Members' Favorite Roses


"Baby Blanket"	Favorite Roses of TRS Members
It's important to point out that a rose lover's favorite rose may vary depending on the day you ask! With that caveat, here are some of our members' favorite roses.

From Ellen's Garden:

Ingrid Bergman: I call it my "Christmas Ribbon Rose". The dark red color and great substance is like a very good quality velvet ribbon.

The fragrance is rated as moderate but it's plenty for me and the "Old Rose Fragrance" that I love. It lasts 1-2 weeks in the vase too. Lots of blooms, one of the first in the spring and last in the fall (this last fall I went out to defoliate it and found a perfect 5 1/2" bloom buried down in the middle, what a treat on my table right in front of me) and seems to bloom continuously thru the entire season. Mine is about 4 1/2 - 5' and 3 1/2' across, lots of dark green foliage and very disease resistant. What more could you want?

Gertrude Jekyll: Bright pink to rose, perfect fat buds opening to flat blooms.
As with most shrub roses they don't last more than 5 days in a vase but there are plenty to keep the vases full. I have 2 bushes against a chain link fence and tie up the long canes horizontally like a climber for even more blooms.

I read somewhere that it is the first rose to be used commercially for perfume in 240 years and you don't need many to fill a room with its wonderful fragrance. The bush is about 4'x4', fairly disease resistant, and pruning is optional. I just prune to shape, out with the dead and any crossing over and rubbing on another cane.

From Margaret's Garden:

Double Delight: This continues to be my favorite rose, as it must be for many other rosarians since it is in "the rose hall of fame". This hybrid tea (rated 8.5) is a profuse bloomer, is winter hardy and delights us twice with its creamy, deep pink tinged petals and its lovely fragrance. It has a tendency to blackspot, which can be controlled by planting it in full sun, giving it plenty of room and removing the lower leaves.

Sunset Celebration: The two bushes of this creamy yellow /orange hybrid tea in our rose garden give us lots of blooms for bouquets as it is a profuse bloomer with long stems and is winter hardy. No fragrance that I notice, but it is so lovely that it often shows up on the tables at local rose shows.

Just for the record, "Double Delight" was hybridized by Swim and Ellis and introduced in 1977. Its parents are "Granada" x "Garden Party". Among its many awards is the most prestigious fragrance award - the James A. Gamble Rose Fragrance Medal - in 1986.

From Gracie's Garden:

Baby Blanket: Nestled in the lower bed of my rockery, the soft pink flowers of this rosebush are a sweet addition to my rose garden. With rich green, disease-resistant leaves, the two-foot tall bush is covered with blooms from June through October. Its stems grow to about five feet in length and droop down over the edge of the rocks in a beautiful pink fountain and cascade up and back into the level above. An easy-to-grow rose, this is an excellent choice for the beginning rose grower.

Gemini: While the exquisite hybrid tea form of this beautiful pink and white rose has earned it Queen of Show awards many times since its introduction in 1999, Gemini is also a wonderful rose in the home garden. The bush is tall and produces copious blooms, often in sprays of three or more.

From Martha's Garden:

Gold Medal is a dark yellow grandiflora with pink edges and medium green leaves. I have two plants and they bloom from May through October. They grow to be 6 feet tall in my yard. Every 4-5 inch bloom is perfect in form with a lovely rose smell. Last summer was the first time I ever had any disease on these plants but usually I have no disease on these two plants. This is a great rose for beginners. I planted my first rose garden in 1990 and these two plants are still going strong.

Bill Warriner is a pink/apricot colored floribunda with dark green glossy leaves. It provides me with blooms from May through October. I have only one plant. It grows to about 3-4 feet in height. The 2-3 inch blooms have good form and a light fragrance. I have never had a problem with any rose diseases with this plant. This is a great rose for beginners.

Tournament of Roses is a medium pink grandiflora with dark green glossy leaves. It begins to bloom a little later than my other roses (June) but when it does it is a mass of blooms. It grows to be about 5 feet in my yard. The 2-3 inch blooms have good form and a light fragrance. I have only one plant and it has never had any disease problems. This is a great rose for beginners.