’t bad in that department. It was a $100 less when I bought from B&H. It needs to be a big flower to get full coverage at the wide angle.

About Face Grandiflora Rose

Grandiflora Rose ‘About Face’
Synonyms: ‘Pride of Cheshire’, WEKosupalz
2005 All-America Rose Selection (AARS)

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Wordless Wednesday

Rose Festival Day Six ~ Tropicana and Others

Bud of Hybrid Tea Rose 'Tropicana'

Rose Festival Day Six ~ Tropicana and Others

2007 Digital Flower Pictures.com Rose Festival ~ Day Six


As important as the Festival of Rose is :lol:, I have a lot of work correspondence to send out so today will be a short post. I went over to the Rose Garden at the farm yesterday and I had to deadhead about 150 flowers and there were probably a couple hundred flowers blooming. So I deadheaded the spent blooms and pruned off any diseased foliage. In general things were looking pretty good. I saw the owner and she was happy so I was happy. I made a list of the roses and figured out what I am going to need next spring before the winter takes its toll. It is a very exposed elevated site with lots of wind and even after winter protection they have at least 25 roses each year. I hope to cut that down a bit on my first winter. The problem as I explained to the owner is the garden is in a cold pocket of Zone 6 and most of the roses are rated for Zone 7.


I was able to get a few photographs and I took some pictures of some of the unidentified ones. I hope to look around and see if I can get the names. I decided that since there are seven ‘Tropicana’ bushes that I would do a little series of the bud, half-open and the full blown flower. Of course I had to try a few abstracts, too. I don’t really have a favorite rose. I like far too many to try and pin down that much, however ‘Tropicana’ would have to be in the top ten. I just the love the color. So I am excited to post the four pictures of this rose. This is exactly what I set out to accomplish with this blog: to take a picture the day before and post the next day. It was meant to get me out shooting and boy has it ever. I have to count the weekend as one of the shooting days because sometimes I am unable to get any pictures during the week. It takes a lot of pictures to run this place. I guess that I could be posting one a day but that would be a lesser challenge.


Abstract of 'Tropicana'

Here are some facts about ‘Tropicana’:
Class: Hybrid Tea
Origin: Mathias Tantau, Germany, 1960
U.S. Introduction: Jackson and Perkins, 1962
Petal Count: 30-35
Fragrance: Strong
Parentage: Seedling 5135 (Tantau/'Super Star') × Seedling
Synonyms: Super Star, TANorstar
All-American Rose Selection 1963, RNRS Gold Medal (Royal National Rose Society) 1960, Portland Gold Medal, 1961.

Floribunda Rose 'Moondance'
Class: Hybrid Tea
Origin: Dr. Keith W. Zary, US
U.S. Introduction: Jackson & Perkins Co., 2007
Petal Count: 26-40
Fragrance: Moderate
Parentage: Princess Alice × Iceberg
Synonyms: JACtanic
All-American Rose Selection 2007

Moondance Post, August 14,2006


I took the ‘Moondance’ photo yesterday and the Cherry Parfait picture on Saturday at the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. Click the links to see another picture on previous posts.

Grandiflora Rose 'Cherry Parfait'
Class: Grandiflora
Origin: Meilland International, France, 2000
U.S. Introduction: Conard-Pyle/Star Roses, 2003
Petal Count: 35-40
Fragrance: Mild
Parentage: Seed: MEIchoiju Pollen: MEIdanu × MACman
Synonyms: Jubilé du Prince de Monaco, MEISPONG, MEIsponge
All-American Rose Selection 2003

Another Cherry Parfait picture:
Cherry Parfait Post, January 16, 2007

Here are some of the lyrics to Bob Weir’s song, Festival:

“Hey, if crazy's what you want, there's way too much to miss, If you're looking for romance, well you can find this,
Or maybe some adventure, maybe with a little twist, down at the festival
Plenty color in the sun, but look out for the shade,
If you're lookin' for some fun, you got it made, down at the festival
Don't need no excuse to have a parade, down at the festival
Everyone's a different breed, fast and loose is in style,
You won't get far on greed, or on bluff or on guile, down at the festival
Most anything you need, you can get it with a smile, at the festival”

Kordes' Rose Prominent ~ ABC Wednesday

Kordes' Rose Prominent ~ ABC Wednesday

2007 Rose Festival Day Four

If you are here for Wordless Wednesday please scroll down to the next post of the yellow rose.

