Thank you so much for starting this thread! I'm a purple person too! I just ordered Reine des Violettes, Indigo, and Cardinal de Richelieu from the Uncommon Rose. I am totally new to OGR's! I thought I'd give it a whirl. I enjoy my Austins so much. I hope we get cold enough here for my Cardinal. I've never grown a Gallica. Any advice for these OGR's? I also have Ebb Tide, Wild Blue Yonder, Falstaff (not purple, but deep-red purple.) , Intrigue, Heirloom, Barbara Streisand, and Blue Girl. All nice purples. Any suggestions for a grape colored Rugosa?

Here's a pic of Wild Blue Yonder, new to me last year.

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What about Basye's Purple?

There's a thread on the gallery side called "Singles" that has a picture of Basye's Purple - so beautiful that I bought one and recently planted it. Can't give you any info on the behavior & size yet but it looks wonderful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Singles

"Forest Ranch Purple Pom-Pom," a Found Rose from Northern California, shown in the Sacramento City Cemetery.
One of the few old purples that doesn't go chlorotic in our alkaline environment. Disease-free, too. And fragrant.
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Jeri Jennings

I like Sweet Chariot. She is a miniature, but grows over three feet tall. I also like Velchenbleu (sp?). This is a deep purple, once a year bloomer. It blooms in masses and has startling yellow eyes. Very nice!

You all need the gallica Tuscany and or Tuscany Superb, either is dark and are known as the Velvet roses.

*** Had I a winter, I would grow it.

Jeri

{{gwi:237172}} has already been mentioned, but for those of you who are purple fanatics you really must seriously consider this Gallica! It has a truly intriguing mixture of grape, gray, and dark muddy red!

It's only a once-bloomer (as all Gallicas are), but those flowers are so fascinating!

(I could be wrong, but my impression of the flowers is that they have little scent..... :-( )

The rose in this color group I have not grown that I myself am intrigued by is Indigo.

Oh, and for those who have the room, but don't yet know they exist, don't fail to look for purple climbing roses! There are at least four or five purple ramblers.

I'm thinking of stopping by here and getting a Viechenblau. This incredible Rose Nursery is too close to me. Very Dangerous! Check out they're selection.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raft Island Roses

Veilchenblau is probably the most famous of the purple ramblers, but there are others, too.

I've enjoyed International Herald Tribune. It's not an antique by any definition, but it has charm. It's a nice rose for a cottage garden setting and fits in well with my OGR. I think it's in the parentage of many of the newer "blue"/purple roses too.

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions so far!! I will be compiling a "purples" list to keep around for the next time I get the urge to order more roses. I'm pretty much out of room already but there is always winter kill and shovel pruning to open up a new spot.....

Linrose - your Wild Blue Yonder is really pretty. Is it fragrant? I chose Ebb Tide over Wild Blue Yonder and Midnight Blue. Tough choice though. My neighbor wound up getting Midnight Blue.

Jeri - that Forest Ranch Purple Pom-Pom is beautiful. I wonder if it would be happy in Minnesota? Some day I would LOVE to visit California and see all the roses.

Garden_Party - Sweet Chariot has been on my wish list, though admittedly near the bottom. Could you describe the color. Some pics make it look really purple and in others it looks pinkish-purple. And is it really as fragrant as people say? It seems there are lots of people on here that love it. Veilchenblau is gorgeous but I'm not too confident in it's ability to survive MN winters. Being a once bloomer if it winter kills down too far I will never see much for bloom if any bloom at all.

Oath - lost of good suggestions! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Tuscany Superb. The color is so amazing. No way have I even come near capturing the color & charm of this rose in a picture. La Belle Sultane is stunning too. I could see that one being happy in my garden.

York Rose - thanks for the reminder on Indigo. The color looks great and the fact that it repeats is a bonus!

Miamibarb - International Herald Tribune is really cool too. I suspect that one would need extra winter protection in my zone. Sometimes if the rose is special enough that extra work is totally worth it. I checked on HMF and the pics make this one look really charming. I can totally see it mixed in with some daylilies, iris, coneflowers, etc. So pretty.

Keep the suggestions coming. Even the ones that won't survive my zone - maybe they will be what someone else is looking for.

Here is a photo of my Cardinal de Richelieu
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And a photo of Tradescant posing with Graham Thomas. The deep dark red with purple outer petals on this rose is so amazing. My photo just hints at how beautiful the colors on Tradescant really are.
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I find the multiflora rambler Violette to be even nicer than Veilchenblau, though I grow both. In my garden it has a longer bloom, about six weeks. Not bad for a once bloomer.

But my favorite is an Austin-esque floribunda called Old Port. It is intensely fragrant, too. Vintage is the only vendor I am aware of in the United States. I first saw it in New Zealand where it is better known, and fell in love with it there. There is another, more famous rose named 'New Zealand', but in my mind, this rose evokes New Zealand for me.

