Two Orange Flowers

Two Orange Flowers

In the garden orange flowers are always a delicate subject. When I ask a customer what color they like in the garden there seems to be a 65 percent chance they will say anything but orange. For me orange flowers are not my favorite but often are striking and fun to have. This Hibiscus, which is a double flowered type, has been blooming like crazy since the slugs have left it alone. The pet and kid safe slug bait with Iron phosphate seems to be working great.

Having a couple of Hibiscus around adds a bit of a tropical flair to the gardens here. They can over winter in the house but they often get infested with different insects. If you can keep them pest free they will keep putting on a show in the house.

There are a lot of orange roses out there and some are better than others. 'Vavoom' is a Floribunda rose that was introduced in 2007. World renowned hybridizer Tom Carruth and Weeks Roses brought it to the market. So far it has done well and other than the flowers being a little small it seems like a good disease resistant and free flowering rose.


Here are a few facts about ‘Vavoom’:

Registration name: WEKjutono
Moderate fragrance
Petal count of up to 35
Parentage: Julie Newmar x Top Notch
Dark red new growth

This flower isn’t as pretty as some of the ones on this bush during the season. I just happened to have my camera and the time to get a shot.

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