Rose ID assistance

last year

Hello all! I’m hoping for assistance identifying two roses I purchased last year which were both mislabeled.

The first one has medium-green, highly glossy, large-leafed, serrated foliage with purple/bronze top growth. Form of the bush and flower are classic upright hybrid tea and the rose grew to roughly 4.5’ in first year planted from grafted bareroot (probably on dr. Huey).

Flowers are shimmery, medium-light coral with an intensely silvery, much paler reverse. The roses are HUGE and very heavy—between the size of an orange and a small grapefruit!! The blooms never open to a blousy or flat shape, but maintain a tighter form with a distinctly-raised center until they fade. They have a strange habit of growing sideways on the top of a stem (as a dinner plate dahlia would, instead of facing up).

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Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & warm/humid S z6

last year

last modified: last year

Jena,

You commented that your roses' blooms are turning sideways as shown in your photos. In your first photo, I see a not yet open bud turned sideways with what looks like a scar on the neck of the bud on the side where the bud is facing. That could be rose midge fly damage done when the bud was younger, as young as when the bud was smaller than a pea.

Are you aware of the rose midge fly and the considerable damage its maggots do to rose tip growth? Destroying flower production at new growth points at the worst, and damaging flowers from blooms either opening improperly, or grossly deformed flowers, are signs of rose midge fly. Damage is mostly done at the very earliest stage of a flowering tip, or a little later on until the stage where the young bud is the size of a garden pea. After reaching a pea size, rose buds, if not caught by RMF maggots, usually are not eaten being too tough, and go on to grow and bloom normally.

Rose Midge Fly is a serious pest in the North East USA, having a particular stronghold in many localities. Unfortunately, there are no dependable organic control methods I know of, so conventional insectIcides are sprayed on a strict schedule to control the damage done by RMF.

I hope my observation is incorrect, but I thought you should be alerted to the possibility of a problem.

Moses.

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Comments (9)

Jena Ithaca, NY 6a/6b
Original Author
last year
I was thinking possible “Cherish”?
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
last year
Cherish is a floribunda. It's been decades since I've seen it, but I don't remember it striking me as misclassed. I also don't remember it being a vigorous grower, but that could have been our climate.

My guess is something a bit newer. A mid-80's HT.
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BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14)
last year
last modified: last year
My first guess would be Touch of Class, it has that pinpoint high center
Jena Ithaca, NY 6a/6b
Original Author
last year
Ohh, Touch of Class seems like a great guess! The only thing that makes me hesitate is that the silvery reverse on my rose is SO pronounced, and I’m not seeing that on the photos I can find of touch of class—do you grow it/can you comment? My rose also doesn’t open up as much as some of the pics I’m seeing of TofC (i.e. the inner petals loosened, but I’d say the perimeter of the rose stayed about the same as in the above pics). It lasted two weeks on the bush and had to be deadheaded.
Jena Ithaca, NY 6a/6b
Original Author
last year
But otherwise that does seem like a good fit!
Beth Hana
last year
This one looks like WAIHEKE.
susan9santabarbara
last year
Touch of Class was my first guess as well. It's been a long time since I grew it, so I don't remember if it had such a pronounced silvery reverse. But some of the pics of it on HMF show that, so maybe?
Jena Ithaca, NY 6a/6b
Original Author
last year
Moses,

Sorry it took me a few days to get back to you-- you're absolutely right about the midge fly (plants face in palm). It's not a pest I have a lot of experience with and I just completely spaced on the fact that it could cause that behavior in the bloom. Thinking back, I noticed some tender shoot dieback on that rose that I attributed to Botrytis, but it was minimal and late in the season and I didn't investigate further. I'll be sure to take steps asap--thank you again for the alert!