Rosefolly

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Port

The dark red-purples are a favorite of mine. I just love the strong color saturation and shifting hues from crimson to royal purple. My favorite of the lot is WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 2000. It has the short spreading growth habit of the Gallicas but doesn't sucker. Another plus is the reliable repeat bloom. Flowers are large, perfectly formed in the Old Garden Rose style, and last a long time in the vase. Fragrance can be variable but is usually strong and sweet. Stems are long but on new plants the large flower heads tend to nod downward. Don't worry because by year three the stems stiffen up and hold the blooms upright.

Another favorite is REINE DES VIOLETTES but you already have that one.

Two that I've got my eye on are INDIGO and ARDOISEE DE LYON. The first is a Portland that others have already commented on. The second is the magenta/purple sport of the classic Hybrid Perpetual BARONNE PREVOST.

Image of INDIGO by Pam(pjc04) previously posted at the Antique Roses Gallery
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Ah yes, WS2000. I ordered one last year and the bareroot never took off. Very disappointing but I think it MUST be replaced with a new one.

Ardoisee de Lyon is one I've never heard of. I absolutely adore my Baronne Prevost and a magenta/purple sport of it would be fantastic!!

I also forgot to list the purples & reds I already have on order this year:
Purple Buttons
Arthur de Sansal
Dueil de Paul Fontaine

Hmm, maybe I should see if Uncommon Rose would be willing to add Indigo to my current order.....

MiamiBarb, we love International Herald Tribune, too. Here in Southern California, it's pretty much bulletproof.

Location, location, location. We tried Indigo several years ago. I'm not sure what color the bloom was, because the few that opened here were so deformed by powdery mildew you couldn't tell much about them.
And anything heavily-invested in Multiflora is a dicey proposition for us. Through much of the year, I baby Excellenz von Schubert along with extra supplements to acidify its immediate environment. This is a measure of how much I love it, because I won't do that for many roses.
:-)

Jeri

Wild Blue Yonder has a lovely fragrance. I'm trying to remember now, it's been a year since I've smelled it and it was new to me last year. Kind of fruity if I remember correctly. I just got Ebb Tide this year bareroot and it's planted and cozy under its blanket of leaves waiting to take off - can't wait!

I've had Tradescant in the past and am thinking about getting it again. It resides in the red-purple color zone though (especially when it ages - like Charles de Mills.) I'm just getting adventurous into the blue-purple colors. It's a very difficult color to photograph, I think there are some threads on this forum about that, and the best digital cameras to capture the color correctly. Best we can do is try to describe the colors as accurately as possible. Every time I read a thread on purple roses I get so excited I want to order every single one mentioned. Gotta reel in that excitement sometimes!

Just sitting here waiting on my new Night Owl to be delivered . . . I'm hopeless!!!

twohuskies:

I guess I need to pull this thread up:) First let me suggest the rose 'Angel Face'. Mine is blooming now and so far it has been a real trooper here in Northern CA.

Second I would like to ask if 'Tradescant' requires spraying. It is gorgeous! Just wondering if it would make it in my almost completely no spray garden.

Thanks and the pictures are very nice.

Kate

Kate - thanks for the suggestion of Angel Face. I had that rose a few years ago but got rid of it. Way too much blackspot and it really had a hard time coming back after long cold winters. I did love the blooms and fragrance, but it was in my no spray zone so it had to go...

Tradescant has done ok for me. It does get blackspot but not nearly as bad as some of my roses. I spray but not on a regular basis. Maybe once every month at most. Usually just a couple of times each season. If you can grow Angel Face no spray then maybe Tradescant will do well too?

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The Dark Lady
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Intrigue
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Eminence actually more lanvendar than this
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Chateau de Clos Vougeot
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Charles de Gaulle best scented of the mauves
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Blue River, purple from Kordes
I don't have a shot of Rotesmeer which is a nice purple rugosa
la

Being in Minnesota, you might think about Bleu Magenta, the rose on the trellis at Mottisfont abbey.
I got all excited when I saw it. It has rosa multiflora parentage, which is completely cold-hardy. I spent the winter studying some multiflora rootstock, in fact babysitting it to bloom this spring.
No cane loss. So I went right out and bought one.
One big drawback-no scent. However it's going to be a big one if its canes make it through this winter.
Scroll down this thread on Robert's trellis to find a picture at Mottisfont Abbey.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bleu Magenta

I love Angel Face, but it is not a cold zone rose. It barely survives zone 5, so I can't imagine what it would do in zone 4.

Beautiful bloom, wonderful fragrance, but it sure is miserable and unhappy with frigid winters. Doesn't get more than 2 feet high (in a good year) and is a black spot magnet. I wish it was different.

I put up with AF for 3 years but, alas, it was not meant to be. I even tried a second one with the same result. AF just withers away eventually after a couple of winters.

