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.

Half a Dozen Roses

Hybrid Tea Rose 'Brigadoon'

Half a Dozen Roses

The rose garden at the farm is coming along nicely and I decided to take some pictures over there. I was joking with my co-workers that I was the ‘Head Rose Grower’ at the farm. I reality I guess I am but I am also the only rose grower. I inherited all of the varieties in the garden. In a way that was helpful as I am growing a lot of roses I would have never chosen due to my own prejudices and previous bad experiences with some varieties and types. I probably would also have been worried a lot about colors. Instead I have this huge mix of varieties and colors that I wouldn’t have dreamed up on my own. I think there is a little lesson in there for me. Since there is room for about 35 more roses I will have to keep this mind when picking out the new roses.

Starting out with one of my favorites, and that is always subject to change, a beautiful pink blend (really hard to describe how beautiful the color is) Hybrid Tea Rose. Bred by William Warriner in 1991 and introduced by Jackson and Perkins in 1992. This rose has a petal count of 30-40 petals and a nice fragrance. It was an All-American Rose Selection in 1992.

Parentage: Seedling x Pristine
Height: 3 feet
Synonyms: JACpal

Moving on, there are several white roses in the garden. White Lighting and Moondance have both been good performers. This one, Pascali, is a small flowered Hybrid Tea. I don’t know if my bush is producing small flowers or that is the way the rose truly is. The Lens family bred this rose in Belgium in 1963. It was a 1969 All-American Rose Selection.

Hybrid Tea Rose 'Pascali'

Fragrance: None
Parentage: Queen Elizabeth × White Butterfly
Height: 30 inches
Synonyms: Blanche Pasca, LENip

Here is another white one, although it is technically a white blend. ‘White Delight’ is also a Hybrid Tea rose and another one bred by William Warriner. I couldn’t find a lot of information on this rose other than the temperature has a lot to do with the color of the flowers.

Hybrid Tea Roae 'White Delight'

Fragrance: Mild
Parentage: White Masterpiece × Futura
Synonyms: JACglow

I posted a rose named ‘Molly Mc Greedy’ a little while back that looked very similar to this rose. I think the color is a little darker and the buds are more pointed on this one, but the color scheme is close. How could you not love a rose named ‘Love’? This is another William Warriner and Jackson and Perkins introduction (am I sensing an unintentional theme here with the Warriner roses?). It is a very beautiful disease resistant and heavy blooming rose. It won the AARS award in 1980 and also won a Gold Metal at the Portland Rose Trials that same year.

Grandiflora Rose 'Love'

Type: Grandiflora
Fragrance: Strong
Parentage: Seedling × Redgold
Petal Count: 30-35
Synonyms: JACtwin, 71-5324

In the large flowered category we have the apricot blend Floribunda ‘Honey Perfume’. This rose was also an All-American Rose Selection (2004). It is (in my garden) a tall plant that’s has had continuous blooms in large clusters. It has a very strong pleasant fragrance and the flowers are a beautiful color. It has shown good disease resistance so far. Although also introduced by J&P, it was bred by Dr. Keith Zary.

Floribunda Rose ‘Honey Perfume’

Parentage: Seedling × Amber Queen
Petal Count: 25-40
Height: 42 inches
Synonyms: JACarque

Finally, I feel a bit like I am running a marathon here, is a rose that I said I didn’t really care for previously. However, upon further review I think, 'Scentimental' is unique and beautiful. It has a bit of whimsy and that isn’t a bad thing in the garden (in moderation). It is a Floribunda and considered a red blend, striped rose. It has a strong fragrance and fairly large flowers. Each of the flowers has a different pattern so that is kind of fun. This was the first striped rose to win the AARS award (1997). Bred by Tom Carruth for Weeks roses it was introduced in the United States in 1997. For more information on Mr. Carruth there is an article in this post:
click here. There is a link to more information about the AARS awards if you are not familiar with them.

Floribunda Rose 'Scentimental'

Parentage: Playboy × Peppermint Twist
Petal Count: 25-36
Height: 48 inches
Synonyms: Scentimental Sunflor, WEKplapep

That’s all I have time for right now. If anybody has been growing any of these roses please post a comment. I would be happy to hear of your experiences.

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