What is your favorite rose?

Rose Floribunda ‘Julia Childs’ by Drew Avery

TheGardenLady is begging her readers to share with us: What is your favorite rose? Please let us know the name of the rose you love. If you have a photo of your favorite rose, could you send it in as well?  If you don’t have a photo, we will find one; but it is so much nicer to see roses growing in someone’s garden. We would love to learn about your favorite rose.

My favorite rose color had always been yellow. As a child we had a yellow rose bush. We had pink and red roses, too, but the yellow roses seemed special. I think that what you love as a child remains with you. So I looked for that perfect yellow rose for my garden. On the advice of a Rutger’s Professor, I finally treated myself to a beautiful yellow rose. I bought Rosa Julia Child. Besides the beauty of the flower, it has a lovely fragrance,  I don’t know whether it is correct information, but someone told me that Julia Child herself chose the rose that is named for her. If I am passing on false information, it makes for a good story because Julia Child had such good taste. Not a myth is the fact that Rosa Julia Child was the winner of the  2006 All-America Rose Selections. Do I love this rose? Most Certainly. Do I recommend this rose? Absolutely. But is it my favorite rose? Close, but not quite.  See here.

bushey-rose-garden floribundas by staticgirl

My favorite rose now is not a yellow rose. It is a rose that stops everyone who is walking by or driving by my garden. It takes your breath away. Like Rosa Julia Child my favorite rose is a floribunda rose. It seems much hardier than Rosa Julia Child because I never see any black spot on its leaves. This is also an award winning rose whose “rare aesthetic value lies in a long display of double blossoms that blend apricot and orange.”  Large roses cover the rose bush, especially during that first blooming period. An added bonus is their mild fragrance.  Both roses I have written about bloom all summer.

Rose ‘Livin’ Easy’by Eric Hunt.

The rose that is the love of my garden, my new all time favorite is Rosa Easy Livin’. Its name says a lot. One just wants to lie in a hammock with a mint julep and gaze on this beautiful rose all day. It is that easy to grow. But the name does not convey the beauty of the flower.  I cannot tell you enough how much I love this rose. I am amazed that more gardens don’t have it. But since so many people have stopped to ask me this rose’s name, I feel certain that there are going to be many Easy Livin’ roses planted in my area.  (see here)

My daughter who got married this month also loves Rosa Easy Livin’ so much that she wanted her bridal party to wear that color. When we took the rose to the florist to show her the color, she was so impressed she asked if she could come to the house to cut the flowers for the bouquets.