Close-up - a little blurry, sorry:

You already know quite a few of his red HTs. He raised a number by himself, and a few rather well known ones with Herb Swim. Mr. Lincoln, Oklahoma, Bing Crosby, Ink Spots (similar to Black Garnet but with more classic HT form), Big Apple, Candy Apple, Corpus Christi, Disco, Excellence, Half Time, Monumental, Night Time (one of my favorites of his), O.L. Weeks, Old Smoothie, Sacred Heart, Standout, The Senator, Night'n'Day and Sonrisa (another very nice one).

Black Garnet often has more of an HP or Austin shape to it rather than the traditional, high-centered HT form. It IS quite dark, rather velvety but still with "life" to the color. For a dark, garnet-red, heavily velvety bloom, it has a decently stiff peduncle so the stems hold the flowers upright, very little scent, and little of the obligatory mildew associated with the color. Breeders have worked for over a century to break the genetic link between that color, rich Damask scent, weak peduncles and mildew. Black Garnet hits the target for color, strong peduncle and healthier foliage. If you must have the heavy Damask scent, you won't care for this one, but it's a good garden rose in spite of the lack of heavy scent. Kim

I'm fairly staunch in my requirement for any new roses coming into my, now over 100 garden to have fabulous fragrance. But, I always am willing to make exception when I find a rose that "blows me away", which this bloom absolutely did. This bloom is so fabulous in every way, for me it doesn't need fragrance to enhance it. The bloom "speaks" to me. It tells a story of a hybridizer that was trying to create something really extreme - the darkness of it, in combination with its Austin, high pedal count form in such a huge bloom is really amazing.

I'm reluctant to claim a favorite rose color, as every color is my favorite when I look at an individual rose of that color. But I must confess to an affinity for reds, of all shades. I'm in ecstacy sniffing my remarkably fragrant Chrysler Imperial and Crimson Glories, and newly found Oklahoma and even poor Mr. Lincoln who I've moved into hopefully a more productive spot. And even Proud Land, a pathetic rose for me that I've moved 3 times, and now is trying to pump out a bloom every now and then, but those few blooms are also wonderfully fragrant.

I was skeptical when I added Veterans Honor and Ingrid Bergman, because on my land, neither has a breath of scent. But the blooms are so incredible and long lasting - they last exponentially longer than my fragrant reds, and are so fabulous I could not imagine being without them.

I think now I will have my eyes out for some of the other black/red roses, regardless of fragrance. Ink Spots hasn't blown me away, but there are so many others out... But this one, this is really special.