Flower Friday: Marianne

Marianne

(a Hybrid Gallica rose)

Today's featured flower is my favorite rose in our garden: Marianne!  This once-blooming rose is fast-growing and absolutely covered in blooms year after year.  It has a strong peachy Damask fragrance and is truly bursting with petals.  We started this rose from a tiny twelve inch plant grown on its own roots (not grafted), and within two years it had grown into a sprawling eight foot bush covered in flowers each May and June.  Marianne has a vigorous growth habit that reminds me of a wild rose, and we have never had issues with leaf fungus or rust, even in our relatively damp climate.  It will definitely ramble if given the space.  Ours is leaning on a nearby mimosa tree for support, and it made its way at least eight feet up the tree trunk last spring.  The foliage is a bright, glossy green, and although the flowers only last two or three months, the plant remains green and lovely throughout the spring and summer (and well into autumn, in our zone).  This rose was bred by Paul Barden, and we purchased it from The Uncommon Rose shortly after it was first made available for sale.  The Uncommon Rose has since closed their retail shop, but Paul Barden's roses are now available through Rogue Valley Roses, a nursery that specializes in rare and exceptional roses.  Marianne's parent roses are the Duchesse de Montebello and Abraham Darby, and it is a beautiful hybrid of the two, bursting with petals in a gorgeous peachy pink color that fades to a warm, creamy yellow as the flowers age.  You can learn more about this rose by following the breeder & shop links above or by visiting HelpMeFind's Marianne page.

Book note:

This week I am reading The Pace by Shelena Shorts, Truly, Madly by Heather 
Webber, and Nightlight: a Parody by The Harvard Lampoon.  I am also looking 
forward to picking up Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White and Hex Hall by 
Rachel Hawkins when they are released next Tuesday.  Fun!  

Happy reading!  :)