"Royal Lavender" rose

10 years ago

Being a total sucker for mauve/lilac/lavender roses,I'm of course curious about this one-and it's a climber to boot! I see on HMF that Kim Rupert posted pictures of this rose, so I'm hoping he'll weigh in here,but I'd be delighted for any other people's comments, too. Is this rose truly mauve/ lavender in colour? Photos on HMF-at least as displayed on my pc-look more just plain pink,or rather an orangey-pink, except for the one posted by Amiroses. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.21639&tab=36

I also see that the ratings for this rose are luke-warm,but there's only one vote per quality, which gives the idea that very few people contributed to the ratings on this rose. So, I'd be very grateful for any and all opinions and comments from anyone who knows this rose or has/does grow it...

Featured Answer

roseseek

10 years ago

Hi Bart! I'm sorry, I've been "otherwise occupied" battling downy mildew. Royal Lavender is NOT a silvery-lavender. It IS sometimes pinkish-mauve, sometimes rather brownish-lavender. It is quite fragrant and there honestly isn't anything else quite like it. It was one of the first "mauvish" climbers and is pretty much a museum piece these days, as are many of the other strangly colored early roses. If water, space and disease pressures weren't issues here, I would grow it again. I wouldn't use it for breeding, which is pretty much what I limit my space use for these days, but I did enjoy the rose. In the mid California desert, it was healthy, but I know it wouldn't be here along the Central California Coast where nights are chilly and wet, followed by warmish, sunny and very windy days. If you just have to try it, go for it. But, if you really want something along the coloring of Blue Moon, Sterling Silver and their like, it won't please you.

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Comments (11)

User
Original Author
10 years ago
bump
User
Original Author
10 years ago
guess I need more than one bump here...
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BethC in 8a Forney, TX
10 years ago
Bart, I've seen your post but I know nothing about Royal Lavender. I suspect many people on the forum have seen your post but don't know anything either. People will respond if they have something to share with you.
User thanked BethC in 8a Forney, TX
lauriescreams
10 years ago
I agree that photo doesn't look very lavender at all, and I am of the impression that vendor photos of this colour range are often doctored to emphasise the blue element, however slight it may be. I bought Blue Moon a couple of months ago, and it looks very lush in the greenhouse, though its first flower has yet to open for me. The photo on the card shows a rose which isn't merely lilac, but a lilac colour VERY close to blue. I have seen enough photos of Blue Moon to not expect this. My point being that while I am not familiar with Royal Lavender, I wouldn't be surprised if it proved simply to be a soft pink rose with perhaps a slightly cool tint.
User thanked lauriescreams
User
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you both! I guess I'm hoping that Kim will eventually see my post . A lot of the photos of this rose on HMF are labeled as his, so I'm assuming he had some experience with it. I totally agree that vendor photos can be very unreliable-often not done on purpose,even! and written info can be mistaken, too. I (stupidly) got two plants of a climber called Mariella Calderoni Clbg https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.66013 ,based on the verbal description of it's colour as "lilac", even though the photos show a decidedly warm pink. Well, in this case, the photos were correct! the flowers are salmon pink, a warm tone, nothing lilac about them at all. And the nursey's labels on the plants themselves described the rose as "coral pink". So now I'm trying to be less confident ...I sure miss Vintage Gardens website. They seemed to have almost every rose in the world,lol, and their descriptions were so detailed.
User
Original Author
10 years ago
OK, I just looked up Friends of Vintage Gardens and looked at the PDF and, yes, they have it. O, how I DO hope that they will eventually put the old site back up,with all it's precious information. That was one unique rose nursery,and I of course could never even buy any of their roses!
User
Original Author
10 years ago
still hoping that roseseek will comment...
bethnorcal9
10 years ago
OMG I used to have that rose yrs ago. You can see a couple of my old photos on HMF too. It was a beautiful rose. I got it from Vintage Gardens. I was sooo ticked when it died. They never had it available again. Not sure why it died.
User
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you, Kim . That is VERY,very helpful !!!
roseseek
10 years ago
I'm glad, you're welcome! I thought it rather interesting that 20+ years after this American bred rose was introduced, it was only available from LeGrice in England. I guess that should have told me something? I'm glad I grew it. I'm disappointed I had to go through importing it back here.