 |
|
Albas |
Black Jade, bred by Frank Benardella, USA 1985.
'Black
Jade' can get Blackspot in the garden, so you may need to spray to keep
it clean if Blackspot is a problem in your area. It's a reasonably vigorous
plant but tends to be very upright in habit, making it ideal as a cut
flower but somewhat graceless as a garden shrub. The blooms fade to
an unattractive paler red with brownish, burned looking overtones if
you have it placed in an extremely sunny spot. It produces its best
blooms in partial shade, where the mid-day sun doesn't burn them and
that rich blackish velvet red hue can be its best. I have used Black Jade for breeding, and found it to rarely produce colors as dark as itself. I have bred it with Austin roses 'Wenlock' and 'Othello'. I have created a cross of 'Black Jade' X 'Tuscany Superb', several seedlings which have bloomed now. Some were dark in color, but those were horrible! They were small blooms of poor form that burned to brown even in partial shade. Two plants were kept: one is a very strong, blackspot proof shrub of about 5 feet in height, with wonderful deep pink blooms 4" across. This one sets seed easily, and the seeds germinate well. The other one looks a lot like 'Constance Spry', and is very much more like a Gallica in growth. 'Black Jade' is fairly easily found for sale from Mini rose nurseries, and I know The Uncommon Rose has it available this year. ARS
merit rating: 8.3 Click on the names below to view the individual varieties. Original photographs and site content © Paul Barden 2006, All Rights Reserved. |
|
