Two of my favorite old roses: RdV & NM

15 years ago

These two roses bushes are handing the August heat very well.

Both are producing beautiful, bold blooms through it all.

I really like, big, sprawly, arching, relaxed roses. But because of my small space, they need to be thornless if they are going to sprawl, so these two work for me.

My camera has got irrepairable problems, but these came out good enough to share I think.

Randy

Reine des Violettes. This fat bloom is spreading out immediately on top of other buds and the foliage comes right up to the base of the bloom. What a fragrance this bloom has!

{{gwi:216297}}

Nur Mahal. Not bad for a first year rose.

In my opinion, beautiful foliage and plant shape.

It has bloomed prolifically all summer. They get a bit crispy by evening due to the western exposure, but lawdy are they beautiful in the morning.

Shamelessly healthy plant so far.

{{gwi:216298}}

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Comments (17)

zeffyrose
15 years ago
Randy---I too love the thornless roses----Your NM is so lush---Mine is almost completely naked. sure hope it comes back next year.

Thanks for the pictures.

Florence
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
15 years ago
Lovely roses both, and they look sooo healthy, especially for this time of the year.

Ingrid
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The first roses that came to mind were the sweetly-scented and highly romantic albas 'Felicite Parmentier' and 'Great Maiden's Blush'. They offer a pure, refined and sweet fragrance that is not overpowering (my favorite of all the rose scents), good health and hardiness, beautiful foliage, and gorgeous soft pink blooms that are the epitome of romance. I love so many old roses, but if I had to narrow it down to which I find the most romantic and whose fragrance is ethereal, it would be these two beauties. But really, any Alba would be a contender. Queen of Denmark, Madame Plantier, Celestial, Alba Maxima, Chloris, Madame Legras de St. Germain, Pompom Blanc Parfait.....are all romantic and bear a sweet fragrance. And those blue-green leaves and great zone 4 hardiness too! My vote goes to the Albas. Celeste Felicite Parmentier.... Great Maiden's Blush....
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Nope, we're not talking many, many viruses causing mosaic. Just as we're not talking distemper nor the common cold nor any of a host of other viruses when we discuss HIV in humans. Any discussion of those other viruses on this thread is irrelevant. The simple fact is that the "problem" of mosaic in the USA is caused almost always by a strain of PNRSV, and occasionally by ApMV. We're done now. There are no other viruses that cause "rose mosaic." That there are many other viruses that can attack roses, or that have been found in a rose (notice that this big list from HK was found for the first time, ever) -- that does NOT constitute the "problem" of "virus" in roses! And even if it did, it would be a different problem from "rose mosaic," and irrelevant to this thread's discussion. The same is true about using buds to get clean roses. That it might work, occasionally, is utterly irrelevant to the current discussion. The writer is simply hijacking this thread to confuse the readers. There are numerous methods that can be used to remove rose mosaic (the actual disease by that name, caused by PNRSV or ApMV and the only one at all likely to be bought by you at a nursery or ever seen in your garden.) Heat therapy happens to be the easiest, quickest, and cheapest, and has proven to be exceedingly efficient and effective. That's why we use it. Again I would point out that all references above that seem to indicate that it does not work or that "virus" "comes back," are misinterpretations, talking about the wrong virus, talking about a crop other than roses, are direct misquotations or misrepresentations, or for some other reason are not relevant and truthful to the conversation at hand -- specifically and uniquely the management of rose mosaic disease in American grown roses. I would recommend that readers very carefully read the links provided above -- in every case, without exception, if you read carefully enough you'll realize that they do not demonstrate what the thread hijacker says they demonstrate. I don't know what bizarre need the writer has to confuse and destroy all such discussions, but there it is -- that's exactly what's happening here. It always seems odd that someone who has done precisely no work with this disease, ever, and who obviously doesn't understand any aspect of this disease, is constantly telling Davis (and me) what's wrong with us and what we ought to be doing. Yet that writer is without the first hint of a clue. Why are such attacks on this and other forums always occurring? It makes no sense. Yet we continue to produce mosaic-free roses and make them available, and so the availability of mosaic-free roses in this country has improved dramatically over the last 30 years, despite the insults and ignorance. In an industry as large and diverse as the American rose nursery industry, undoubtedly someone, somewhere, at some point, accidentally shipped or sold an infected rose and indicated it was "VI" (a term we never use), and so the rumors begin. But despite such rumors and despite all of the statements on this thread so far, rose mosaic disease has never been demonstrated to have come back in a heat-treated rose, and the common methods of indexing really do work. Notice that no one other than the argumentative poster here claims otherwise. That's important -- NO ONE ON THIS EARTH who understands and works with these diseases -- agrees with the poster above.
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duchesse_nalabama
15 years ago
Randy, I immediately thought of the cheshire cat when I first saw your RdV photo; fat and happy, smiling a crooked smile.

Nur Mahal is a pretty thing!

