Princess Alexandra of Kent

13 years ago

I'm wanting to grow some deeper pink rose bushes mainly for bloom cutting for indoors. The bush needs to be fairly short, shorter in height than six feet and a good repeater bloomer. I live in zone five, don't get much snow but sometimes the winters can be dry.

I don't know much about rose growing - I put in an Abe Darby twelve years ago which was a glorious bush but died last year - it was beautiful but I didn't find the blooms to be good for cutting as the cups were too heavy to hold themselves upright on the stems while in a vase, the color was a little too light pink for my taste and the bush was gigantic. It was a fairly nice repeater though, but this time I want to put in something with a deeper pink color, a good repeater (important), a short growing bush.

In trying to figure out what is out there that would fit my bill, I came across a picture of Princess Alexandra of Kent which I think looks lovely and seems to fit what it is that I want. If you have grown this rose bush, would you rate it for me? I'm not experienced in rose growing so appreciate any and all advice you can offer, or any alternatives you think would suit my purpose better. I plan to put in three bushes in one area backed by a wood fence, perhaps all the same bush and I read somewhere that Princess Alex of Kent is nice planted in threes due to it's smaller size. I think that maybe planting three would make it nice for the main purpose for blooms indoors and still maintaining a nice amount of blooms for an attractive appearance in the bed.

Thank you very much!

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Vườn Hồng Vân Loan

7 years ago

Princess Alexandra of Kent is one of the very laborious flowers roses! many many flowers in a Kent rose

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Comments (12)

Krista_5NY
13 years ago
Bishop's Castle is a beautiful Austin that makes a lovely cut flower, outstanding fragrance.

It doesn't grow very large, and repeats well.

{{gwi:214642}}
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
13 years ago
I've also been very pleased with BC, and was surprised to find that it was a pretty good (well, better than Abe, anyway) cut flower as well. It does "nod" though--for strong, straight stems, Austins are not the ones to choose--'Queen of Sweden' appears more upright, but the flowers are reported to be on the ephemeral side.

PAOK looks very beautiful. I'd like to try that one myself.
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It might be a combo of RMV and winter stress. If RMV has weakened your plants, they might be declining each year while struggling to return from cold season dormancy, whereas clean plants would bounce right back each spring. I suspect that if all your plants are Austins grafted on Dr. Huey, they may all be infected with RMV. Some plants with RMV exhibit obvious signs and some don't. Also, some plants with RMV thrive for decades while others fade. Who knows why? As mentioned on another thread, Austin continues to send infected plants to customers by the truckload. (I'm paddling in the same pool of victims.) I'd definitely contact Austin with photos of your virus patterned foliage and declining plants. It's inexcusable that the company still propagates on diseased rootstock. Carol
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Diane, I'm so glad to see you still have your sense of humor in the face of extraordinary obstacles this season. Things are pretty awful here, too. I haven't even deadheaded all the roses from their first flush, indeed, they didn't even get pruned to begin with. Such high hopes throughout winter, then plans fell flat. The good side of it is that it can only get better. Next year will be our year! Instead of long canes shooting straight up as most young Austins do, PAoK's long canes reached out along the ground, curving and squiggling all over the place among the other roses as if they were searching for something. You may make 'beached octopus' yours as I have made 'bloomiest' an oft used word of mine. I am honored.
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jumbojimmy
13 years ago
* Bump *

Could someone comment of it's vase life?

I would like to hear more reviews about this rose too, because this rose is going to be release here in Aust.

I want this rose - but it looks like it's going to be a small, bushy rose just like the crocus rose. I just don't like the small leaves form on the crocus rose.
predfern
13 years ago
Buck roses like Earthsong are good repeaters. Kordes has some Freelander roses that last a long time in the vase.
cltroses
13 years ago
I called David Austin because I need a new pink rose to replace Sharifa Asma. Sharifa Asma got huge for me and is very productive, but I just didn't like how quickly the flowers aged, and they had such soft petals. The lady who answered the phone went through some of their pink roses with me, and we decided on Princess Alexandra of Kent. She said it does very well in the vase. I ordered one and am looking forward to growing it.

Scott
jumbojimmy
13 years ago
I just found a youtube clip on the 'Princess Alexandra of kent' rose - if anyone's interested. (In german)

The flowers look gigantic. That's what I want!! But it does look a bit like an orangy-pink colour as someone pointed out in another thread.

I'll probably get it for the size of those blooms!

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGe0s9StZvw

Here is a link that might be useful: Youtube: Princess alexandra of kent rose (german)
organicgardendreams
13 years ago
jumbojimmy, I just watched the video of the Princess Alexandra of Kent rose (could even understand it because I am from Germany ;-)). Wow, I think it did me in. What a lovely gorgeous rose. I believe, your are right there seemed to be yellow orange in the center of the blooms, they remind me a little bit of Abraham Darby, but PAoK seems to grow much more compact, which would be great. If she is healthier in terms of rust than AD she would be a real winner. It went on my wish list.

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams
karenforroses
12 years ago
I'm LOVING Princess Alexandra of Kent! It's the first year. Buds look like a hybrid tea and then they open to a HUGE old English rose form, with a darker middle. Good vase life for me too.
Here she is in bud:
{{gwi:214644}}
And here she is in full bloom:
{{gwi:214645}}
jumbojimmy
12 years ago
Wow! That looks so pretty! I might order it next year.
karenforroses
12 years ago
Here's the Princess when she is fully open - truly the biggest rose in my garden of 175 roses.

{{gwi:214646}}
dani33
10 years ago
How big does PAoK get? I am more concerned with her width. I have read that she gets 4x4 and I have read that she gets 3.5 x 2.5. I have a space of 10 feet and was wondering if I could plant PAoK with Belinda (separated by lavender). Wonder if I'd have enough room and how it would look. Any suggestions?

Princess Alexandra of Kent

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Comments (12)

Krista_5NY

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

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