Eden Rose (2017)

Rosa 'Eden': Beautiful romantic rose.

The glorious time for Eden rose has come to my garden once more.  It is blooming!  It is a beautiful romantic rose.  However, the subtlety in its color and fragrance is offset by its exuberant growth habit and the extravagant inflorescence.  The flowers are composed of thick piles of overlapping  petals - making them so heavy that makes them always in a drooping position.  It is a good thing that this rose is a climbing type because it is better to appreciate the flowers from below.  

Rosa Eden: Exuberant growth habit and extravagant inflorescence.

Owing to the season of abundant precipitation we had after a long drought, all my plants are generally performing good this year.  However, good things seem to come with some challenges.  In the case of this rose, I had to prop the canes temporarily to prevent them from breaking due to the heavy weight of the flowers.  

Clematis 'Niobi rambles on Eden rose.

One of the things I have done  in the past years is to plant clematis among my climbing roses.  In the pictures, you can see Clematis 'Niobi' rambling among the roses.  I found this to be good especially with roses that bloom heavily in the spring and sparingly afterwards and those that are prone to diseases that cause some defoliation.  The clematis provides the necessary color and interest during the ugly period of the roses.  Yes, I always say that roses are beautiful when they are not ugly.  And I am always in the business of trying to mitigate this problem of ugliness on the plant that is supposed to be a bearer of the symbol of beauty.

Roses are beautiful...

Vibrant Pink 'Zephirine Drouhin'

Rosa 'Zephirine Drouhin'

Like a celebrity at the peak of her stardom,  'Zephirine Drouhin' was the most photographed subject in my garden yesterday.  The warm sun seemed to have pulled the sepals away from the buds giving way to the petals to explode into beautiful cerise pink flowers. 

'Zephirine Drouhin' roses flank our garage doors - adding a romantic look to the otherwise drab section of the house.  When in bloom, they command a great deal of attention to passers-by.  Visitors who get close to them also notice the pleasing fragrance of the flowers. 

Technically speaking, climbing roses are not climbing plants.   When I say climbing plants - these are the plants that are naturally capable attach themselves to structures as they grow such as clematis and ivy.  Climbing roses on the other hand, have long canes that can be trained to grow upwards on structures.  This is the case with my 'Zephirine Drouhin' roses.   The canes are supported in place by thick wires that hang under the gutter.   

This rose has pale green leaves (I used to think that it was always in need of nitrogen fertilizer).   They seem to be tolerant to shade; my roses are plated on a north-facing side of the house which allows only the afternoon sun.    

 

 

This bourbon rose is a repeat bloomer.  But my observation is that is susceptible to aphids and sometimes black spot and leaf rust.  It could be attributed to the shorter period of exposure to sunlight. 

 'Zephirine Drouhin' - old fashioned, thornless, vibrant pink, and shade tolerant.