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Friday, February 19, 2010

A Friday Flowers "Tea" Party

I love Tea roses.  These beauties are not to be confused with the florist-style hybrid tea roses that many people call 'tea roses'.  True tea roses are healthy, vigorous, floriforous shrubs that command attention (and space) in the garden.


Madame Lombard
1878


"Angel's Camp Tea"
Found Rose


Burbank
1900




"Puerto Rico"
Found Rose


Tea roses build a twiggy structure that will eventually form a round bush, usually a bit wider than it is tall.  Many of them can get quite large and they dislike hard pruning, so give them some room.


Cels Multiflore
1836


"Fredericksburg Cemetery"
Found Rose


Comtesse Riza du Parc
1876




"Sawyer Plot Tea"
Found Rose


Tea roses thrive in hot weather ... blooming through the heat of summer, instead of sulking like modern hybrid teas can do. 


Homere
1858


Isabella Sprunt
1855


Madame Antoine Mari
1901


Madame Joseph Schwartz
1880


Aren't the colors beautiful?  They're warm and gentle ... never garish or loud.


"Bryan Freidel Pink Tea"
Found Rose


Mrs. B. R. Cant
1901


Mrs. Dudley Cross
1907


"Odee Pink"
Found Rose


Depending on the variety, the colors can be quite variable.  Sometimes they're darker, sometimes lighter.  None is more variable than "Smith's Parish", a Found Rose that was discovered in Bermuda.  It can have flowers that are white, or pink, or red, or any combination of the three.


"Smith's Parish"
Found Rose






As you might expect, since these beauties need heat to grow and bloom their best, they can be quite winter tender.  Most of them are not reliably hardy where it gets colder than here in USDA Zone 7 ... and some of them are iffy here unless planted in a protected spot.  I lost four tea roses last winter (Huntington Tea, Bon Silene, Isabella Sprunt, and Mrs. Dudley Cross)  because I had mistakenly planted them in a frost pocket.



Rubens
1859


"Westside Road Cream Tea"
Found Rose


Safrano
1839


If you live in a place where the climate is warm enough, and you have a bit of garden space to devote to a beautiful, tough rose, think about Tea roses.  Do you have room in your garden for a rose that can do this:


Safrano

Beautiful!

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)