Gean
Krista_5NY
15 years ago
Beautiful blooms and foliage, they must give a wonderful show.
alicia7b
15 years ago
Reine des Violettes is wonderful. :)

I've heard of Nur Mahal but didn't realize it was such a good doer into the South. A beautiful rose and it looks very happy in your garden.
luanne
15 years ago
I'm glad the camera gave it up to you. Perhaps we should start a get Randy a camera fund. It is so wrong that you shouldn't have one. Your foliage is always outstanding.
la
albinnibla
15 years ago
Well Gah Luanne!!
Send me one, too!
Since we're just giving those cameras away... :)

You know I'm going for the Jocular, there...

Randy, I have more than a couple thornless roses, but then I have some that TOTALLY reach out and take a swipe at ya, too...
Nice pix, btw. I'm still waiting for my RDV to go POIPLE.
Like some of the pix I've seen...
carolfm
15 years ago
You do have the healthiest and most beautiful roses, Randall. My RdV was covered with blooms the other day. I do love that rose.

Carol
jackie_o
15 years ago
Hiya Randall. Boy look at that healthy foliage. It's so nice to see unblackspotted leaves at this time of year! Your roses are lovely and I don't see anything wrong with the photos. What's up with your camera?
oldblush
15 years ago
Randy, I agree, RdV is surprisingly healthy even in the heat of summer in the south. Nur Mahal seems to be equally as great. I sure hope you get you camera fixed or maybe get a new one ;-). I sure do want to see more of those beautiful photos of your gorgeous roses!
petsitterbarb
14 years ago
This thread makes me even more excited that I ordered two own root Reine des Violettes yesterday...can hardly wait to get 'em!
I think I'm going to stick with thornless roses from now on. No point in making my hubby upset when he gets wounded!
Barb
judith5bmontreal
14 years ago
Randy, your RdV looks scrumptious! Yours is the reason why I ordered mine last year from Pickerings.
Still waiting on some rebloom - lots of new growth, but no buds yet. I know, I have to be patient....
Judith
gnabonnand
Original Author
14 years ago
Barb, your husband will really like Reine des Violettes. He'd probably be a big fan of Nur Mahal as well. In my opinion, these two old thornless roses are very special.

Judith, earlier this week, I cut a bloom from my Reine des Violettes and put it in a vase. It had those signature deep blue-green RdV leaves right up to the base of the bloom and I enjoyed it very much for a couple of days. It's not a great cutting rose because the blooms don't last long, but it was too perfect to leave outside. That bloom was the epitomy of an "old rose" in appearance & fragrance. I wish my RdV were planted in a better spot, but it's too big to move now.

Randy
User
14 years ago
Spoon and napkin....... delicious!
krikit
14 years ago
These are beautiful roses - do you have to spray? I love thornless and fragrance - my husband would definitely appreciate thornless, ha! Do you have any recent pics of your G.Nabonnand? I have one that I love - it's getting some real size to it now and one rather large cane split and fell down. Do you prune yours often? I'm wondering if I should remove this one now or wait til winter - it's not broken completely through. I think I need to find a way to give the canes some support. It got big before I realized it needed a little help. I've tried to root cuttings from it but have never been able to.

Frances
gnabonnand
Original Author
14 years ago
Glad you enjoyed the pics, Joe.

Frances, no, I don't spray. But compared to Tennessee, NorthCentral Texas has less humidity than you, based upon my visits to Memphis & Nashville.
Reine des Violettes has loads and loads of great, strong "old-rose" fragrance. In comparison, Nur Mahal has a pleasant very unusual scent, but it's a light scent to my nose. Even with its light scent though, Nur Mahal is one of my favorite roses. I have a second one that I rooted that is espaliered against a fence and it is especially nice looking in that position.
Both are completely thornless in my garden and have never produced a single thorn so far.
I love Gilbert Nabonnand too (although he's less "thorness" than the other roses mentioned here). And I know what you are talking about, when you mentioned support / pruning needs / etc for it. We had a violent storm hit our part of town earlier this summer and it torn a portion of my roof off. Unfortunately, it also broke some major canes on my Gilbert Nabonnand. The same thing happened to that rose about two years ago. So, I now think you are correct, that I must prune him periodically from now on for his own good due to our area's propensity for strong storms. Gilbert wants to get really big, but I don't think I can allow him to do that going forward. I went ahead and removed the broken canes, rather than wait until winter. His shape is messed up, but as before, he will bounce back.
Like you, I have never been able to root a cutting from Gilbert. I wish he rooted as easily as Mrs Dudley Cross, because I think I like Gilbert better. There's just something about the foliage on Gilbert that is very special. And he's a blooming maniac that is not bothered by thrips.
Frances, I'm not a big fan of miniature roses, but if the rose 'Pacific Serenade' ever becomes available again, your husband would really like that one! Fragrant, ever-blooming, & smooth all over.

Randy

Pacific Serenade:
{{gwi:207444}}
krikit
14 years ago
WOW your Pacific Serenade is beautiful! I'd love to have that. I wonder if it will be offered again? I've done some searches on the web but haven't found it - if you should see it anywhere please post here, or email me. Thanks for the recommendation on this one - even though another rose is one of the last things I need. I'm supposed to be downsizing - seriously - but it seems the only way to stop is to also stop visiting the GW Antique Rose Gallery :-(

Frances

Two of my favorite old roses: RdV & NM

Comments (17)

zeffyrose

ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9

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Two of my favorite old roses: RdV & NM

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