Mad about roses
Roses remain one of the most popular choices for weddings- they originated in China but are now grown in most parts of the world. There are 100s of different varieties and they come in most colours (except true black and blue/purple). Some are scented like a lot of the garden varieties, particularly the David Austin ‘Patience’ ( buttermilk in colour) and ‘Keira’ (vintage pink) but also roses such as ‘Jacaranda’, ‘Sterling Silver,’ ‘Extase,’ ‘Ritz,’ ‘Norma Jean’ and the very popular ‘Margaret Merrill’ spray roses.
Some of my favourite ‘vintage style’ roses are:-
- ‘Cezanne’ – which is a bi-coloured cream and pink rose.
- ‘Amnesia’ – a very popular antique, lilac toned rose
- ‘Carousel’ – large headed cream, green and deep pink edged rose.
- ‘Peppermint’ – palest pink and light green in colour
- ‘Vendela’ – champagne coloured rose (cream with a peachy pink blush)
- ‘Old Dutch’ – antique lilac coloured green under petals
- ‘Metalina’ – subtly coloured cream/silver with flecks of pink
- ‘Little Silver’ – vintage lilac/lavender spray roses
- ‘Miranda’ – rose pink.
- ‘Juliet’ – peach- stunning!
- Hypnose’ – lavender coloured
- ‘Patience’ – buttermilk.
- ‘Quick Sand’ – creamy beige.
- ‘Memory Lane’ – dusky pink with lavender hues.
To obtain the vintage look, mix some of these roses with other English country blooms such as big blousy peonies (they come in lovely shades of pink, buttery cream and apricot), scented garden stocks, phlox, wax flowers or astrantia. Team them with herbs such as rosemary, sage, mint or alchemilla mollis foliage. Ask your florist for unstructured designs with a “just picked” from the garden look.
The best red roses are:
- ‘Grand Prix’ – deep, rich ruby red with a large flower head and petal count
- ‘Red Naomi!’ – large flower head and lightly fragrant.
- ‘Passion’ – medium sized flower head – bright red
- ‘Freedom’ – pure and clear bright red rose- long lasting
- ‘Black Baccara’ – darkest red, with velvety petals
- ‘Black Magic’ – dark garnet red, strong stems.
The best Ivory/white roses are:
- ‘Avalanche’ – stunning large headed ivory rose with green tinged under petals
- ‘Akito’ – small headed off white roses ( no rose is pure white)
- ‘F White’ and ‘Bianca’ – are medium sized ivory/white roses
- ‘Maroussia’ – medium/large flower heads ivory with a creamy centre.
- ‘Norma Jean’ – large headed, strong stemmed and scented ivory rose
Related:
