mmm,

I never grew Amiga Mia, but I bet your rose is the real thing. It's bloom looks just like the photos on HMFR. Go check them out. (HMFR - Help Me Find Roses web site, search)

It, as a young rose may not have developed its fragrance, which is reported to be strong, so don't go by current scentlessness, if any. It will almost surely be very flagrant in time if It is Amiga Mia. If it is precociously fragrant now, then it is Amiga Mia for sure.

Moses

Thanks Moses,

It does have a spicy fragrance. The other buds are opening. Tomorrow I'll get another picture and give it another sniff.

I did check out the pictures on helpmefind. You are right it does look like that is it. The leaves look the same also.

I wonder why there are so few pictures and it isn't a popular rose? Any ideas?

mmmm,

Dr. Buck (d.), was the horticulturist who bred Amiga Mia, along with the very popular roses:

Carefree Beauty, Quietness, Aunt Honey, Earth Song, and many others, over 100 varieties. After a rose breeder's death, and through the process of time, only the best of his best remain in commerce. Amiga Mia's fragrance is its salvation. It's flower form, on the other hand, on the disheveled side, has not seemed to garner a following. Such is the nature of the rose world.

Moses

Thanks for the explanation! The flower is what caught my eye in the greenhouse as it seemed to be a good size. I didn't notice the fragrance until later. I don't have a pale pink rose and when Matt offered it to me for free I jumped at the chance. Hopefully it will be a prolific bloomer. I read it is supposed to be good as a cut rose so I'm putting it in my rose cutting garden.

Here is a picture of the buds this morning. I love the classic shape of this rose and the color. Sometimes the rose colors really grab me and this was one of them. I've been mostly getting roses with singles so this is a good addition for me. I smelled it again and I can't tell if it is citrus or spicy. Our air here is very polluted right now so that is interfering with my ability to smell it properly.

These roses are all on a cluster.

This is the single stem.

I'm going to say it is positively Amiga Mia. The "tell" on the helpmefind photos is the curl across the stamens on the fully open flower. This one has that also. It was one of the cuttings plants at High Country Roses so is actually pretty mature.

So fast these blooms open! The above pictures were taken first thing this morning. These were taken about 4 hours later. I'm holding the stems because they kept shaking in the wind. Both sets of pictures were taken in shade. I sure hope the color stays this pretty when it gets planted in full sun.

mmmm,

Your Amiga Mia's blooms in their early stage are spectacularly beautiful, like so very many roses are at that stage of development. It is how a bloom holds onto its youthful good looks through middle to old age, that makes or breaks a rose in becoming much loved and popular among rose lovers, or a passed over rose.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and of course, it is very subjective. No one, even dominant popular opinion, can convince me, or anyone else I hope, that a particular rose is beautiful or ugly. The decision is personal.

It's your decision on whether a rose is garden worthy for you. Let no one persuade you one way or another.

Moses

Moses, that is so true. If the blooms turn brown and ugly and stay on the plant or don't last long then harump to it. :-)

But it is a free rose and covers a type and color I don't have so I'm going to admire it while the bloom is still on it so to speak. If I get dissatisfied later then so be it.

Also these are green house generated blooms. Won't really know much about it until it has been in the yard a while.

If anyone has Amiga Mia and can tell me their likes and dislikes it will be helpful for deciding where to put it. Also any full bush pictures.

In the mean time here is one of the flowers in a vase with Pretty Lady Rose. It is about the same size but has less petals. Roses in lower dish are Chuckles (hot pink), Sally Holmes (right side) and small white rose (sort of underneath).

I'm going to keep track here of the flowers progress to see how long it looks good on the bush and in a vase.

Pics from this morning on the bush. Still very good looking. I cut one of the three new flowers for the vase yesterday.

The single stem up close.

In the vase. The new white flower is iceberg. All the flowers on my Iceberg were super droopy yesterday so we watered it and they all perked up nicely today.

And then I wasn't happy with those three being crowded into a small dish so I got a bigger one, but it was too empty so I added some more.

mmmm,

I bet Amiga Mia will be a keeper. Its fragrance is a strong asset. Also, getting it free from High Country Roses, one of my favorite nurseries, will always make its presence in your garden a memorable rose for years to come. I suspect Matt knew it was Amiga Mia. As a gesture of kindness and good will, he just wanted you to have a good rose. He's an all around nice guy, an asset to the rose world.

OT. I see you like winter hardy hibiscus (I see one behind Amiga Mia in one of your photos). May I suggest you give Fantasia a try. It is my favorite winter hardy hibiscus. WH Hibiscus go great with roses, just give them breathing room. Nothing creates the look of an old, cottage garden like WH Hibiscus do.

Moses

Gorgeous pics of Amiga Mia! I’d get one if I could find it!

