Rose garden

[peeps7]

Hi, I have a small rose garden that I am looking forward to making larger. I have pink, pink&white, yellow, red, burgandy, and white. I have about 1/2-1 acre of garden, 3 1/2 acres of grass, and 1 acre of woods. I have plenty of other plants too. I was just wondering if there was such a thing as a "blue" rose?

 

[Southern Gardener]

Hi Daylily,

Ther is a rose called Veilchenblau. I have one and it's beautiful in the spring.

Often called The Blue Rose, this vigorous, nearly thornless rambler has small crimson or purple blossoms that fade to a grey-blue color. Although literature indicates a tendency to rebloom, we have not witnessed this occurrence. Seen up close, there are streaks of white in each flower and the gold stamens are brightly displayed. Fragrance is excellent.

My favorite place to order roses is The Antique Rose Emporium. That is where you'll find this rose.

 

[peeps7]

Thanks!!! I'd like to find some of the "rare" roses to put in the garden just so when people come to look they can be in awe. I know I'm awful, but you know how it goes, LOL.

 

[Rosalind]

Most of the blue roses are really a sort of lavender. Even genetic engineering has only been able to produce a kind of purplish color (http://www.suntory.com/about/news/2004/8931.html). Most roses labeled "blue" are really purple.

"Black" roses are very dark red or sort of brownish. It's hard to get certain colors.

 

[peeps7]

DANG!!!! I gotta get me one of those.

 

[rooster-red]

We have a huge cherokee rose bush, I'll havbe to get pics in the spring.

I've pruned it several times and it stands over 6 feet tall and about 10 feet in diameter.

 

[nightshade]

I have two "blue" roses and they are more of a lavender then a true blue. One is a Blue Girl the other is called Balinda's Dream. Both have a very strong smell. I am a rose buyer and planter by what my nose tells me to by lol.

I have been searching for a black but the closet I have gotten is a dark marron called a "Magenta" which is truely one of my favorites you can smell it from about 5 feet away.

 

[yotetrapper]

I ordered two Blue Girl varieties from Gurneys mail order catalog and was very disappointed because they were pure pale pink!!

 

[patandchickens]

There ain't no such thing as an actual blue rose, by the normal everyday meaning of blue. No blue daylilies either. In fact the number of plant taxa that come in any sort of TRUE blue is pretty limited (the classics are things like delphiniums, forget me nots, pansies, perennial flax, some irises, etc)

But remember that 'blue' in the world of plant breeders and catalogs means simply "purplish or lavender-colored". In that sense, LOTS of plants are described as 'blue'. Note that photos are often 'pushed' to distort things towards trues bluer - sometimes you can detect chicanery from the way the greenery looks in the photo. But really, anyone who wants BLUE blue in a plant not known for blueness had better see it blooming in person first.

Roses don't even achieve much of a lavender shade -- the 'blue' (meaning slightly purplish) roses are still much more pinky than lavender-y, you need the squint of a True Believer to see anything different. Still nice, but I wish people would call a spade a spade.


Pat

 

[silkiechicken]

And the pH of the soil at least in some plants can change blooms from blue to pink and pink to blue. I had a teacher once who kicked herself for fertilizing her wonderful baby blue hydrangea plant... because after doing so, the blooms turned into a bright pink. LOL

Don't know if this has any bearing on roses though.