Cornelia is happy!!
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I was prepared to wait a year or so, based on what I read, for her to bloom...but she’s working on a sweet little spray right now! I’m just thrilled to get to see and smell her famous blossoms. :-)
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Moonlight, Cornelia, Linda Campbell & Topaz Jewel
Comments (8)Yes, Jesse, I did see that thread on Linda Campbell- I had never heard of that rose before, and that's how I got interested- thanks! Sue and Robert- Heirloom is the first company I ordered from and I've been happy w/ them. I am disappointed that Ashdown does not have a color catalog, also they did not seem to have many of the roses I was interested in (the above list is the latest version- the one before they did not have much of). Roses Unlimited- isn't that the company that does not take online orders? I find it most convenient to do all of my ordering online. However, I did order 2 roses from Ashdown and both are doing very well, so if they have what I want, I would order from them again. Thank you for your feedback, Sammy. I will avoid Europeana. As for the "ugly canes", I would think planting something in front would disguise them. Do you think Robusta has ugly canes? Just wondering, I have Robusta (now 6 ft tall- planted as a band in spring '06). I am thinking about replacing the once blooming white alba I have next to Robusta w/ Moonlight, then planting Linda Campbell on the other side. How do you think the heights would work? Robert- would you say that Cornelia is pink or apricot? I don't like pink much and it is difficult to tell from pics. (BTW, I emailed you hoping you could give me some recommendations but didn't get an answer- my spam filter or yours, I guess.) It seems very difficult to get an orange that is resistant. I have heard good things about Hot Cocoa but it is not really orange, is it? Thanks for all the feedback! Brandy...See MoreCornelia's fragrance
Comments (12)I have to confess that my information about the fragrance of the musk roses comes from The Fragrant Year, by Helen van Pelt Wilson and Léonie Bell, a book that over 30 years ago helped make me a fanatic. (The cheap reprint from 1976 is still available). I imagine that some of the Pemberton musks are more like moschata than others. Bell and Wilson characterized its scent as resembling an iron pot being heated up on a stove !! whatever that means. Unfortunately I can't locate my falling-apart copy or I could check. The hybrid musks are descended from Trier, which is more like the species. They also said that some musks hardier than others and some (like Pax) weren't hardy for them -- they gardened in Philadelphia and Connecticut. I remember they especially liked Buff Beauty, Cornelia, Penelope and Vanity for scent and hardiness (in those days winters were colder than now) and, I guess, availability. Though they also liked Felicia. Also, Cornelia had one of the highest ratings from the American Rose Society -- I imagine for its vigor. That is why I got mine. (Of course all these roses will be more floriferous in full sun than in shade). I should mention that in those days Kathleen was particularly prized by plant connoisseurs who said things like "if I had a small garden and could have but one rose..." It seems not to be so much in favor now, but I have one. Now, of course, we have so many more choices....See MoreHM: Thisbe, Francesca, Callisto, Daybreak, Cornelia...
Comments (8)I love the Pemberton Hybrid Musks and grow many of them. My growing conditions are somewhat different from yours, but this is my experience: 'Cornelia' is one of the most beautiful roses ever bred, in my opinion. She is a rather large, lax-growing shrub with red canes, few thorns, excellent dark foliage, with a sweet musky perfume that floats in the air. She flowers in two main periods, spring and fall, with large clusters of double pale strawberry-pink flowers, darker in the bud, brighter in cooler weather: 'Cornelia' is extraordinarily lovely in the fall. I think she's best with some support, or grown as a small, repeat-flowering rambler. We have very heavy alkaline clay soil on our property, with hot dry summers and chilly winters. In these conditions, the Hybrid Musks like the cooler and moister parts of our property and the areas with looser soil. I've also read that they don't like to be in windy, exposed spots, but that's true for all roses, I suspect. The Hybrid Musks don't mind winter cold, I think they probably grow bigger in warm-summer areas, without necessarily needing them to thrive. 'Thisbe' is a pretty and fragrant rose with small, double, pale yellow flowers, healthy in my garden. (Susceptible roses get mildew here, but blackspot rarely.) For me it grows somewhat smaller and stiffer than 'Cornelia', but still with a fairly lax habit. It's a good rose. I just bought 'Daybreak' myself, so am waiting to see how it will be. I've never grown or seen 'Callisto' 'Francesca' is another favorite of mine. It grows to be a large shrub in my garden and would make a good small--or not so small--repeat-flowering climber. Its canes are stiffer than those of 'Cornelia' but I think still trainable. It has lovely healthy foliage and large (for a Hybrid Musk) semi-double wide soft buffy-yellow fragrant flowers, which I've heard don't last long, but they are so beautiful! Of all the Hybrid Musks 'Francesca' in my eyes has the most look of a Tea, though I looked up its genealogy once and there's no Tea rose among its immediate ancestors. Now, you asked about pink and white Hybrid Musks. 