Archduke Charles Wins Again!

14 years ago

For the second year in a row, Archduke Charles is my first rose to bloom in the spring. Unlike some of you Californians and Floridians, I actually do have a dormant season in my part of Louisiana, though it isn't all that long. My roses all quit for the winter and usually lose most or all of their leaves. Archduke Charles started out with this lovely, quartered bloom and made me realize just how happy I am that I planted him. Some of my other roses are already budding out too. Let's just hope that we don't get a freeze with this cold front that just blew through.

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Comments (15)

gardennatlanta
14 years ago
Beautiful bloom! Thanks for sharing. I have Archduke Charles in a pot that I'll be planting in a couple of weeks. I'm excited that soon I'll have a rose as beautiful as yours. I'm glad to hear from you that it's a good one.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
14 years ago
I love the color, and the shape seems rather unusual for this rose. I wouldn't have recognized it from your picture, but it is really lovely.

Ingrid
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Aimee, of the roses you list, I can only speak directly about Mme. Antoine Mari. At 5 years in the ground, she is about 5' tall and 6 - 7' wide and seems more inclined to get wide than tall. She has leaves all the way to the ground and only this year got noticeable mildew after the first flush (tough year for that here). She has gotten past that now. Very resilient: during this year's first flush we had heavy rain with ferocious winds. She, and others of the twiggier teas, got weighed down and blown about and big ugly gapes opened in the tops of bushes. MAM, in addition, had a huge branch (close to 1/4 of her top) break off. She looked bad. But within about 3 weeks she honestly looked like nothing had happened whatsoever and was blooming like crazy (while Alliance Franco-Russe is still showing the effects of that storm, a bit). She is, hands down, the most floriferous tea in my garden so far (I have Le Vesuve, too, but she's too young to make a fair comparison; however, it's going to be hard to beat "constantly in bloom", as MAM is). Her colors do vary. The first flush, in cooler weather, is ivory in the center blending to, as Sherry says, pale porcelain pink outer petals with a touch of carmine. This time of the year, she opens the same way, but quickly goes rather pink, lighter in the center, darker outer petals. The blooms on the north side of the bush stay paler. Despite a reputation for having few petals,some blooms I checked in the first flush this year had more than 100 petals/petalloids. Later flushes have fewer petals, but still have beautiful form. Her blossoms have that opalescent luster or texture that I just love. Her pink is more on the purple-ish side than the red or coral side, if that consideration is important to you (it is to me, unfortunately: my neighbor across the street has a large planting of Sexy Rexy blooming under a pale lilac pink crape myrtle -- oh dear). I think General Schablikine wants to be taller than 6', based on the ones at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, where they have pruned him and many other teas to a fare-thee-well and he is still at or over my head. Perhaps Le Vesuve is amenable to pruning, but I still planted mine on a 12' center (hopefully not presuming too much!) after reading the account of the "Grand Avenue Giant" at the Le Vesuve entry in the link below, because I want mine to look like that, eventually :-). Here is a link that might be useful: Cass's Garden with Roses
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Sadly, this is the first rose I've ever shovel-pruned. He looked so nice and healthy when he arrived last year, and soon opened up the most gorgeous bloom, I thought this was a sign of good things to come. Unfortunately, it wasn't. He soon showed his dislike of living conditions here by mildewing and rusting to the point I couldn't stand looking at him any more. Out came Mr. Shovel. I Archduke Charles wanted a much more humid environment, than here where air is often dry and registers in the single digits. I couldn't bring myself to throw him out however, so I put him back in a pot and placed it in a spot in my garden, between a shrub and tree, where moss actually grows because it stays wet. And I wasn't surprised to see his foliage clear up. It is no solution as there is very little sunlight so he only rarely blooms with quite tiny flowers, nothing like that first wonderful gift. But oh well, he came from a location that likely had much more moisture in the air, where he was happy. I'm giving him away to a friend, whose own AC died, but hopefully who has a garden he will like living in better than mine. No china has ever looked good here, so I really should have known better than to try one again. Melissa
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I'm also a fan of Archduke Charles and love that it is a little more upright than other chinas, allowing a little more room for neighbor roses. Cramoisi, however, is my favorite rose and is the only OGR that I have three of. Like Sammy, I love that it is big and it is truly impressive. A tough choice indeed! Archduke charles in the first photo and a young Cramoisi in the second photo. Molly From Garden 2010 From Garden 2010
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I know what you mean but it's almost like some of my roses are rejuvenated by the freezes. Everything except my potted hibiscus that is, they all died and I even had them in my garage during the freeze but I guess that wasn't good enough. Im going to have to try Archduke Charles too now thanks to your beautiful pics!
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sherryocala
14 years ago
Mine's got buds but no flowers since all the others got frozen. Yours is beautiful, jovy. In my yard Hermosa was first - last month, Louis Philippe about the same time, Clotilde Soupert, Rozette Delizy & Rose Nabonnand have had a couple of flowers. But the bloom quality is different - much smaller, fewer petals & CS didn't open much. I saw my first teensy Lauren flower today.

