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Roses are red…or maybe
pink, or white. An orange rose is a little off beat. It’s sure not
traditional to give to your sweetheart. You don’t see orange roses while
you’re driving in a typical neighborhood and only recently have you been
able to find them at a florist. Orange roses also don’t show up often in the
court in a rose show. Orange even as a color in man-made items is avoided;
orange dresses and orange cars are not wildly popular.
But I love orange roses.
Apricot, tangerine, buff, amber, coral, salmon, russet, pumpkin, and even
neon orange. Plant them together in an area of your garden for a rich and
unusually colored bed. They all also go very well with yellow or white
roses. Actually, in my mind, they go well with everything except strident
pinks and purples. Put them in your front yard. They’ll catch the eye of
passersby who might then become interested in growing roses themselves.
I know of no real orange
roses grown today that were bred prior to 1900. That doesn’t mean none were
bred at that time. There are some “orange-blend” roses listed from that time
that are no longer in commerce. There are also some early “orange-pink”
roses, though none are common. Gloire de Dijon, a noisette bred in 1857, is
buff pink to orange pink, a beautiful pale color but not really orange.
Then in 1905, Dickson introduced Irish Elegance, a beautiful single hybrid
tea with pale apricot petals overlaid with blush veining, giving it an
understated orange tone. In 1931, the Spanish breeder Pedro Dot, known for
his love of unusual colors in roses, bred Duquesa de Peñaranda, an orange
red rose.
By the end
of World War II, orange roses began to be acceptable to more breeders.
There were actually at least nine roses with “orange” proudly used in their
name. The public apparently still found orange an unacceptable color for
roses; none of these are still significantly in commerce.
| At that time, Dr. and Mrs. Brownell of
Little Compton, Rhode Island introduced a number of moderately orange
roses at this time; still saved by collectors. They include the
creeper/pillar Orange Everglow, the climber Copper Glow, the
apricot hybrid tea Break O’Day, Magic Carpet and Golden Orange Climber.
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Break O'Day |
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Orange Ruffels |
They bred Orange Ruffels soon after, it a fresh pale orange color with rosy
overtones. We have a specimen in the Roger Williams Park rose garden. I’ve
seen photos of a couple of brilliant orange roses from the 40s in old ARS
Rose Annuals, but they didn’t last till the present time |
Then Jackson and Perkins
introduced us to Tropicana in 1960, and orange was embraced as a desirable
color for roses. Years before I grew roses, I saw a cut bloom of Tropicana
and it seemed to almost glow in the vase, I never forgot it. Tropicana is an
orange red almost salmon color and remains hugely popular even today.
Actually, it may be one of those cultivars like Peace that have suffered
from overpropagation, losing some of its clarity of color. Since then
hundreds of varieties of orange roses have become available, so I’ll just
describe the ones that we grow.
| After Tropicana, the
first orange rose we bought was Livin’ Easy, a tall floribunda. The
buds start out a deep orange red and open to a loosely double orange
bloom. The bush is very disease resistant and gives you loads of
blooms. |
Livin' Easy
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Oranges & Lemons
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Westerland came soon after.
Listed as a shrub, it can be grown as a climber and is very vigorous.
The orange color is striking and is hard to describe. It’s a sherbet
color in the center and graduates to a deeper rosy orange towards the
outside. This is another heavy bloomer.
Oranges and
Lemons is a floribunda with a rather loud combination of orange and yellow
stripes. It has shiny rich green leaves with deep red new foliage which
provides a good contrast to the blooms. The bloom colors do fade as the
bloom lingers, becoming medium pink and off white. It can be grown as a
moderately sized shrub or the canes can be grown long to arch over.
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| My favorite
orange Austin rose is Pat Austin, named for his wife. The color is a clear
rosy orange petal with a paler sherbet reverse. The contrast between the
two really makes this fragrant cupped rose an eye catcher. Be forewarned
that the first few years you might find the stems to be spindly with the
blooms nodding downward, but once it settles in it becomes sturdier. |
Pat Austin |
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Louise Clements
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There are 2 roses bred by the Clements
at Heirloom Roses that we like. The first is a small shrub named
Louise Clements, with an evenly colored clear creamy orange colored
bloom. |
| More notable is their “climbing
English rose” The Impressionist. This rose has a very brilliant
egg yolk colored center shading to lighter apricot-pink at the edges.
The earlier blooms of the season are more yellow than orange. It’s a
short climber, and would work well on a pillar. |
The Impressionist |
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Abbaye de Cluny
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There are a
lot of less strident oranges available, mainly in shades like apricot. Two
that are particularly worth growing are Abbaye de Cluny and Just Joey. Both
are hybrid teas with simply enormous blooms. Abbaye de Cluny is the stronger
grower and is a heavy bloom producer. It was apparently liked so
much in the Roger Williams Park rose garden that someone dug a bush up
one night to take home. |
| Just Joey is similar but with a stronger fragrance. It’s
particularly impressive as an open bloom. It sometimes needs winter
protection in zone 6. |
Just Joey |
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Tamora
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Tamora is an Austin shrub in the
same color range though with smaller old fashioned blooms.
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| Our most
brilliant orange rose is called Lydia, a shrub by Kordes. The petals have a
bright yellow reverse. The orange color is even more orange than a pumpkin,
and is almost neon in appearance. The heavily petalled blooms show up in
the garden like little beacons at dusk. I wouldn’t describe it as elegant,
but it’s a real pleasure to see. |
Lydia |
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There’s a number of worthwhile orange minis. The colors on
Denver’s Dream are different than the others I’ve described so far.
It’s a blend of orange, orange-red and rich russet. A simpler
orange is Gizmo, a disease resistant single petalled
mini; it’s scarlet orange with a white eye. |
| Hot Cocoa is in a class by itself.
Smoky russet orange, it’s beautiful and subtle. The color can
change depending on the amount of sunlight it gets. In full sun it
can be a lighter cocoa shade, while with too much shade, I’ve even seen
some shades of purple mixed in. |
Hot Cocoa |
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Playboy |
Finally there’s a great group of
roses that are raucous blends of red, orange and yellow. Those
colors look just right together. Think back to your grammar school
days, you mixed red and yellow to get orange. Some of these roses
do just that, they blend gradually from red to orange then yellow.
Playboy is the first to come to mind and the most popular despite being
a single. It's very disease resistant.
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| Rio Samba is in this group, its claim in your
garden is that even as the blooms fade, they continue to give your garden
color. This is a flashy 2004 introduction by Weeks: Chihuly.
It’s named after Dale Chihuly, a glass artisan from Rhode Island known for
his bright creations. Chihuly is a floribunda with nicely formed blooms of
brilliant red, orange and yellow. The dark green and red foliage really
show off the blooms. |
Chihuly |
| So, expand
your color horizons. Brighten your garden and neighborhood. Try an
orange.
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