'Moonlight' has clusters of small semi-double while flowers, dark shining foliage and a lax habit--it's another of the potential pocket ramblers, like 'Cornelia'--and, also like 'Cornelia', has a sweet fragrance that floats on the air. I think I've seen it get a touch of mildew, though it was growing in a good deal of shade. I bought 'Pax' two or three years ago and nearly lost it the first year to drought. This fall it's just starting to grow, and I think it's going to be a winner, with typical lax growth and lush, shining foliage, starred with relatively large, semidouble white blooms. My sister has seen it trained as a very beautiful rambler/climber. The pinks are a little more difficult, if you don't count 'Cornelia', which is salmon-pink, not yellow. 'Felicia' is more upright and shrubby than most HMs; according to report more disease prone than other varieties, and in my experience generally more fussy than others; it does have one of the loveliest perfumes in rosedom. 'Ballerina' is scentless, but bright, cheerful, and a good tough rose; it's less elegant than many of the Hybrid Musks, but a happy rose to have in the garden. My favorite pink is 'Vanity'. This is a rose with its own character, a tall, wide, open, leggy rose with single flowers of bright shocking pink, with a sweet, China-like scent that doesn't seem strong but can be detected from several feet away. I know this because there have been times when 'Vanity' was the only rose in flower in the whole garden. The color goes splendidly with all the pale tints of the other Hybrid Musks and with Teas, and it's a tough rose. I deal with the openness by letting other plants grow through and around it. Another darker Hybrid Musk is 'Nur Mahal', shrubby but not rigid, deep cherry-pink/red, and fragrant. A lot of people love this rose, but I think there's something wrong with my plant, and got cuttings of it this fall from another gardener. So I can't judge from my own experience. The Hybrid Musks as a group are very beautiful plants, in and out of flower; they're healthy without spraying; almost all of them are fragrant, scented of Tea or musk or China; they're easy, tolerant plants to grow. They should be pruned at least once a year, better twice, in winter and if possible after the spring flowering, though I never get around to that. Many of them set hips, which are very pretty in late fall and winter. Oh! I forgot the lovely 'Penelope': white single or semi-double fragrant blooms in clusters, shrubby but not rigid, good hips, the customary good foliage. All these roses root easily from cuttings, and grow extremely well on their own roots. I hope this is helpful. Melissa...See More'Cornelia'
Comments (18)..thank you Melissa for your advice, that would be my normal mode of operation, certainly with Austin's - quite ruthless in fact - but with older ones I tend to leave them for sometimes too long. I've yet to remove a single cane of this rose...so I'm a little reluctant, and I wasn't aware any would peter out and die though, so I must see what the rose wants me to do... my favoured time for pruning is after the first flush.....See More
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agoPerma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agoPerma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agoJin, here are some more pics of Cornelia (I tried to get the best angle, but it’s still hard to see her shape against the mulch—sorry about that!)
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
5 years agoVap, I been thinking about that too. Where I had my Cornelia too see how it response to heat and radiant heat seems not to bother this rose. But I have to move it further up at corner side Bec it blocks my Gardener from mowing the lawn. I am hoping to have like a cascading look over half wall.
I think it looks great either way but love to hear what Kathy has to say and hoping to see her pics.
This is how mine looks like. It is huge and I have not prune it yet at all just deadhead individually blooms which is so time consuming. If I remember correctly from a video which I can't find now and gave up. It was cut right below a huge spray of blooms but I am hoping more information on hybrid musk rose.
I took a pic and it is not that good but it shows it's length.
Have it just over a year now. so,bit is in 2nd year....
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL thanked Plumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)Perma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
jerijen
5 years ago'Cornelia' has had some bad years here, but right now, she's looking very happy. I think most of her problems are due to getting less water than she would like. This morning, I got out and peeled most of the Morning Glory off of her (#$%$##!!) and she's just starting a nice flush.
But take note, guys, she is NOT a small plant. She's about 7 ft. tall here, and I know would be bigger, if she got more water.
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL thanked jerijenPerma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agoPerma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
Open! Wish you could smell this! She’s heavenly. :-)
catspa_zone9sunset14
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoHer scent is heavenly. 'Cornelia' is one of the few hybrid musks that do well here. As Jeri notes, they don't like heat or drought, which, unfortunately, is what we have a lot of the time. Here she grows up against a fence in a relatively cool spot and blooms most of the spring-summer-fall. She would be a sprawler if left to her own devices.
Perma n’ Posies/9A FL thanked catspa_zone9sunset14Perma n’ Posies/9A FL
5 years ago
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