This seems to indicate that Mme. Joseph Schwartz IS indeed a sport of Duchesse de Brabant, rather than a seedling.

Jeri

Congratulations. Like two roses bushes in one. Enjoy.

Lynn, in case you are not familiar with "sports" in roses, it means that your plant of Duchesse de Brabant has mutated in some areas to a similar rose with a different color. This is usually regarded as a good thing - if you take a cutting from the blush side, and root it, you should get an entire rose bush with flowers that color. I agree with Jeri that it looks like a rose called "Mme Joseph Schwartz" that is reputed to be either a sport or a seedling of DdB. I just ran out to look at my Mme Joseph Schwartz, and some of the flowers are just an off white, while others are off white with the petals tinged with pink. It is a lovely rose.

However, if you really do not like having it on your bush of Duchesse de Brabant, you could try cutting off all of the canes with flowers of that blush color (hopefully rooting some of them), and the part of the bush that is DdB should take over again. In any event, I think sports are fun and exciting! Happy Easter!

Jackie

What Jeri said was my first thought but....
According to HMF Madame Joseph Schwartz isn't a sport of DdB. I always thought it was.

Here is a link that might be useful: Madame Joseph Schwartz

Definitely take cuttings of it and propoagate them. My Mdm Joseph Schwartz never thrived like a Duchesse de Brabant should, so I had been wandering if it was indeed a sport as many have said. But its continued popularity attests to the need for a good cream-colored Tea Rose. If your sport is as vigorous as a regular Duchesse, you should probably name it and patent it, or try to, anyway. Why should someone else profit from something you were blessed with?

Very cool.
I'd be thrilled.

Randy

According to HMF Madame Joseph Schwartz isn't a sport of DdB. I always thought it was.

*** If you look in the References tab on the HMF entry, you'll see that there's disagreement about whether MJS is a seedling of DdB, or a sport of it, or a sport OR seedling of Comtesse de Labarathe, or whether DdB and CdL are, or are not the same rose.

Lynn's serendipitous sport seems to indicate that MJS IS in fact a sport of DdB.
It does not solve the question of whether DdB and CdL are the same.

Jeri

Jeri's comment about whether CdL and DdB are the same rose reminds me of the hilarious comment in the Tea Rose book from Australia. The authors were trying to identify a rose that grew in Australia that everyone called "Countess Bertha". They finally decided it was "Comtesse de Labarthe" (which the authors of that book DO think is the same rose as DdB). Someone asked "How do you get Countess Bertha from Comtesse de Labarthe? They said "Oh, Australians could do that easily!".

Jackie

Well, like several people have said, I apparently have "two for one"! I will certainly not attempt to change anything about the plant and the two sides compliment each other beautifully but my planning for the bed was for a more pink plant......however this one might prove more interesting after all. I liked the idea of cuttings (esp. via layering - so easy!).

We'll see what happens as it matures and I'll definitely post pictures.

(all my nice blooms that were on it are all messed up and blown off with the storm winds from this morning!!!)

Lynn

Lynn, did your plant come from Chamblees? Often when I move plants I purchased from there, I find there are two or three of the same plant; I got three quietness out of one plant that way. I wondered if it is from Chamblees maybe a JS cutting got mixed up with the DdB. Just a thought.

Duchesse Nalabama, Thanks for asking the Chamblees question. I've experienced the same multiple-plant phenomenon when ordering from them. However, it's always been multiples of the same variety.

Duchesse - my Duchesse definitely may have come from Chamblee's! The nursery that I purchased it from does buy a lot of their inventory from Chamblee's. I'll go out later and see if I can see if there are one or two plants.

Even if you decide to air layer, I would still try to root a few cuttings. You can use a styrofoam cup with holes punched in the bottom, but I'm using some really small clay pots now (they don't blow over). I purchased the Jiffy brand seed starting mix to root mine in. I take a fresh cutting, pencil thickness if you have it, nick the outer skin near the base of the cutting, dip it in some rooting hormone, and place it in a hole that you form with a pencil, firm it up with your fingers, and keep moistened. There are several articles on the ARS website on how to root roses. Everyone has a favorite method that works well for them. It's fun.

Personally, I don't have much luck with the baggie method, they rot on me. I root mine in full morning sun, late afternoon shade, and mist them several times a day with my garden hose turned to the mist setting. Eventually, we'll set up some automatic misting heads to an irrigation zone. I am having a fairly high success rate, and I am a brand new newbie at rooting. It can take 4 to 6 weeks before they root. It's been thrilling watching the first ones I rooted bloom.

Sandy

Personally, I don't have much luck with the baggie method, they rot on me.

*** Never worked for us, either. But a cloche of some sort, on the ground under a camellia bush, that works well.

Jeri

I dug around at the base of the plant(s?) and could not tell if there were one or two plants. I did find the tag and it originally did come from Chamblee's. I guess I will have to wait until it blooms some more. If there are two all squished together, does that affect performance?

Thanks, Sandy, for the suggestions on propagation - I am definitely going to try it with some of my favorite roses.

Lynn

I have obtained a rose from Chamblees that had 2 different cultivars in the same pot. In my case it was more obvious as they were very different roses. As a matter of fact, I am to this day not sure what the second rose is, the one I bought was The Dark Lady, it came with another fully double fragrant medium pink rose w/ RMV in the same pot. I never separated them as by the time I realized that there were 2 roses the plant had been in the ground for 6 months and I was too lazy to dig it up and separate them.

So, I would NOT say that this is proof of sporting between DdB and MJS, rather more likely a mix up at Chamblees.

I have numerous duplicate roses via Chamblee's. It makes their roses an even better value! Buff

It would actually be pretty cool to have the Duchesse and Madame in the same pot. If so, what a bargain!

Sandy