I can’t tell how beautiful I thought this rose was. It is was orange but had the slightest tinge of red in it. I saw it from across the garden and knew that my camera was going to have trouble capturing the color. I did move my saturation from Vivid (+1) to Normal. I think I will start doing that when photographing very vivid orange and red flowers. Lucky it was very cloudy out or I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

This rose is from the famous German rose breeder Wilhelm Kordes.
click here

Here is some history on Wilhelm Kordes from Google Book Results, you’ll have to go to the beginning of Chapter 11. I hope you find your way with this link, if you are interested.

The book is:
Climbing Roses of the World
By Charles Quest-Ritson
Published 2003
Timber Press
ISBN 0881925632

click here

I have seen this rose described as a Hybrid Tea, a Grandiflora and a Floribunda. The official American Rose Society class designation is Grandiflora.



I know this picture is a little underexposed but I thought you might like to see the way the flower grows on the ‘bush’. The color is such a nice contrast to the green foliage.

Origin: Germany (1971) by W. Kordes and Sons
Height: 3 feet
Petal Count: 33
Fragrance: Mild
Parentage: Color Wonder × Zorina
Synonyms: KORp

Ah, I love Wednesdays. Not only is it Wordless Wednesday and ABC Wednesday but to top it off it is trash day here. I gotta get those cans up to the road! Seriously, I like it because it gives me a chance to catch up with friend’s blogs, see some new ones and look at all the cool things everyone is posting. Thanks to everyone who has been coming to visit my Festival (or maybe it is Carnival) of Roses. Roses are easy to take pictures of because they almost always obey my number one rule for taking a nice picture, start with a beautiful subject.


Here are some of the other blogs that are participating in ABC Wednesday. If you want to join let me know and I will add your link.

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
dwq online
kate isis
bidadlah.com
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
Secluded Habitat

2007 Rose Festival ~ Day Three ~ Grandflora Roses

Grandiflora Rose 'Tournament of Roses'

2007 Rose Festival ~ Day Three
Grandflora Roses

The Rose Festival continues with Tournament of Roses a Grandiflora rose that is named after the huge New Years Day celebration in Pasadena, California. Here is a link to the Official website which has a lot of information on the festivities:
click here

From the history page:

“The first Tournament of Roses was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest eager to showcase their new home's mild winter weather."
"In New York, people are buried in snow," announced Professor Charles F. Holder at a Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

I have always wanted to attend the party. I guess some people want to go to the World Series or the Super Bowl but I want to go to the Tournament of Roses. That is like those two events rolled into one. Someday I will get out there but since it requires traveling over the holidays I will have to convince my wife to go. I entered the sweepstakes to win a free trip but I know those are mostly to get my name and address to spam me.

Grandiflora Rose 'Tournament of Roses'

About the rose. This is another William Warriner/ Jackson and Perkins introduction. I seem to be typing that a lot lately. It is a lovely pink double flowered rose that doesn’t grow too tall (3-4 feet, in my garden). There is really not a fragrance to speak of. It won the AARS award in 1989, the year after its introduction. One other note about this rose, when the Montreal Botanical Garden did a study on Black Spot, Rust and Powdery Mildew Tournament of Roses showed a 0-5% infection rate, one of the best.

