I keep looking a these ‘Blue For You’ roses grouped together near where I live…they offer a great repeat bloom all season long, a copious hip display and a nice spicy scent as you walk by, however they show a powdery mildewing issue at certain times of the growing season…and get blackspot somewhat. The color is definitely not even close to blue, here. The blooms have a strange deep mauve-purple coupled with a silvery/grey appearance. In our spring, this color combo fades dramatically with age to a light mauve plus grey. The bloom colors of these local specimens seem to be very temperature and season variable.
It is a strange one!
I’ve got a mini that’s been doing the rounds here as a charity rose for the Starlight Foundation called ‘Starlight Rose’ (see link). I’m going to use this instead of BFY. It’s a similar colour (probaby with similar breeding) that has been quite healthy here and forms enormous OP hips on every flower. Haven’t tried germinating the seeds yet as I wasn’t convinced it was worth doing until just recently but I sent the seeds off to a friend of mine who has managed to get germinations without fridge time… they were just sown outdoors in winter to wait for spring. I reckon matched with some of the darker purples it will come through with some nice seedlings. Seems to hold its colour pretty well too with a nice large boss of stamens. I have ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and now is the only time it looks good while the weather is still cool. Strangely enough, one of the strongest purples I have is a little unnamed mini Parade rose from Poulsens. I just stuck it in the ground and forgot about it and it just keeps going. Tried using it but it so far hasn’t worked as a parent either way. I forgot to mention ‘Violette’ earlier too… I really want to do ‘Violette’ (or even ‘Veilchenblau’) x ‘Ebb Tide’ to go for purple hybrid musks.
Link: www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.141428
Thanks, Kim. Blue for You won’t be alone if it spots. Most of the repeat blooming poiples spot except for Raymond Privat, which isn’t as blue.
Adam,
‘Pam’s Choice’ is actually quite a decent grower with none of the wimpiness of its parent. It sets seed easily and copiously, although I have never bothered to germinate them. Why? Because I’m unwilling to work with plants that don’t offer any hope of improved disease resistance. The seedlings might have great color, but I doubt the Blackspot problem would be any closer to resolved.
I may have open pollinated seed available soon if you want to give them a go.
I would love giving it a try. I really do like the color.