Sub-Group Characteristics and Specific Cultivars
English Musk Roses are related to Noisettes and Hybrid Musk Roses, so they tend to have paler foliage, more delicate flowers and great disease resistance.
Here are specific characteristics of some favorite and popular English Musk Roses.
According to The English Roses</em>, these English Musk Hybrids make good climbers, are highly fragrant and have little to no thorns to worry about.
‘Tea Clipper’ – A 2008 English Rose introduction, the Tea Clipper has complex colored, apricot flower on a vigorous shrub with almost no thorns. The rose fragrance is mixed fruit, myrrh and tea providing a bonus to the rosette flowers. Use this rose along a pathway, container on a porch or any high traffic area where thorns would be a concern.
‘Litchfield Angel’ – Another new English Rose in the 2008 David Austin catalog, the Litchfield Angel rose has very pale apricot that looks white in the sunlight. Use this rose as a break between different colored flowers like pink and yellow to help with plant combinations in the garden.
‘Crocus’ – A very healthy rose bush with strong, full growth and disease resistance the flower is a beautiful pale cream with a tea rose fragrance. The crocus flowers are fully double with large rosette blooms that flower freely throughout the growing season.
‘Lady Emma Hamilton’ – The unusually colored flowers are deeply-cupped shaped and apricot-orange in the center with more pale colored petals on the outside. Citrus and fruit fragrance is a bonus and the large foliage is very attractive.
‘Pegasus’ – A great cut-flower English Rose that lasts long in the vase, the Pegasus rose has a creamy, apricot color and a strong tea rose fragrance. This shrub is also disease-resistant and the foliage is attractive all season.
‘Heritage’ – A very beautiful, soft pink rose that has a nice cupped shape and sweet, fruit fragrance. Large foliage and strong growth makes this a good garden rose where you want a lighter, more open growth habit.
‘Graham Thomas’ – One of the most well-known of all English Roses, this Graham Thomas is a bright yellow rose named after the British horticulturist. Cupped shaped flowers are also very fragrant and have a tea rose scent. The foliage of the Graham Thomas is like the old Musk roses and a more pale or gray-green than typical hybrid tea rose foliage. This rose was awarded the James Mason Award in 2000.
‘Mortimer Sackler’ – The Mortimer Sackler is a rose bush that does well in the back of a border or as a short climbing rose growing 8-10′. Perfect for using on a trellis along a pathway because of the nearly thornless stems. Keep this English Musk Rose close by where you can enjoy the shell pink petals and Old Rose fragrance.
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
Oh I love roses and these are just beautiful! I am new to your blog and am so very glad that I found it!