Software
Houzz Logo Print
newsview63

A Tale of Two Tiffanies

4 years ago

Years ago I bought a Home Depot end-of-season special called Tiffany. It had long, strong stems and coral-pink pointed buds that opened in a spiral pattern. At the time I owned over 50 roses but "Tiffany" was the closest I ever had to a florist-quality, long-stemmed rose, which as a cut rose also outlasted my other roses in a vase. It grew like gangbusters to be nearly 5' tall. Unfortunately, I lost the rose trying to dig it up in effort to take it with me when I moved. I bought a replacement two years ago for my current home only to appreciate that what is called "Tiffany" is a paler shade of pink. I have had it for two years now and though it is a very vigorous with many blooms, the coloration doesn't resemble what I had before, nor does it have a distinctive spiral appearance as the buds open.


Is this much color variation possible within the same rose? If not, any thoughts on what it could be?



Comments (12)

  • 4 years ago

    Is a strong, fruity, lemon rose fragrance shared by both?

    Which rose does your photo depict?

  • 4 years ago

    So beautiful

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    The "real" Tiffany will be a distinct, warm, not cool pink. The base of individual petals will be yellow (ALWAYS), blending to coral, then to a true pink. The proportions and amount of the colors may vary by conditions, but they should all three be present. The overall effect is of a rich, warm pink. As rifis implied, the scent is fruity with lemon and old rose. The blooms are large, full, and high-centered. In my garden, it's one of the most disease resistant of the older classic hybrid teas.

    Whichever of your "Tiffany" plants matches these qualities is the real one. It's possible your Home Depot plant was mis-labeled (quite possible!), in which case you may never know what you had. Or it's possible you were sent the wrong plant and the new one isn't Tiffany. It's also possible they are (were) both correct, but in your new garden it just behaves slightly differently. T does show a lot of variation depending on temperature. But again, it should always show yellow-coral-pink in some proportion.

    But in any case, you do need Tiffany. It's one of the very few older HT's I can recommend.

  • 4 years ago

    Tiffany isn't packed with petals and each petal has a little yellow at the base. You can see the yellow distinctly when you turn the flower upside down. It smells like lemon and damask rose.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Thank you for the feedback. Unfortunately, while I do recall a scent i don't recall the specific characteristics of the scent. The photo was taken right after I brought it home from Home Depot about 12 years ago before it was planted, tagged as "Tiffany". It does have a touch of yellow in the base of the petals which creates a unmistakable pink-coral overall appearance as shown. I don't recall the petal count, either. However, based on my recollection in comparison to other roses I owned at the time, the overall fullness of the blooms compared well to Gemini.


    The Tiffany I have been growing for the past two years, by contrast, has a fraction of the color and while it is still yellow at the center I have never seen it approach the color saturation pictured, which is why I now question whether Home Depot mislabeled the one I bought years ago. Even back then I recall being puzzled because when I Google photos of Tiffany it is consistently a paler shade of pink.


    The color shown in the photo is representative of all the flowers from that long-gone bush. It didn't change/fade much throughout the season/year. Compared to the Tiffany I have now — which has has in common a touch of yellow at the petal bases, the petal edges almost appear white as the blooms age. The old one never had blooms that faded out to near-white.


    I tend to think what I have now is Tiffany because it looks exactly like photos from rose retailers by this name. That's why I'm thinking the one pictured is in need of an ID.

  • 4 years ago

    What @kittymoonbeam and @fig_insanity Z7b E TN said above. When I first saw your pic, my first thought was that it looked too petal-packed and with wrong form for Tiffany. The fact that the blooms had form more like Gemini supports that it wasn't Tiffany. Can you take a pic of the new one's blooms?

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I happened to see a picture of this rose, called Peter Mayle. it looks very similar to the one in your picture. https://www.regannursery.com/rose/Peter-Mayle-

    This one on the other site too


  • 4 years ago

    My Peter Mayles are not nearly as coral as the ones in the pics above; mine are darker pink.

    newsview63 thanked susan9santabarbara
  • 4 years ago

    That does look a lot like it! The color is very, very similar. I love my current Tiffany but I am trying to rule out if there is another rose I need to purchase that reminds me more of my old one. I will check into it.

  • 4 years ago

    The real 'Tiffany' is never a "saturated" pink color. If your first photo depicts the rose you bought at Home Depot as 'Tiffany', then its a mislabeled plant. The form and petal count, and deep pink hue is wrong for 'Tiffany'.

    Also, 'Tiffany' is one of the most intensely fragrant HT's ever bred - there's no mistaking its scent. Its not a fragrance you'd ever be unsure of.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    @User More than a decade later I can't recall if the fragrance was stronger than, say, Mister Lincoln (red), Double Delight, Nicole Miller (mauve), Sheila's Perfume and others I owned. The most notable thing about it was the long nearly thorn-less upper stems (only one rose per stem never in sprays), the high-pointed blooms and the way each bloom opened in a distinctive spiral — which gave it the appearance of being a florist rose. (I am not familiar with roses sold in the florist trade but perhaps that is where I should be looking because every bloom was worthy of a vase.)

    One other thing I recall: The petals were not quite as smooth as other roses but tended to look more like this Pininterest photo. The color on this Pininterest photo is a brighter pink-coral than my "Tiffany" was but slightly raised veining in the petals is spot on for what I remember:

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/39828777929780495/

    I suspected that my "Tiffany" was mislabeled even then. At the time I had about 70 roses growing but didn't come up with any other ID. I'm in a different house now and just starting to garden roses again. I'm looking to replace it but with what is the $64,000 question.