For foolproof cold zone roses hang with the Gallicas like Cardinal de Richelieu and both of the Tuscanys. Hippolyte, even though a Gallica/China hybrid, is pretty tough here. You might be able to get away with it.

I must try Violette. Another reasonably good rose is Donau, which is a Hybrid Wichurana. It seems to be a once-bloomer in the cold zones, although some people report that it repeats. It has very light green foliage, almost a lime green. The leaves are disease resistant and lush, so it's nice even when it's not in bloom. Fragrance is not strong when you stick your nose in the blooms; but if you sit a few feet away from it you get a waft of fragrance that is somewhat like lily of the valley and violets combined. But it needs a few years to get going as far as blooms go. It grows pretty quickly, but blooms start getting impressive year 3 and later, not much before that.

Rhapsody in Blue is wonderfully purple. Night Owl is more maroon.

Colleen

Route 66 has bluish purple single flowers and is a rose I bought recently. I formerly grew News, which is reddish purple and was beautiful but I haven't been able to find another since I moved. Both of these roses have old roses in their ancestry. Ebb Tide has the most wonderful fragrance for me which wafts on the air.

I"m not sure whether any of these was mentioned..

The Bishop....an extremely underappreciated rose...and purple.
Excellenz von Shubert....a hybrid musk
Black Prince..hybrid perpetual...similar to Rose du Roi a Fleures Pourpes (in bloom color)..at least to me
Souvenir du Docteur Jamain? ...I don't grow it yet...
Belle de Crecy ...gallica
Capitaine John Ingram....moss
Nuits du Young...moss
Mme. De Roche-Lambert?...moss
Orpheline de Julliet...gallica
Alice Vena...hybrid gallica/china?

Robert

Anyone have any experience with Great Western, a Bourbon, or the new Night Owl (climber, not an OGR)? I ordered GW early this summer from ARE, missing the bloom season. It has been healthy in the pot ghetto until just now becoming overwhelmed with black spot. It is very stressed in this over 100 degree heat we've been having. Not sure whether to plant it in a very prominent spot, as planned, or relegate it to a less public spot.

I've come so close to ordering Night Owl a dozen times this year, but have hesitated. It has some interesting characteristics that make it seem like a very good candidate for an an OGR-dominated garden.

Any thoughts on either of these purples?

I have seen Night Owl and it certainly was purple. I was looking for a purple for my mother.
I second the rose commonly sold as The Bishop but also the Gallica Hippolyte and La Belle Sultane and Rose des Maures-there are tons of Gallicas that fit. The Bloom on Veilchenblau is very short even for me in the Northwest. Indigo is just putting on its second big flush of the year...very nice. My Fave is Nuits de Younge-the foliage has a purply cast to it.

patricia

Twohuskies:

Thanks for the thoughts on 'Angel Face' and 'Tradescant'. I did not know the former was not that cold tolerant. AF is blooming now and it is so pretty. So far I have not been troubled by blackspot with that rose. Molineux on the other hand is being treated for BS after work tonight. I might try Tradescant also just to see how that one does here. Sure is a beauty.

Right now my husband and I are kind of having a tug of war over the corner of the yard where Tradescant would work. I planted a couple of roses in what was formerly the pumpkin corner this year. I basically planted them there because I had no place else to put them. He wants to keep them there and I want to transplant them this spring so I can plant pumpkins there again next year. Which begs the question, can we both have our way? Remove some more grass and have roses against the fence and pumpkins towards the front of the bed? My husband says that's just crazy talk but it might be fun to try.

Kate

Oooh! This is so nice to see all the new suggestions on my old post!

Luanne - your Dark Lady looks way better than mine ever has. Lovely. And that Chateau de Clos Vougeot is stunning. I'll have to look it up and see how hardy it is.

Kaylah - that Bleu Magenta from Mottisfont Abbey is inspiring. Wow!!! It was fun to review a thread that I must have missed from last winter.

LionHeart - sounds like your experience with Angel Face was very much like mine. It's such a beautiful rose but in the long run I'm glad I got rid of mine.

Robert - The Bishop has been on my wish list for a long time. If I can ever find one available I will have to get it! The Black Prince sounds nice too. I think I saw that one on the Northland Rosarium website. It could be a nice possibility too. Your whole list is outstanding!!

Oh Night Owl. I so wish I could get something like that to grow in my climate without heavy winter protection. I just can't picture myself trying to tie up and wrestle all the canes to the ground each winter. Sounds like a death wish!

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I hope others are finding some good ones too.

I should also update that my Rose du Roi a Fleurs Pourpres died this spring :( But this summer I purchased Purple Buttons, Basye's Purple, Blue Skies, and Indigo to add to my purple collection. I was also very surprised when my little WS2000 grew a couple nice canes and has shown me some gorgeous dark red to dark purple blooms. I'm so glad he decided to grow!

Canary Island once bloomer
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Shot at 2007-08-16

Lookit those petals! Very nice!