Celeste, LOVELY photos. I love them all, especially Violette! She's a siren in the garden, isn't she? Is that just ONE plant?

Just beautiful, Celeste. I really love purple roses, and Charles de Mills is just so tempting...thanks for giving us such a treat!
Judith

I really like that first shot of Jenny Duval, but it might not bloom like that if I had it!

It's encouraging that you can get them do well in rocky soil. One spot has a lot of gravel in it, and thought maybe that's why the rose wasn't doing well.

I don't care for purple modern roses, but yours are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

I think your roses love you and treat you like royalty, which is, of course, purple. Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing.

There's probably also a biochemical explanation but I don't know what it is.

There's probably also a biochemical explanation but I don't know what it is.

Doubtless that's the answer, but I don't know anywhere near enough about the relevant biochemistry to be any use here. I know anthocyanins (which are usually the red/purple/blue pigments in a plant) are sometimes influenced by pH, but I don't know much of anything about the anthocyanins in roses, much less in Gallicas.

Celeste,

I too love the purple roses. I'd like to suggest two more to add to your collection, if you don't have them already: Hyppolyte and The Bishop. These are two of my most purple roses..two of my healthiest roses. Two of my favorite roses.

Robert

Celestialrose, it was lovely to look at your photos. Mine is a youngish garden so I have these to look forward to in the future.

Celeste,

You may be right about the soil, but I'm not sure about the granite. But you could be right about that too.

Here is what I know:

When I was a kid my Aunt who lived north of the notch, in Littleton, had several deep purple roses growing in her yard and they were the same color as yours. At least they were very much the same.

My Grandmother brought some to her garden, below the notch, to Bow. The first few years they were that nice deep purple then slowly changed to a lighter color fading to the dark just before the petals dropped.

The entire state is granite but the soil & climate changes a bit at the notch area. Above it the soil is "woodsy" & very different than southern areas. That's where you see the tall thin northern pine growing, where the moose hang out. And my personal favorite part of the state. The air even smells different.

South the soil is more what I would call pasture soil, more loamy and the northern pine aren't that many, there are more white pine.

It was a running joke between the sisters for years, that one got blooms earlier but the other one had prettier blooms. They also traded other plants and I seem to remember the ditch lilies being a deeper color orange and the petals were thicker more leathery, not so "papery" than my GrandmotherÂs were even though they came from the same plant to start with.

All your roses are beautiful! Can you tell me how much they die back for you in the winter and how large they will get each year.

Thanks for sharing them all it gives me something to think about adding to my garden.

Happy gardening,
Karyn

I don't know anything about your soil, but your purple roses are breathtaking!

Celeste, thank you beautiful pictures.
I have all roses that you posted, except Violette and Night Owl and the color is the same for me. I also used to grow some of these roses before (Charles de Mills, Tuscany Superb) in a very different climate/location and they also were purple like this. Could it be that when they are more pink, it is the lack of some microelements? I think what we have is the norm :)
Olga

Your purple roses are superb! Thanks so much for posting pictures. Because of your post, I now have Violette and Tuscany Superb on my wish list. I just need to find more space. Maybe I should just tear the house down and live in the garden? It would certainly give me more planting space.

Wow..those are great. My Tuscany Superb and Charles de Mills haven't bloomed yet ( new plants). That's a very enabling picture of Violette. I have Veilchenblau but Violette looks like a much deeper color. Nestor also looks very tempting. Do you grow Cardinal de Richelieu?
He's also very purple.
Linda

I am impressed that you can grow 'Violette' in zone 4. I'm in the same zone, and could never grow that kind of rambler. W*nt*r would kill it to the ground here.

I would if I could.

Here's a picture taken in my garden about one hundred and fifty miles south.

{{gwi:296830}}

Of course Cape Cod is composed of rock scraped off of the mainland by the last glacier 20,000 years ago so it's possible there is a little New Hampshire granite in the sand in which I grow my roses.

Hello Everybody.....
Thanks for your comments. The Gallicas (and Albas) are my most treasured and loved roses and as their blooming period is coming to an end soon it is fun to share their beautiful photos here. I appreciate all your comments.

