Intoxicating Fragranced Roses - Summer Song

"Summer Song" bred by David Austin (United Kingdom, before 2005).

This is a rose of beautiful and unusual colouring that is hard to describe – burnt orange

would be one possibility.

The flower starts as a rounded bud that gradually opens to a full cup

, with many inner petals arranged rather informally within a perfect ring of outer petals.

It has a lovely strong, mixed scent, which the Austin fragrance experts tell is ‘like a florist’s shop, with hints of chrysanthemum leaves, ripe bananas and tea’. In fact, the growers say it's the banana

mostly they sense in the fragrance...

It forms a bushy, upright shrub that can be pruned to grow tall or short, according to your requirements.

Shrub.

English Rose Collection.

Orange blend.

Strong, fruity, tea fragrance.

Average diameter of flowers - 3.75" - 9,5 cm. Large, very full (41+ petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters, old-fashioned bloom form. Blooms in flushes throughout the season.

Tall, bushy, upright. Medium, semi-glossy, dark green foliage.

Height of 4' (120 cm). Width of 3' (90 cm).

Zone 6.

Can be used for cut flower, garden or hedge.

Intoxicating Fragranced Roses - Rosa Centifolia

In May, the absolute Queen of flowers is Rosa Centifolia.

Known also as Cabbage Rose, Hundred-Petalled Rose, Province Rose, Rose de Mai or Rose des Peintres (Painters’ Rose) because it was featured in so many medieval flower paintings, it is a splendid rose, adorning our gardens with beautiful, deliciously fragrant flowers.

Other names are: Holland Rose, Gul-i-sad-warg, Kohl Rose, Rosa provincialis maior, Rose a Cent Feuilles, Rose Chou, Rosa persica, Rosa incarnata, Common Provence, Rosa purpurea.

Probably originated in the Caucasus and first cultivated in Persia, it is said to have reached Britain in 1596 and has been used since in hybridizing and for its delightful fragrance.

Nowadays this rose is cultivated widely (mostly in the south of France and Morocco) to supply the perfume industry with attar of roses.

The full, globular, deep glowing pink flowers have numerous petals becoming darker towards the centre and appear in early to mid-summer (once-flowering). They are arranged in small clusters and emerge from tight feathery buds. They are flattish, very double and very fragrant.

The bushy, well-branched shrub can attain a height between 5' to 6' 11" (150 to 210 cm) in good soil and the width is up to 5' (150 cm), producing long strong shoots with numerous reddish thorns and prickles. Its leaves are coarse, both in appearance and to touch, and are grayish green. The zone were it thrives is from 4 to 9.

You can use the intoxicating fragranced petals in many recipes, as salads, jam, syrup, tea or potpourri. And, of course, it has such a vintage charm in the garden…

You’ll love this wonderful rose, despite its only once flowering.