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kandaceshirley

good purple/blue rose

18 years ago

I currently have heirloom (and hoping it survives the winter - this will be it's first year) and am looking for more deep purple/"blue" roses. They need to be able to survive zone 5, have good repeat and smell wonderful. I've smelled Wild Blue Yonder but I can't detect anything but a very light fragrance. Any other suggestions?

Comments (12)

  • 18 years ago

    I do not know if all of them can be found in the US.
    Roseraie de l'hay is red-purple.
    Here in Italy some roses which are sold as "blue" (actually magenta) are:
    blue monday
    rhapsody in blue

    but they are not particularly resistant roses, as far as I am told.

  • 18 years ago

    Ebb Tide smells wonderful but I don't know whether it's suitable for your zone. Smell or no smell, I love Wild Blue Yonder for the color and shape of its blooms.

    Ingrid

  • 18 years ago

    Does your wild blue yonder have a fragrance?

  • 18 years ago

    My Wild Blue Yonder has an odd scent that is a mixture of sweet rose & the chemical smell that pervades hair salons. It's supposed to be a "clove" scent which is why I bought it, but it's nothing like the carnation scent I expected.

  • 18 years ago

    I always thought that chemical scent was sort of "skunky" so it would smell like a rose that was sprayed by a skunk? You'd think my nose would pick up on that one

  • 18 years ago

    I love the fragrance of Ebbtide; here in our heat it's hot-pink until cool nights return and then the color gets interesting. Night Owl does the same thing, but with less fragrance, just lightly sweet. The purplest rose I know is Cardinal de Richelieu which is a once-blooming gallica-- check it out on hmf!

  • 18 years ago

    How about Reine des Violettes?

  • 18 years ago

    I have a ton of purples on my list - I just need to weed out some of the possibilities. I'm planning on placing the roses on the sky end of my sunrise garden that I started this year so I'm looking for ones that are purplish enough that they almost look like the sky at sunrise, that smell wonderful, good disease resistance, don't die in zone 5, and great rebloom (Ok I know I'm dreaming, but hey isn't that one of the advantages of roses, the dream?)

  • 18 years ago

    Ebb Tide survives my zone 5a winter just fine. I don't winter protect, they die back to the ground but roar back every spring. My oldest is 3 years the youngest is new this year. They are scented but not strongly thou JBs love them. They get anywhere from six to four hours of morning to early afternoon sun. Their mostly purple fading to smokey purple this year ( it's been cooler this summer ). Flowers are smallish, last about four days but I don't like the bush. I hope it does better in a few years. The hotter the weather the redder the flower. Conversely, the cooler weather brings out more purple. It's colour is very much like The Prince. Duh, just saw disease resistance. If you live where blakspot is a problem Ebb Tide needs sprayed. I think all purple roses need sprayed here anyway. Munstead Wood claims to be heathy but it's crimson not purple. Please, if you find a purple rose with all those qualities don't keep it a secret. Good luck on your hunt.

  • 18 years ago

    my understanding is there isn't a purple rose with all those qualities (especially the disease resistance), but again it's the dream...especially since i'm trying to plan what i'm going to get next year....

  • 18 years ago

    Neptune is a great purple, and the fragrance is very strong.

  • 18 years ago

    The Prince is a purple rose that I believe is classified as Deep Red on the ARS guide. It is not leaning toward lavendar like Heirloom. It is more of a purple color. And you would have to look at it quite a while to construe it to be red. Somedays depending on the sun I see the red.

    Ours get a lot of flowers, have great scent, and good repeat. The stems are sometimes a little weak if rain hits while they are blooming.

    This is a David Austin rose. It is hardy. It does not need to be covered in the winter here.