Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Rosa 'Gruss an Aachen'

It is utterly amazing that some five or six years ago while visiting Rona on Granview Highway to purchase some plant fertilizer, I spotted this rose among many others all in plastic pots and protected from early winter spring (they were shipped from back east) with wax on the lower stems. Nobody who is a serious rose garden grower would ever buy a rose encased in wax. But I did. And the reason is that the rose, Rosa ‘Gruss an Aachen’ is not the sort of rose that can be found anywhere. It may have been shipped my mistake or someone back east might have decided that we in the West are a tad sophisticated. It is growing in my garden and I think this is the first scan I have ever made of this delightful rose. I particularly like to point to the rose to any German visitors to the garden and I always ask them to pronounce the name. I make sure there is distance between us as this is the kind of name that is usually spat out. The name translated to English is something like, “Greetings from the city of Aachen.”



Light pink Floribunda.
Registration name: Gruss an Aachen
Exhibition name: Gruss an Aachen

Origin:
Bred by Philipp Geduldig (Germany, 1909).

Class:
Floribunda, Hybrid Tea, Polyantha.
Bloom:
Light pink, salmon-pink center, yellow undertones, red highlights, ages to cream . Colour varies. Mild, sweet fragrance. 40 to 50 petals. Average diameter 4". Medium to large, very full (41+ petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters, nodding or "weak neck", old-fashioned, rosette bloom form. Prolific, blooms in flushes throughout the season.

Habit:
Medium. Large, medium green, leathery foliage.

Height of 18" to 3' (45 to 90 cm). Width of 18" to 3' (45 to 90 cm).

Growing:
USDA zone 4b through 9b. Can be used for beds and borders, container rose, cut flower or garden. Blooms tend to ball in wet weather. shade tolerant. Spring Pruning: Remove old canes and dead or diseased wood and cut back canes that cross. In warmer climates, cut back the remaining canes by about one-third. In colder areas, you'll probably find you'll have to prune a little more than that. Requires spring freeze protection (see glossary - Spring freeze protection) . Can be grown in the ground or in a container (container requires winter protection).

Ploidy:
Triploid

Parentage: Frau Karl Druschki (Hybrid Perpetual, Lambert, 1901) × Franz Deegen

Notes:
David Austin classifies this rose as an English Rose because it has some much in common with what he regards as the ideal English Rose.

In his 2001/2002 catalog, Peter Beales lists this rose as a China.

Sam Kedem says 'Gruss an Aachen' is considered to be the first floribunda rose. The color of the blooms varies with the temperature.