The Future's so Bright, I Gotta Wear Stripes

'Variegata di Bologna'

Well, things are looking up as far as gardening in Kansas goes, and ProfessorRoush is breathing a little easier.  I was mowing today and I could barely keep mowing, tempted to stop every few feet and take photos.  A number of roses are blooming profusely, and I really wasn't sure what to show you first. I am storing up photos and stories for later blog entries, but I'm so proud of my striped roses, particularly a couple of relative new ones, that I simply must do that group first.

'Centifolia variegata'

Of course, the fragrant  Bourbon 'Variegata di Bologna' featured in the top photo here, is a personal favorite and blooming right now, but I really want to focus on two newer (to me) rose varieties.  Rosa ‘Centifolia variegata' or ‘Village Maid’, pictured at left, is a Centifolia rose (obviously, from the name) that is reliably cane hardy for me.  She is three years old in my garden and blooming profusely this year at the end of arching 5 foot canes that tend to sprawl everywhere, resembling an adolescent teenager in my garden.

'Centifolia variegata'

Like many Old Garden Roses whose provenance has been lost to history (she was known in France before 1817), she has many aliases, but 'Village Maid' seems to me to best fit her nature and beauty (her registered name is the uninspiring  'Centifolia variegata').  All those aliases refer to these fully double, extremely fragrant mottled blooms of very light pink and white that look fragile but are standing up well in the recent heat wave.  I will trim her hard this year after she blooms in an attempt to make her more compact and mature, but I hope she feels welcome and is here to stay in my garden.

'Georges Vibert'

My second "new" bi-colored rose is the more upright and stately ‘Georges Vibert'.  Georges, as we'll refer to him here, is a Gallica who stands about 3 feet tall and is vase-shaped, stiff and sturdy in appearance.   I labeled Georges as "new", but I was surprised, looking him up, that I planted him in 2017, nearly a decade back.  He is not a very vigorous rose in my garden, and he was always on the brink of death in his early years, but he is finally blooming well and looking more healthy for me this year.  

'Georges Vibert'

'Georges Vibert' was bred by Robert, Français-André in France and introduced 1853.  Another once-blooming rose, he has vivid violet-red streaking in the blossoms against a very light pink background.  The full blooms are only lightly-scented, and they open flat at maturity to a somewhat disorganized but still beautiful blossom.   He is cane-hardy and blackspot free in my Zone 5 garden. 

'Spanish Rhapsody'

I could keep going on more striped roses, such as the gorgeous Griffith Buck-bred 'Spanish Rhapsody', blooming now and pictured at left, but we'll move on to other roses in the next post.  Just know, all you readers, that I still treasure all my striped or mottled roses, and many still persist, unafflicted by rose rosette disease and the many other pests and tribulations, in my garden.

Beautiful Beginnngs

The rose year here in Kansas has begun, and almost every Old Garden Rose and Rugosa is showing at least a bloom or two to heighten my anticipation.  It's going to be a banner year of riotous color here, as it seems all my peonies, irises, and roses, with a few mere exceptions, are going to bloom at the same time.   'Marie Bugnet', 'Harison's Yellow', and 'Therese Bugnet' have already peaked and begun their slide from the limelight and I'm sad about that.  But still to come are the highly-anticipated newcomers, all those new roses who will be introducing themselves to me for the first time.

Today, in fact, I gathered in the first bloom on 'Centrifolia Variegata' and I'm smitten, entranced, enthralled, and simply instantly and deeply in love with this demure lass.  She is foreign-born, a legal immigrant to America that I obtained from a Canadian nursery last year, but I'll excuse her use of "eh?" and "loonie", and her love of Poutine if she keeps blooming like this.  Don't you think her gentle stripes of cream and light pink are just the jam buster of perfection?   This is the rose that I hoped 'Leda' would be.  My one concern is that the fragrance of 'Centrifolia Variegata' is supposed to be strong, but I was underwhelmed by the bouquet of this first blossom.

'Rosa centrifolia variegata' goes by many aliases, among which are Belle des Jardins, Belle Vilageois, Dometil Beccard, and Cottage Maid.  She may also be sold as Village Maid, but some believe that Village Maid is a Gallica of earlier origin.  'Centrifolia variegata' was bred by Jean Pierre Vibert of France in 1839, and even as a first-year bush for me, she just survived one of the driest, coldest winters we've had recently, a winter that knocked established Rugosas back to the ground.  Her very double 2" blossoms open into cupped forms and then quarter or flatten in some instances to display a nice little button center.  My year old bush is about 2.5 feet tall, but I gave her ample space to reach her 4' to 6' foot potential.  Her foliage shows a Gallica heritage, and is rough, matte, and medium-green in color.  There was no blackspot here last season.

Whatever name she goes by, 'Centrifolia Variegata' is striped and everyone knows my weakness for striped roses of any flavor.  They capture the heart of ProfessorRoush like a Canuck loves beavertails.