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'Sweet Madame Blue ™' rose Reviews & Comments
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Available from - High Country Roses
www.highcountryroses.com
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SMB has been a pretty tough little rose. It's been more disease resistant than most purple roses I've grown which are notoriously disease prone. She has gotten some blackspot, but nothing to the tune of, lets say, Angel Face. The deer ate her more than once, and she's bounce back better than some of the others that were part of the buffet. The fragrance is great, which is a plus. SMB is in the upper tear of purples IMO, but Melody Parfumee' is still my favorite of the class, although she gets much larger than SMB.
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So, scent is strong citrus with floral mix. It reminded me a lot of Shocking Blue scent.
Color is widely variable. Cool season weather has dark purple going grape colors, eventually becoming silvery lavender. The summer color has been like a darker violet variant of Wild Blue Yonder, becoming silvery lilac (as opposed to lavender) as it ages. It has stayed quite rounded and not tall at all. I quite like it. Very standard floribunda clusters, bloom size, and plant size.
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Note to breeders: This rose is so double and so tight that I had to use sewing snips to cut the bloom in half to retrieve the stamens for pollen. This might not happen in very hot places, but it was the case here, so come prepared. It does, however, provide enough stamens to use despite how double it is.
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Don't tell your household needleperson what you used the sewing snips for!
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Trust me, anyone one in my family knows. I've probably owned 10 pairs since 2003. The stainless steel kind with the curved blades are perfect for hybridizing!
And removing stray stamens that get caught under the pistils? Stainless steel needle nose tweezers intended for computer repair... :]
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Reply
#3 of 4 posted
15 JUN 22 by
styrax
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Off-topic, but this lineage of purple roses (seemingly out of endless permutations of Stephen's Big Purple, International Herald Tribune, and Blueberry Hill) how do they compare to Stephen's Purple himself? I'm looking for that sort of beet purple-y color to replace my Heirloom.
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Big Purple has plant that tends to have that 1950s look to it, which is really its dragging point compared to its nice blooms. Most of its descendants have shinier, more modernized plants. Not all, but most.
In terms of color of mauve, its all over the place. Some are quite silvery lilac and some are even darker purple. Quite a few are basic lavender with a very large margin of either violet-purple or pinked-violet.
In terms of "purple" Stiletto is my favorite of the bunch, but its a violet-purple. It is an HT like Big Purple. Ebb Tide, Midnight Blue, and Twilight Zone are even darker purple, but only Twilight Zone has any large-flower size to it. Stiletto is still the closest in size mentioned above.
In terms of 'Heirloom', there are many "purples" darker than it so I imagine there is some wiggle room. I will edit this note later, as I have things to do right now.
'Plum Perfect' is close to Heirloom in color and plant size, but it is not scented. It is healthier though. There is a new Kordes rose not yet available that is fragrant, but ya.
'Wild Blue Yonder' is similar in size to 'Heirloom', and its violet-purple with a lavender eye.
Personally, I prefer 'Stiletto' for violet-purple and 'Neptune' for silvery lilac with some purple. A rose called 'Melodie Parfumee' is between these colors, and there is another Kordes rose darker than 'Big Purple' but kind of wispy/floppy for a large-flowered rose called 'Dark Desire'. A large-flowered shrub called 'Purple Lodge' is out there, but its hard to find.
Jackson and Perkins tried to improve their 'Heirloom' years ago. First by producing 'Fortune Teller', which was beautiful but burnt in the sun. Then, 'Purple Passion', which was more similar but disappeared during their recession bankruptcy. It may still be out there somewhere.
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