Wild Blue Yonder Rose

The new Wild Blue Yonder rose is of course blue in name only. The flowers are darker red in bud. Once opened they start as a deep mauve-ish kind of red that fades to have white-streaked lighter red petals. This is my first grandiflora (and my first Tom Carruth rose) and I'm sold! The flowers are larger than a floribunda but with the same great repeating habit. We'll see how she handles the fungal petri dish that this part of NC is once the summer heat and humidity kick in. She has nice dark, glossy leaves so she might be ok (the dark leaves isn't 100% guarantee of bs resistance, but seems to be the case more often than not).

Mr. Carruth has been a hybridizer for Weeks Roses since 1989 and has won more AARS honors than any rose breeder currently working. I'll be sure to be looking to his work as I make future additions to my rose collection. Some of his other winners include: Hot Cocoa, Betty Boop, Julia Child, and a 2007 winner, Strike it Rich.

Darlow's Enigma and Madame Alfred Carriere Rose

The first of the roses are starting their show! Madame Alfred Carriere has several sweetly perfumed blooms going. She'll soon be tall enough to begin to train up the trellis on the wall. This lovely came from The Antique Rose Emporeum in Texas. She's on her own root and was relatively trouble free last season (summer of 2006 - aka the dark summer of black spot). Every rose got at least a touch of the BS, but only a touch for the Madame.

My Darlow's Enigma arrived looking great from Ashdown Roses. She's adapting swiftly and is the first rose in the shadier back yard. Everybody else is on the sunny side of the house.

Ashdown is a great choice for me as the shipping distance isn't much. But both Ashdown and Rose Emporium sent me marvelous specimens! Last year both my Pat Austins purchased from another mail order company were disappointing. One started showing symptoms of Rose Rossette Disease by mid-summer. I should have taken photos, but once I realized what it was it was yanked, bagged and gone instantly! The weird super succulent, massively thorny red growth presented by the mite-borne illness is truly alien looking.

The second Pat Austin was mailed separately (originally omitted from my shipment, a mistake quickly remedied by the company) and shows no signs of the disease despite a relitively close position. I'm just not sure what it is though. I don't think its a Pat - it has too many petals giving it a fuller shape and the color is not quite right either. She's pretty, this mystery lady (shown above).