Hi Jwusauk,

It is available from High Country Roses.

http://www.highcountryroses.com/amiga-mia

Moses

The way I ended up with it is I was admiring it among the propagating roses. This is their mature stock that they make cuttings from. But it was labeled April Moon. So I went to the front to ask about April Moon but when I told them that it was pink they said "oh that one". We found it mislabeled yesterday. Matt pulled out a label from the pot that said NOT April Moon. We all had a laugh. Then they offered it to me saying they can't propagate from a mislabeled rose. As Matt was putting it in the car for me he said it may be Amiga Mia. In their propagating stock I often see more than one of something so the Amiga Mia starts that are for sale are for sure Amiga Mia. But I think this one is also.

In terms of the winter hardy Hibiscus. I am smitten. My neighbor put some in a year ago and they keep catching my eye. I'm going to pull out my 4 Chuckles roses and replace them with 4 of the Luna Pink Swirl. The reason the Chuckles are going is they don't really produce in the areas I put them in. Seem to fry in the heat and sun even though it is partially shaded. I may move them to full shade and see if that helps but they may shut down altogether in full shade. I probably should give them another year but the best place for me to see the Pink Swirl Hibiscus from my house is where the Chuckles are so they are moving.

I should also mention that I got the Pink Swirl Hibiscus from Lowes. 2 were half price in the clearance area so $8 each and the other 2 were $16.98 each so I scored. I had planned to bite the bullet and get them at a garden center for $24.99 each so was really pleased to find the ones at Lowes.

Day 3 in a vase.

On the plant.

To me Pretty Lady Rose with its much fuller blooms is prettier. They are both nicely scented but have different scents.

The outside petals on the vase bloom are starting to curl in a bit whereas Pretty Lady Rose is still looking fresh.

Day 4

Getting to the end of the vase time.

So after doing all this documenting I realized that it may not be applicable because these blooms are really from the greenhouse and not out in the yard. :-(

Okay mmmm12-what is that green cart? Some views of it look like a hose cart but it also has the two baskets for carrying things (do you have a handy hint for using golf balls in the garden?). It intrigues me. I've tried multiple ways to cart things around but haven't found a very good solution yet. Lots of things can't make it around my tight corners.

And back on topic, I like Amiga Mia. Beautiful color and I love the curl effect. I think having some simpler blooms around the garden is very nice , sort of an elegant simplicity. Not a long term flower for the vase, but lovely in its early stages.

Hi Mary,

My husband and I had a good chuckle on the golf balls. He picked them up so long ago that he didn't even remember them. Yes it is a hose cart. I have no idea why the golf balls are there. I think my husband picked them up when walking through the field behind our house before homes were built there. They serve no purpose. My husband tends to treat the top of the cart like junk drawer and I have learned to ignore it. If something is catching water to breed mosquitoes then I notice it but otherwise I don't even see it anymore.

But next time I go outside I'll probably throw out the golf balls. You should have seen his face when I asked about them. He had no idea they were there or that he had put them there so many years ago. The cart has probably not moved in over a decade. It is in a sunken courtyard and is much too heavy to wheel around anyways. I'm sure the wheels are flat. :-)

Because we don't get much moisture here we often leave tools in that back side basket as they don't tend to rust and are handy to have in the backyard.

Thanks for the full shot. Pretty good looking considering its age. I'll keep my eyes open for something similar with another shelf/basket instead of the hose.

Glad you and your husband got a chuckle. A small part of me was hoping you really had a nifty garden use for them. Isn't it amazing how everyday things become invisible. My house is like that until somebody says they are coming to visit and then WHAM i see all sorts of 'stuff'.

Thanks again for the photo.

Amiga Mia is blooming in the yard now. It has been holding this shape and size of bloom for about 3 days. I keep expecting it to open further but it does not. Maybe the cold weather?

The flower is very pink whereas the ones that budded in the green house had a bit of a salmon color to them. She is very pretty!

mmmm,

You are turning into the 'Pied Piper' of th rose, Amiga Mia. I am taking a second look at it for my garden. Its winter hardiness for me could be the final 'yay', go get it. Keep us posted on how it winters over for you. Keep in mind that winter hardiness usually increases considerably after the first winter or so. If it turns out to be winter hardy without protection, that will be great. It has a lovely bloom when at the exhibition stage, among the best.

Moses

Moses,

I like that, the pied piper of Amiga Mia. Leading others down the path to........

I will let you know on the winter hardiness here in Colorado. We get alot of freeze thaws.

The flowers, to me, have an inner glow that I like. I am pretty new to roses so just learning about the different types and characteristics. My rose bed was a experiment last year and things did well there so I added more this year. Amiga Mia is on the shady side of the bed now as it is on the south side. During the summer she gets more sun but right now she is mostly in the shade. She is on the west side of the house and most of our bad weather comes from the north or the west so she will be exposed to our wind and storms.

mmmm,

Freeze thaws are the best test of a rose's mettle.