Petal Count: 17-25
Parentage: Impatient × Seedling
Synonyms: JACient, Jackson & Perkins Rose Poesie

Another Grandiflora from ‘my’ garden is this beautiful white rose called ‘White Lightnin’. It is a relatively small rose but it has a nice pure color to it. It has kind of a lemony-citrus smell to it. This rose was bred by Jack E. Christensen and introduced by Armstrong Roses. It turns out Mr. Christensen has a website:

List of Christensen Roses
You’ll see he has bred some beauties!

and his Home Page:

Jack Christensen Home Page

Jack Christensen's Grandiflora rose ‘White Lightnin’

Parentage: Angel Face × Misty
Synonyms: AROwhif

Just a quick word about Grandiflora roses. They are descendants of Hybrid Teas and Floribunda roses. The often have the long stems, large flowers and bud shapes of the Hybrid Teas and bloom one to a stem or in clusters like a Floribunda. This class of roses was started for the rose ‘Queen Elizabeth’ in 1954 and that is still the most popular variety of this type.

Group shot of Grandiflora Rose 'Queen Elizabeth'

'Queen Elizabeth'
Origin: Dr. Walter Lammerts, 1954, US
Petal Count: 38
Parentage: Charlotte Armstrong × Floradora
Fragrance: Mild
Synonyms: Queen of England, The Queen Elizabeth Rose
This rose was bred to mark Elizabeth Alexandra Mary’s ascension to the British throne in 1952.

This is a cool USDA Zone finder by Zip Code I found at the Jackson and Perkins site:
Zone Finder by Zip Code (US only)

2007 Festival of Roses ~ Grand Opening

2008 All-American Rose Selection Grandiflora rose 'Dream Come True'

2007 Festival of Roses ~ Grand Opening
Digital Flower Pictures.com

To officially kick off our Festival of Roses I have decided to feature the two All-American Rose Selections for 2008. I am sure it appears I am fascinated with the AARS winners and with my project to photograph all the winners since 1938 maybe I am. These two winners of the Class of 2008 represent a trend in rose growing to the almost over the top color blends. In the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden there is an area where they plant the AARS winners for the following year and I was looking for the 2008 winners and found ‘Dream Come True’ and 'Mardi Gras’. I kept my eyes open for more winners but later found out only two roses were selected. So I got both of them.

‘Dream Come True’ is a nice blend of yellow and red. It was hybridized by Dr. John Pottschmidt of Cinncinati, Ohio and introduced by Weeks Roses. Dr. Pottschmidt is only the third amateur rose breeder to win the AARS award. It is an eye-catching rose and I like the layers that the flower has. It seemed to grow on a fairly compact bush and the group had a lot of flowers.

Photo showing the complex color blending on 'Dream Come True'

Some specifics on ‘Dream Come True’:
Type: Grandiflora
Petal Count: 26-40
Parentage: Touch of Class x Unknown Seedling
Fragrance: Mild
Synonyms: Wekdocpot

The other AARS winner I photographed on Saturday was ‘Mardi Gras’. Again the plot of this rose was thriving and producing a lot of flowers. They seem a bit more variable than than ‘Dream Come True’. It has a beautiful blend of colors and also grows on compact plants.

Floribunda rose 'Mardi Gras'

Type: Floribunda
Petal Count: 17-35
Parentage: Arofres × Singin' in the Rain
Fragrance: Mild
Synonyms: Jacfrain
Breeder: Dr. Keith Zary, United States
Introduction: Jackson and Perkins

'Mardi Gras' reaches 3 feet in height making it good for planting in mixed perennial borders.

The following information is from the AARS website, www.rose.org

“AARS operates the world’s most rigorous plant trial program via a network of more than 20 official test gardens throughout the country and representing all climate zones. This sophisticated evaluation process results in a new crop of AARS winning roses each year, guaranteeing that only the best make it into your garden. AARS strives to identify roses that are easy to grow, and evaluates plants on more than 15 qualities, including disease resistance, vigor and fragrance.”

The 15 qualities of evaluation are:

1. Vigor
2. Fragrance
3. Disease resistance
4. Foliage
5. Flower production
6. Growth habit
7. Bud and flower form
8. Opening and finishing color
9. Stem
10. Overall value

The roses receive the care that they would normally get in a home garden.

“AARS is a nonprofit association of rose growers and introducers dedicated to bringing exceptional, easy-to-grow roses to gardeners across the county. AARS operates the world’s most rigorous plant trial program via a network of more than 20 official test gardens throughout the country and representing all climate zones.”