My Archduke Charles is in a really big pot, and I've been thinking about putting him in the ground - as it happens, right next to Louis Philippe. I guess this clinches it.

Sherry
texaslynn
14 years ago
That is a very lovely photo! Mine is covered in buds but wasn't the first......that distinction belongs to good ol' Old Blush and Cl. Old Blush.

Then, incredibly - the next to bloom is Distant Thunder!

Lynn
teka2rjleffel
14 years ago
Sherry, how is Hermosa in your garden? Is it own root?
Nancy
brhgm
14 years ago
Yep, my Archduke and my Louis Phillipe are budding out, too.
wilo
14 years ago
My first, as usual, was Old Blush.

{{gwi:241113}}

but my very young Anson Jones, being the show-off that it is, tried its darnedest to get there and just missed it.

{{gwi:241114}}
radagast
14 years ago
Beautiful flowers, and so early!
holleygarden Zone 8, East Texas
14 years ago
Wow! How old is your Archduke Charles? None of my roses are ready to bloom yet, and I was thinking perhaps because they are not very old? (Though I've had several for 3+ years).

Ah, well (sigh), I guess I won't try to rush them. When they are ready, they will blooms.

Your bloom is beautiful. Thanks for showing us, and for giving us hope that our roses will be blooming soon! :)
kaye
14 years ago
Saw my first bud today..on Archduke Charles..usually in a tie for first.
jovy1097
Original Author
14 years ago
My Archduke Charles is only a couple of years old. By the way, it's got some more blooms. I'm planning on posting some more pictures tomorrow. Also, another one of my China roses, Ducher, has got some blooms now. See my blog for more pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Davy's Louisiana Gardening Blog
jovy1097
Original Author
14 years ago
I've just posted new pictures of Archduke Charles in the photo gallery if anyone is interested in seeing some more blooms. It's a bloom progression so you can see all the colors of this nice little rose.
jovy1097
Original Author
13 years ago
{{gwi:241116}}

Back for another update and Archduke Charles is once again my first rose of the year. Despite the cold winter, this rose bloomed one week earlier than last year. Might just be because the plant is older and stronger.

{{gwi:241117}}

Ducher was only a few days behind. The China roses are just early birds. They are such wonderful plants that keep a nice, full form and are blooming machines. What's not to love?
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
13 years ago
What graceful beauties! Sometimes I think a little rest would be okay for the roses. They do get their pruning rest. Not the Teas, but here Mrs. Beeyar takes the winter off because she's shaded in winter. She just woke up today:

{{gwi:241119}}
melissa_thefarm
13 years ago
I see spring fever has struck. Once some of our water has run off we'll be able to see the signs here, too. In fact I was surprised a couple of days ago to find a bud each on 'Mme. Alfred CarriÃ¯Â¿Â½re' and another rose (which?). It was winter such a short time ago, and then the rain came, but hiding behind fog and flood spring has been preparing for its appearance on stage. I am so looking forward to sun, and--but this will require more patience--ground that doesn't go squish under my feet.
Melissa

Archduke Charles Wins Again!

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gardennatlanta

ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9

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