Moses

Moses,

I saw on another post that you like Quietness. I just saw if for the first time last week and also liked it.

I asked Matt at High Country Roses about it but he said he had someone order about 200 of them so we was fresh out. But he thought he would have around 100 next year so I may add that one. The fragrance was fantastic!

Moses,

You asked me to report back on the winter hardiness. Amiga Mia did great! No protection and she came back better than any other rose I have. I don't think I had to trim much of anything off her. It is listed as Zone 4 and is making me question all my zone 5 choices. I think I should have only picked zone 4 roses.

She went from this in April.

To this today.

The whole large tall cane came back to the top. Amazing! Edit: Forgot that Amiga Mia was an older plant from High Country Roses propagating stock so that may be why she did so much better than my 1-3 yr old bands.

Turns out Quiteness is out of stock again a HCR.

Been very impressed with Amiga Mia. It is a great performer for me and was cane hardy through the winter. Seems to be more continuously in bloom than my newer weeks roses that seem to go in flushes.

July 1st

Aug. 6th

I really like this rose. I wish someone in my zone grew it as it's so hard to judge BS. I suspect being a mother plant, it must have a large root system, so you're probably correct as to why it's so robust. However, I would imagine grafted plants to be the same, at least initially.

I can't comment on the blackspot as we usually don't get it. But I think we may have gotten some this year. Hard to tell because my hubby read that if you sprayed cedar oil on the roses it would keep the japanese beetles away. So he did and all the leaves burned where he sprayed the oil, which he sprayed on all the roses. They seem to be recovering though.

Here is Amiga Mia today. Such a constant bloomer that I want to look at other buck roses.

You do you have quietness?

I do not have quietness. I have read good things about it.

Amiga Mia is back to flowering again on 9.2.21. It Has been winter hardy. It did pause flower production during the worst of the 100 F weather. I don't know if it is the maturity of the bush or due to heat. Previously it had been a pretty continuous bloomer.

The flowers are a shell pink.

The bush is a nice shape (with no pruning to make it that way). It is not as dense inside as Winnipeg Parks nor as sparse as Dainty Bess.

Beautiful bush shape! It is a beautiful Buck rose. Have you added any other roses bred by Dr. Griffith Buck?

I liked Amiga Mia so much that I put in Calico Gal. So far Calico Gal has not been cane hardy and is not a fast grower. It does flower all summer though.

The flowers do not attract the Japanese Beetles much so that is nice.

The ones in High Country Roses green house aged to this pointy form which I liked. But this is one of the first ones on my bush to do so. Mostly they look like the flower picture above.

They are both gorgeous!! Maybe I'll look into Calico Gal. My AM has been a very slow grower, but it might be the location.

Joey,

Or it could be the chicken who dug it up a couple of times. :-) I remember you saying how Amiga Mia was doing poorly due to a chicken having a fondness for it.

My Amiga Mia came to me as a more mature plant from High Country Roses. It wasn't a band so that may be why it has done so well. It is why I'm letting Calico Gal age a few years before deciding it isn't cane hardy. I'm hoping it will become cane hardy. It is supposed to be zone 4 but so far it doesn't act like it.

That's what I meant ;) located on the fence by the chicken house, with plenty of access for the wretched rooster. She just bloomed and looked pretty and was fragrant so I'm letting her be for now but maybe if she doesn't look great next spring I'll try somewhere else.

How is the fragrance on Calico Gal?

Joeywyoming,

Calico Gal has a light scent. I have to put my nose right into the rose to smell it. But our air quality is bad. At this point I don't really recommend Calico Gal but I'm willing to give her another year.

My strongest smelling roses include:

Neil Diamond.

The flowers are huge and fragrant. Much prettier now. They were a darker colored stripe first thing in the spring. Now they are a stunning red and white stripe.

Also Pretty Lady Rose is strongly fragrant.

Amiga Mia is more sweet in fragrance but when she flushes she perfumes the whole garden. She stopped me in my tracks again when this flush came out. However if I stick my nose in both Pretty Lady Rose and Neil Diamond are stronger. Not sure why Amiga Mia wafts in the garden so well.

All pictures are from today.

They are all gorgeous! I love your Neil Diamond!

Thanks! Neil Diamond was a band put in 5/20. It is a good size bush for that age (just a little taller than mid thigh). The flowers are a similar size to Pretty Lady Rose, so quite big.

Supposed to be zone 4. It did not have surviving cane from last year but maybe it will this next year. It was much smaller last year so didn't have much cane to work with.

Joey,

Do you have a picture of your Amiga Mia?

This is the only picture I took this year, just so I would have a record of when she bloomed.