Roses from the BBG

This is probably the last post on my trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Cranford Rose Garden. Here is an except from the history of the Rose Garden:

“In June 1928, the Cranford Rose Garden celebrated the grand opening of what has become one of the largest and finest rose gardens in this country. It was designed by Harold Caparn, a landscape architect for Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Montague Free, the Garden's horticulturist. Caparn had drawn the plans several years earlier, at the request of Stuart Gager, the first director of BBG.”

Full History.

They have a lot of other information on the rose garden if you click around a bit.


I got a couple of pictures of the roses although the heat had kind of got to them by the time of my visit. You could tell they had been blooming a lot by all the spent flowers. The roses I care for at work all had a great season but this next heat wave is going to knock them back.



This first rose is ‘About Face’ (cv. WEK osupalz). It is a Grandiflora Rose that won the AARS award in 2005. It has a light fragrance (I didn’t notice it) and a petal count of 35. Some of the parents of this rose include ‘Hot Cocoa’, ‘Ole Sole Mia’ and ‘Midas Touch’, all roses that I like. This rose has a very unusual color, which was quite captivating.




This next rose is a 2008 AARS winner called ‘Dream Come True’. Here is the story of how it was hybridized by a retired obstetrician.
Story

It looks to be a nice rose, following the trend to more multi-colored types. I had to step way into the rose bed to get this picture and was worried someone might see me as I quickly snapped the photo. I don’t really feel bad doing something like that as I am a professional gardener but I wouldn’t want anyone to get upset about it. If the roles were reversed and you were stepping into my plant beds to get a photo it would be okay, as long as you were careful.



This last rose photo is of the rose ‘Lady Elsie May’ (cv. ’Angelsie’). This is a shrub rose that won an AARS award in 2005. It is the only rose I have grown out of the ones pictures here and in my mind it is a winner. This rose has it’s own website which I thought was funny.
Lady Elsie May.com

Tchaikovsky® Rose

Tchaikovsky® Rose

In many ways this rose has underwhelmed me in the garden. That was until today when I was pruning what was left of the rose garden after the deer had come through and decimated it. I found this rose growing very low on the bush and it really stopped me in my tracks. Maybe because it was about the last flower left standing but I think it was because it was so perfect. It was actually growing upside down and when I turned it over it captured my heart. Since the owner is away for awhile I cut it and gave it to my wife. It was lost anyway and if I hadn’t had to prune all the roses I might not even have seen it. The roses have been growing fantastically in this area in general. I went to a friend’s house the other night and he doesn’t have much of a garden (putting it nicely) and there were these two shrub roses that were covered with nice peach colored flowers. Not a hint of black spot, either. Today I went and picked up a few plants at the wholesale nursery, which is really off the beaten path. Actually it is in the closest thing we have to farm country around here. The wild roses were blooming profusely on both sides of the road and the scent filled the cab of the truck. Before that I was thinking that Connecticut didn't have many wildflowers.

I was torn between posting that first shot and this second one. Then I remembered I am allowed to post what I want here and the visitors can decide whether or not they like it. I have been staying up late working on a secret project so each day I am tired but know that eventually the work may pay off. Just two more days of work and I am going out to take some pictures. I think I will go to the NYBG and then I am going to visit a fabulous private garden in Greenwich. It has the most tropicals planted outside of any garden that I know of around here. I just have to get through the next two days.



A couple of notes on Tchaikovsky (the rose not the composer). It was bred in France by Meilland International in 2003. From the parents Anthony Meilland and Landora. It has a petal count of 41(+) and has a mild fragrance. I found the fragrance to be very attractive when you shoved your nose into the flower. I couldn’t find out exactly what type of rose it is. I saw it listed as a shrub (doesn’t look that way in my garden), Grandiflora, Floribunda and Hybrid Tea. Whatever the type, it does have a slight ‘old-fashioned’ rose look to the flower.

