Those Mauve roses mostly descend from Sterling Silver, which was a weak sister.
I've never found one that grew well for me.
Midnight Blue and that whole line descend from 'International Herald Tribune,' a small Harkness
Floribunda that could have been invented for California, it's so disease-free here.
It, in turn, was bred from R. californica.

There are a few Austin roses with the sort of color you want, and you will surely find it in the
old Gallicas and Hybrid Chinas (both of which you can probably grow).

Jeri

Anybody for Mister Lincoln?

In hybrid teas, particularly older ones, the typical dark gallica color is called 'blueing' and considered undesirable. The aim has always been for a true dark red that holds its color.

Purple tones in species and in OGR generally result from aging of certain red and deep pink tones. To get a rose that opens mauve or purple requires an arduous breeding process. Does Indigo ever open purple? (Not a rhetorical question.)

The first modern mauve rose was Sam McGredy's Grey Pearl, 1945. It is in all the others, including International Herald Tribune.

It's hard to get a mauve rose even by crossing mauve roses. They are inherently rare, and that's why by and large they are such an imperfect group with disease and hardiness problems.

Tom Carruth at Weeks has made a big push toward breeding purples, so just in the past ten years we've seen (or so I hear) an improvement in deeper colors and better plants. It so happens that the better ones have been floribundas, not HTs.

the closest to Dark purple I know is Ebb Tide, but it is a floribunda, however. The flowers can be large, but not always. It is also very disease resistant. It's most purple in cool weather and smells wonderful.

I do have my eye on Ebb Tide. They say the blooms don't last long...

Mister Lincoln is one I do have. Some don't like him, but so far, I do. The blooms are huge and BTW, are deep red. That said, I was going to post about him...so far, which is Year #1, he is a one-cane wonder. A flush is one bloom. Is that good, LOL? Where the other new HTs mostly have 4-5 new growths, Mister L has ONE new growth, that is it. A slow poke.

Stephens big purple is about as close as you are going to get and it is as fragrant as there is around. The reason it is a little darker than the rest is because it comes from Superb Tuscan which is very dark. It is also very disease resistant. I am getting me another this fall becasuse when we moved last year I had to leave mine behind.

Patrick

You might want to check out the Rose Gallery, a post titled 'A new batch'. There's a deep purple HT pictured called Abracadabra. Stunning! Brandy

My 2 ebb tides have blooms last as long or longer than many of the other roses I have and I have about 20 different ones. Lots of blooms on a 2 month old bush. The only disadvantage is the stems are not long for cutting but the JB's stay away from it.

I gave my Ebb Tide away. When I think Purple I think of the HT Intrigue or the OGR climber Veilchenblau. Ebb Tide and the other so called new purples are really sort of a deep claret fuschia pink/red that may age to deep purple for some, but I've never warmed up to the initial color. Others love it of course. Abracadabra to me is a deep almost black red with perhaps a purple shimmer to it......Mr. Lincoln has a great name for a rose and like Ebb Tide many love him. Lovely blooms when he has them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Intrique

Abracadabra starts as a dark red and fades to a purple. The blooms last so long that it still looks good once it has turned purple. Mine has only had two blooms and so far it hasn't had stripes. I have Intrigue and it is a floribunda, not a hybrid tea. The last couple of blooms from it actually started out red and only turned purple a day or two later. I like Ebb Tide but the blooms have been more pink this year than they were last year. I'm not sure why. Ebb Tide is a real purple under the right conditions.

My current favorite purple is an Austin called The Prince. It starts out reddish but fades to purple in about a day. It lasts for a while and becomes more purple as time passes. It smells good too.

I'm still waiting for Rhapsody in Blue to bloom. It looked good at the nursery but mine was from Heirloom and is taking a while to start blooming so I haven't been able to judge it yet.

Stephens' Big Purple was actually "Stephens' Big Fuchsia" here. Blech.

I meant Intrigue as a Floribunda, but my fingers and brain are sometimes disconnected. Thanks for catching it. I've seen the Prince at various places and it does age to a nice purplish color; more to my taste then some. Perhaps the problem resides in the fact that there is no blue pigment in the rose world (or daylily world for that matter). Blue combined with red creates the color of true purple. Without the blue to really change the color to another spectrum, we are left with only the red to work with.

I have a new one from Steve Singer at Wisconsin called Blackberry Nip that is as purple as you could ever want. I call it "Electric Plum" as it really glows. If Steve can get them to grow and thrive here in the States, this is a real winner of a rose, and definitely purple enough for even the most avid purple lover. And, it still smells wonderful as well!! Contact Steve at www.wirose.com and let him know you are interested in the rose.
John