In normal, cool coastal weather, Reine des Violettes is a soft lavender-blue, with swirls of darker
and paler shades.
Only in the hotter part of summer do we see her as a hot pink.

My DH calls Night Owl "That dark red single," for here it is often a deep purple-toned red.
'Rt. 66' is more likely to be slate-gray-purple in my garden.

Maggie didn't want to live here, but when she was here, and when she bloomed, she was undeniably red.

Jeri

That's a lovely photo! Am I correct in thinking that the colors are close to true?

I don't have a one of these, so don't know which is which, but I like the purples, too. I didn't realize there were such good ones among the modern roses, but then I don't follow them. I love those velvet petals and the two-tone effect of the reverses. Thanks for the treat!

Melissa

ok without cheating, i would say starting at the top and going clockwise, great western, rotesmeer,maggie,knockout,nightowl and reine des violettes.
i may have confused maggie and great western because i don't have them and haven't seen pictures in a while.

Clockwise, starting from the topmost rose in the photo:

Great Western, Rotesmeer, Maggie, Knock Out, Night Owl, and Reine des Violettes

The most purple rose I have is Rhapsody in Blue. Ebb Tide and the Prince are both more reddish-purple and darker. My Reine des Viollettes hasn't bloomed enough for me to know what it looks like yet.

I only have Maggie and RdV. Maggie is much more of a red tone than purple in my garden. RdV is more of a lavender in my garden. So, the only two I can identify are Maggie at the top and RdV to the left of Maggie.

okay, I'll guess.

Maggie at the top
Rotesmeer to the right of that
Great Western next
Knock Out
Night Owl
Reine de V. to the left of Maggie

Is Night Owl the one with a white center? It's very pretty.

Carla

When the weather is cool and if shaded from Western sun then the most purple rose I grow is THE PRINCE. Blooms start out crimson red but by the time they fully open and mature the color is a rich imperial purple. My REINE DES VIOLETTES has magenta-pink blooms but they always finish up a soft true violet. Acidic soil rich in iron tends to bring out the best color transformation. Try adding chelated iron as a fertilizer supplement. Among the once blooming Old Garden Roses there is no rose more purple than CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU. How purple? Think grape cool aid purple.

I recently saw WILD BLUE YONDER and it was a stunning purple. The ruffled petals and open flower form is very beautiful. Kinda like ANGEL FACE but on a healthier more vigorous plant. RHAPSODY IN BLUE is very purple but the flowers do fade to subdued grayish lavender.

Most roses in the mauve color class start out with strong crimson/magenta tones then "fade" to purple and lavender. The sole exceptions are the silvery lavender roses found among the Hybrid Teas. These roses start and finish the same color - a washed out lavender. Some are positively gray. They are also horribly inbreed, weak and disease prone. Lavender/mauve/purple is not a natural color for roses. The color actually comes from the color of the cell vacuoles and not from the "red" plant pigment cyanin found in roses.

Oops I forgot to answer the quiz. Alright, starting from the top and moving down to the right and then back up:

Maggie (Bourbon)
Rotesmeer (Hybrid Rugosa)
Great Western (Hybrid Bourbon)
Knockout (Shrub)
Night Owl (Large Flowered Climber)
Reine des Violettes (Hybrid Perpetual)

You guys are good! 100% correct for eric, hoovb, duchesse, and patrick. I'm really liking Night Owl now. The blooms are large, as you can see, and fade to purple after opening red. I'll have to wait to see if it has any repeat. Great Western is really beautiful too, with that exquisite bourbon fragrance. There are many colors in each bloom. This is its first year but it is not expected to rebloom unfortunately.

I must try the Cardinal. I've been wanting it for some time but it has never made it to my list for some reason. I may retry Wild Blue Yonder, I guess I wasn't too enamored of the ruffled petal form, it looks so modern to me. I killed it by planting it too close to some 6 foot cannas which shaded it out. My attempt at a purple and orange garden. The cannas are gone now!

okay, now I checked hmf on great western and rotesmeer because I wasn't sure of their form, so I might be disqualified if looking wasn't allowed. But I learned something, anyway. Thanks for posting; it was fun.

Add Souvenir de Dr. Jamain and the Black Prince.

The Prince is very purple in my yard. Unfortunately when I take a picture of it, the pictures are very red.

I have RdV, and so far it's much pinker than the bloom shown here, but it's still young. I'm hoping it darkens as it matures.

Ebb Tide is also purple and Melody Parfume (HT) is very purple and never shows pink/red.

Now I'm very interested in the color chemistry, Reine des Violettes is new to me but is doing quite well, however I did notice that the foliage was a paler green than most of the other roses, and all of the other plants in the bed. I wondered if this is common to RdV or, as Patrick says, it could use some iron to correct a slightly chlorotic condition. If iron contributes to a more purple color in the bloom of RdV, would this be true for all purple/magenta roses? Patrick, you've got me onto this now with all that talk about vacuoles and cyanin and such!

If this is true, I need to experiment! Can anyone recommend a a chelated iron fertilizer? I have two RdV in the same bed, so one could be fertilized and the other left alone for comparison.

Eric, when I had RdV up north the only time I could get it to look that purple was when I cut it late in the day when it was tight and put it in a cold bucket in the basement overnight. BTW, it won Dowager at a show that morning! ;-)

Night Owl's color is very changeable with temperature and humidity-- like Jeri, we've seen it dark red. Sometimes its fuschia or deep rose, and when we have cool nights it even looks vaguely like the above photo. I've planted Ebbtide in front on Night Owl and as expected Ebbtide is more purple. Sweet Chariot is not grape-purple here, ever. Basye's Purple is REALLY PURPLE and blooming very well surrounded by white roses. I love the photo, what fun to see them all together!!

A friend of mine bought a purple rose at a discount place last week and it smelled wonderful!! I finally broke down and got one for myself. When we compaired blooms hers were more purple than mine, which looked more like a washed out red. It didn't even smell the same!!
I've thought about taking it back, it's such a stick anyway but I've already cut the blooms off to bring them inside, so I'm probably stuck with it-I wondered though maybe the blooms were different because mine were older?? They were open all the way and hers weren't.
The name of the rose is Intrigue.
-B