Grandiflora Rose ‘Strike It Rich’

Grandiflora Rose ‘Strike It Rich’

This is a portrait of ‘Strike It Rich’ right before it went into the garden. It is beautiful rose with a strong fragrance. I like Grandiflora roses because the flower retains some of the hybrid tea looks while often blooming in clusters. I saw that this rose can produce 5-inch flowers but the ones blooming on my plant are about 3 inches across. Maybe that will change when it gets growing in the ground. As I said yesterday it is a class of 2007 AARS winner. If your interested in the criteria for a rose to be chosen check this post.

The new roses all looked nice in their respective places in the garden. I’m sure I’ll be posting some photos during the season. This is the last day before the big Garden Party at the Estate on Sunday. I kept thinking that yesterday was Saturday and it was confusing but I finally convinced myself it was only Friday. I will be glad when it is over and I can go back to working just 50 hours a week. I am going to the party as I usually meet some interesting horticultural people. I have had 4 people this week on the crew and a couple of friends are helping me out tomorrow so that will be a full crew.

aka: WEKbepmey
Breeder: Tom Carruth, United States (2005)
U.S. Introduction: 2007 by Weeks Wholesale Roses
Petal Count: 26 to 40
Parentage: CHRiscinn × Mellow Yellow

This is Grandiflora ‘Solstice’ a 2005 introduction by Jackson & Perkins. I didn’t buy it because it is susceptible to black spot. It sure was pretty when the sun was shining on it.



aka: JACzeyel
Breeder: Dr. Keith W. Zary, United States (2002)
Petal Count: 26 to 40
Parentage: Seed: Valerie Swane × Sunbright
Pollen: Lilli Marlene × Showbiz

‘Cherry Parfait’ Grandiflora Rose

‘Cherry Parfait’ Grandiflora Rose
2003 All-American Rose Selection Winner


This finishes up my little section on AARS roses. I finally posted a rose that isn’t a Hybrid Tea. ‘Cherry Parfait’ has a mild fragrance and a petal count of about 40. It was bred in France by Meilland Roses and introduced to the US in 2003 by Conrad-Pyle. I haven’t cultivated it myself but there would always be room in my garden for a specimen. I would grow it for the different color shadings alone. My project of trying to photograph all of the All-American Rose Selections has shown me just how sophisticated and cosmopolitan roses have become.

'Sundance' Grandiflora Rose

'Sundance' Grandiflora Rose

Another rose today. This was taken in the late season so the color of this rose isn’t quite as vibrant as it is during the season. It does show the pinkish-red tips that the flowers develop. This rose was selected as Rose Magazine’s 2004 Rose of the Year. In my garden it was very vigorous and bloomed pretty well all season. It got up to about 5 feet tall and the foliage stayed clean. The flowers, which borne in clusters, have about 25 petals and are excellent for cutting.

Grandiflora Rose
‘Glowing Peace’

This is one from the archives again. It has been really lousy weather the last couple of days so I couldn’t really go out and snap any pictures. ‘Glowing Peace’ is a Grandiflora rose originally hybridized by Meilland Roses and introduced by Conrad-Pyle in the United States. It was produced from Sun King and Roxane and has the esteemed ‘Peace’ rose as a grandparent. I shot this picture at the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. It is a great place to shoot roses. I usually go first thing Sunday morning and briskly walk out to the Rose Garden, which is far from the Conservatory and entrance. It takes a long time before the other visitors make it out to that part of the garden so you have sometime to yourself. It is a wonderful garden filled with many types of roses.

A couple people have emailed me wanting to see some the gardens I work on. Here is kind of a crummy picture of the largest of ‘my’ gardens. Since it is private, and I mean private, we are lucky if we have 50 visitors a year, I won’t say too much about it. I have been working on it for about 20 years now. It has some very interesting plants including a forest of Lacebark Pine (Pinus bungeana), over 80 varieties of Rhododendron and a couple of species too, a large Dogwood and Holly collection and at least 15 to 20 Japanese Maple cultivars. That bluish pyramidal tree to left of the center is a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum ‘Hazel Smith’). Boy they sure do grow fast. There are about 1,500 species, varieties and cultivars of plants that are cataloged in a big computer database.