Look what my Duchesse de Brabant did!

12 years ago

The first picture is a "normal" DDB bloom - very cupped, and pale pink. Suddenly in the last week my over 90 yr old DDB plant started producing blooms with dark, almost raspberry coloring around the edges of the petals, and even one with the darker color throughout. Pictures attached, although in person the color is even darker than it came out on the camera. I don't think it is a sport, as this sort of thing is occurring all over the bush. This plant has NEVER done this before. All I can think of is the weather, after a mild summer, and then some hot temps in Sept, it got really cool and rained for a week. Has anyone ever seen DDB do this? The flowers are gorgeous, although I am afraid I will not be seeing them again.

Jackie

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Comments (7)

strawchicago z5
12 years ago
I love the darker color, and it's impressive that DDB is over 90 years old. Yup, it's the change in weather from hot to cold. My Mary Magdalene has been white, until the cold weather hits. Now it's peachy pinkish, more to my liking.

Thanks for posting those lovely pictures.
jacqueline9CA
Original Author
12 years ago
No idea that getting colder could make rose flowers darker - now I have to go run around the garden looking for other bushes that have done the same thing!

Jackie
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BD and DdB are very different roses in style and growth habit. BD is a modern (1988) shrub rose, and DdB is an old tea rose. From the pictures I saw on HMF, BD makes a rounded, small to medium shrub with almost hybrid tea shaped blooms, which are all the same color and do not vary from a medium pink towards the blue end. Duchesse de Brabant gets MUCH bigger in warm climates - check out the pictures on HMF. Its growth habit is that of an old tea - all over the place until it matures into a rounded, but very large, bush. I have it in my garden and love it. The colors of its blooms vary from medium pink to a paler pink, to sometimes a much darker pink towards the yellow end. The blooms are the old elegant tea style - relaxed and frequently nodding. They are sometimes almost translucent in the sun and incredibly beautiful. So in my opinion they would not look good together. It is just a matter of personal preference which style you like better, but I would pick one and stick to it for the roses nearby. DdB looks great with Mrs. Dudley Cross, another, although smaller, old tea rose which is a light pink/yellow blend. Look up Maggie - the color is almost cerise, it is such a dark and bright pink. It is also an old tea, so it would look fine re growth habit, but I am not sure about the color. If you want to have Belinda's Dream, I would keep it away from the old teas - it is a much more formal shape - perhaps you could tuck it in somewhere where you have some sun and only room for one smaller rose. Just my thoughts - Jackie
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Seil, Though I hate to be the suggester of bad news, it has also occurred to me that you may not have a true Duchesse de Brabant. Perhaps an email to Angel Gardens with a photo attached is in order? Even in the dead heat of summer here the DdB I have seen retained their shell pink color. I have not seen mine bloom that shade of white before. Jeri, I am very excited about these guys! These three Duchesse along with Cramoisi Supeurieur, Champney's Pink Cluster, and Crepsucule will most likely the the first roses to make it into the cemetery. I like to romanticize the whole thing and tell them that they hold my hopes for a better future - one which has roses adorning the rolling hills of the cemetery meadow. I'm sure if they could, they would roll their eyes at me. Josh
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luxrosa
12 years ago
What a coincidence, a couple hours ago I walked by my Duchess de Brabant and nocticed an unopened rosebud was a rich deep raspberry hue. Then I remembered, it does this color change every Autumn.
The first year I grew it and I saw this color change, I thought of propagating it because I thought it was a color sport, then I remembered the chameleon like color changeability of Tea roses.
Isn't it pretty? I wish it would stay that hue all year round. I need a darker pink Tea.
Lux.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
12 years ago
I've also seen much darker pink flowers on my DdB several times. Her sport, Mme. Joseph Schwartz, who is supposed to be mostly white, has at times sported deep apricot roses. It's always a lovely surprise when these roses do that.

Ingrid
jacqueline9CA
Original Author
12 years ago
Ingrid - I have Mme. Joseph Schwartz, I will have to go look at it to see what it is doing!

Does anyone know - is it only tea roses that put out darker/deeper colors when the weather gets colder? I have an Anna Olivier (another tea), and was confused why mine never showed the darker colors that the Australians were posting pictures of on their Anna Oliviers. Then, last Fall, mine suddenly did produce those colors! So fun! I wish they really were sports, as then I could have a whole bush of them always, but I am afraid they are just color variations caused by the weather.

I note that one of the main goals of the rose hybridizers in the early 20th century was "color stability". They succeeded with the HTs - too bad, as color variability of the old teas is so much more interesting!

Jackie
Glenburn
12 years ago
Jackie, over year in Australia, where I live our 'icebergs' get that autumn flush of colour(pink), when you first see it you think I have a sport, just change in temperature, Regards David.
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
12 years ago
Many of my roses have a color change or hue change. SDLM has more of a tint, Penelope has more color, and quite a few more.

Sadly this time of year I cannot post many pictures because I have stopped deadheading the roses in preparation for winter. Yet they have awakened after a terrible summer, and are really showing their colors.

Sammy

Look what my Duchesse de Brabant did!

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strawchicago z5

jacqueline9CA
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Look what my Duchesse de Brabant did!

Comments (7)

strawchicago z5

jacqueline9CAOriginal Author

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luxrosa

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jacqueline9CA
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