Abraham Darby is the most awkward ugly bush, but oh, the roses!

Easy i have abraham darby. This is my first year with roses. I have abe next to my deck. Its the ugliest shrub i have so far. The flowers have great fragrance . I have seen nice pics on this site. So i will give it time to mature. I bought it before i learned about OGRS.

Thats ironic.Ogrose said the same thing as i was writing. Thats it im moving that thing in the spring. Only OGRS from now on.

I only grow a handful of older and related roses, so I'm not much of an authority on this topic, but wouldn't hybrid musks tend to have more graceful 'fountain' shapes? At least my two do--Buff Beauty and Jeri Jennings. But maybe hybrid musks aren't "old" enough to count?

Kate

Dublin everything counts its what you are personally looking for.But i think the question was whats the shrub you dont like the looks of but it has nice flowers. Everyone is gonnaa have an opinion .

Regarding "most graceful rose bush", almost all of the rose bushes in my garden are graceful - that is one of my most important criteria for which roses to choose.

Here is just one example - actually, I did not choose this rose, my DH's ancestors did. It was years and years before I was able to identify it as 'Cl American Beauty' (1909 hybrid wichurana). As soon as I stopped trying to prune it into a round bush, it got more graceful.

Jackie

bman--here is the question I was responding to, as put forth by the OP.

I was wondering what your most graceful rose was . . .

And my answer was, the fountain-shaped hybrid musks like Buff Beauty and Jeri Jennings.

Kate

My gangliest plant with the most beautiful roses was Yves Piaget, gone to rose heaven courtesy of a gopher attack that was discovered too late.

My most graceful plant year-round is probably Mutabilis, as long as I do some minor trimming on it. The small, elongated leaves and slightly drooping habit always look charming to me. The fact that the new growth, of which there is always some, is reddish sets of the multicolored blooms to perfection. Of the tea roses I would say the most graceful is probably Le Vesuve, which is thickly branched and also has small leaves, giving it a bit of a wild appearance. I'm very partial to roses that rebloom but still retain the charm of their wild ancestors.

Ingrid

My awkward rose is Papa Meilland. I love the bloom and its fragrance. The rose plant is ungainly.

Dublin sorry wasnt how i meant.

That's OK, bman.

Kate

When Rhapsody in Blue came out, we all rushed to get one - such a deep purple (not even the most deluded fan could claim it was blue). Lovely blooms, even relatively healthy, but oh, its habit of growth - perfectly hideous. Angular bare branches swoop out at bizarre unpredictable angles, more branches decide to die off almost overnight, stiffly awkward, like a sulky adolescent (and I have had my fair share of them). Banished, to the compost, especially after Peter James built on Cowlishaw's work to raise Blue for You (although the 2 roses are not related afaik). Still one of the nearest approximations of blue.....but sadly, its other defects preclude it from a place in my garden (although I do vicariously enjoy the wayward canes which flail about over my wall from next door).

'Eugene de Beauharnais', horrible spindly disease covered sticks, heavenly flowers.

Interesting to hear how horrid 'Rhapsody in Blue' is somewhere else. A neighbor had it, dug it out and planted it on the HOA common area. It blooms every spring, about five of the most stunning deep purple flowers you can imagine, then sits leafless and bloomless until the following spring.

Of the few OGRs I grow I consider Madame Isaac Pereire to be most unruly and a pruning puzzle for me. Many HTs bred for their blooms tend to be gangly.

Bman and ogrose, I'm not sure what the problem with Abraham Darby is, would you care to elaborate?. Mine is just a recently planted grafted bareroot so I wouldn't know but from the pics I've seen I just guess he has the stiff cane HT growth habit but is much more behaved and full than a lot of HTs I could mention. My plan was to prune him like an HT to become self supporting. He certainly looks to me more 'bushy' than 'shruby', maybe this is the issue since we're in the Antique Rose forum?
Nik

Hi Nik, Abe is just awkward, the canes grow at odd angles, it's stiff, and the huge thorns get me every time I try to work on him. It's not a pretty bush all covered with leaves, it reminds me of a gaunt old man! It was the first rose I bought from a local nursery right after it came out in the 80's.

I have seen pictures of him trimmed by someone who really knows what they're doing, and he's not too bad of a bush. Every February I whack him back and he returns with gusto and rewards me with the most beautiful flowers, one of my favorites.

Love Belle Portugaise. That is a hybrid gigantea, correct? I should try it here but don't really have the room.

I love Cl American Beauty but doubt it will do well in my climate. Beautiful!

Anna Olivier is wonderful. That is one rose I have tried to get but seem to always get Etoile de Lyon instead (or Bermuda Etoile de Lyon). I was able to get Lady Roberts but even though I BABIED it this past summer, it died. I was heartbroken.

I'm surprised that Abraham Darby is considered awkward. Mine had a very nice bushy shape, covered with leaves. The problem was my hot climate which fried the roses. When I moved it to a cooler spot it developed diseases and barely bloomed. I was bummed; it's such a gorgeous rose.

I'm just now reminded of Queen Nefertiti, an early Austin. It was awkward from the getgo and remained gangly, bare and thorny. The flowers were lovely, though.

Ingrid