Yes, I also grow the Cardinal and he is such a nice, deep purple. The purple coloration is one of the reasons that the Gallicas are my favorites.

To answer about Violette, I am a bit of a "mother hen" to my roses, and the climbers and ramblers get wrapped with burlap for the winter. Those with fewer thorns and more flexible canes are taken off their trellis and laid on the ground and covered with pine straw. The only climbing rose I don't do anything to protect is Baltimore Belle. She is cane-hardy with zero protection. Not everyone is able or willing to go to such lengths to get their climbers through zone 4 winters and every fall I despise all the work (and scratches!) but right now with them all
in bloom I am glad I did.

Here's a picture of Cardinal de Richelieu and another of
Nestor from this morning....
thanks for looking.

Celeste

CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU.....

{{gwi:296832}}

NESTOR, THIS MORNING.....

{{gwi:296833}}

Karyn...
Sorry I forgot to answer your question. I do not do any
winter-protecting of my Gallicas and they come through winters with little to no dieback. They are very hardy here and since I do also grow a lot of modern roses that need to be protected and coddled, it is so refreshing to
have roses that aren't wimps! Mine are kept tidy with minimal pruning and stay at around 5 feet tall and about as wide.
Celeste

Celeste, typing Soil -New Hampshire into google got me this info about a type of soil called Marlow which occurs in your state. Maybe it should be marketed to purple lovers.
Check this out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marlow

Celeste,
I don't know if this is part of it, but maybe the blue pigments are enhanced by acidity in the soil in the presence of aluminum, like with hydrangeas?

Another thing - your weather during gallica bloom is probably fairly mild and cool? (I'm assuming...) All of my purple roses are really deep purple like yours if the weather is nice and cool, but they lose that in hot weather. Our weather conditions during gallica bloom are wildly variable. My Cardinal de Richelieu was a gorgeous deep purple this year for the first time throughout the bloom season. Every other year it tends to be mostly a hot magenta, very similar to Hippolyte. Needless to say, I really enjoyed our cool, wet spring this year! The Rush gallica was a glowing pinky purple - I've never seen anything like it.

- robinia

Celeste, the pictures are incredible. I love the colors of the Gallicas. Thanks so much for sharing.

Those are some awesome purples!

Wonderful photos!

I especially enjoy your Tuscany Superb and Cardinal de Richelieu.

Such beautiful photos! My favorite has to be that Violette rambler. I think I'm going to have to get me one (or more) of those to try here! I also think having Violette with those blush-colored roses is a great combination, I probably would have put them with white roses, but looking at that, I think the blush pink is better still, great looking roses!

--Ron

Gorgeous! I have Sissinghurt Castle, a new band, which looked similar to your Tuscany Superb. I may have to get more. My plan is to see how Gallicas do down here, before going too crazy over them. I love their scent, too.

-Mike

WOWÂthose are wonderful!!

Celeste, they are all beautiful. Night Owl has been on my mind lately, hmm. Thank you for the photos, it's hard to beat a good purple.

Carla

Marvelous photos, Celeste: thanks!

I don't have any answers, but I grow Gallicas in compact alkaline soil and mine are pretty purple: they look like yours. So it appears that an acid Ph is not the answer. I don't know what is, though.

Melissa

Celeste....have mercy! Those roses are beautiful. Can you discuss fragrance? Thanks.

Absolutely gorgeous, all of them, Celeste. I especially love your Tuscany Superb, Night Owl and, of course, Violette. All that "good love" really shows! Glad to see you are back on the forum.

MayBee

Celeste,

I, too, love the purple ramblers..I've got a collection of them growing around my circular arched "Mottisfont" structure. I've got Violette, Veilcheinbleu, Bleu Magenta, Rose-Marie Viaud, Amadis, and Donau!...I think that's all of them that I have. They do get somewhat chlorotic, but I think that's the nature of the plant. I've planted clematis to go up them as well...hoping to hide some of the chlorosis and some of the nakedness at the bottoms.

Robert