A Rose is a Rose?

"A Rose is a Rose" seems to be more intellectual than garden based.  There are so many variables with roses that it would take us both days to sift through the what and why of it all.  I'll just go with the here and now on one of my favorite roses:

"Alchymist" 

There are so many positive attributes about this rose. 

• Alchymist is called a large flowered climber with 10-20 foot branching. 
• It's hardy to Zone 4 and has survived well in my garden of mixed winter weather.
• The flowers are called "very fully double" -  that's rose talk for the four inch blooms that look similar to a David Austin hybrid.  It's not a Austin rose, but, was hybridized in Germany by Kordes in 1956.
• It's VERY fragrant.  A bouquet can scent an entire room and will last about 4 days in a vase.
• It's resistant to mildew and rust.
• It is "once blooming" in the late spring/early summer.  It blooms for a long time.  This year it started fully blooming May 5th and it's still covered with flowers and buds.
• The stems are substantial.  Leaves a deep green.
• Trains easily on an arbor.  (Mine is on a heavy wood trellis thanks to my son, Ian, for building.)
• The rose opens with soft gleaming tones of egg yolk yellow then turns a fresh apricot as it ages.  Most years it has a blend of colors depending on the weather, timing during the bloom season and extend of flower opening.  The colors resemble a Monet painting. 

 If it has negatives, they would be:

• It is susceptible to black spot although my plant hasn't been bothered.
• It has thorns similar to a hybrid tea rose - meaning big.

Definition of Alchymist is someone who practices alchemy and alchemy is:

1.  A form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.

2.  Any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.  Often referring to gold.  

Pretty good name for the beautiful rose. My rose is from "Rogue Valley Roses"; purchased in 2008. 

A rose is a rose, but oh my, this is surely some great rose! 

And - I have to add one more photo.  It is one of the flowers that begs to have it's picture taken every time I go into the gardens.  Being a dutiful slave, I obey...






Note:  Double clicking on the photos allows a full screen view.