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• LEGgab

40 favorite votes.  
Average rating: EXCELLENT-.  

White, near white or white blend Shrub.
Registration name: LEGgab
Exhibition name: Pearl Drift

Bred by Bill Le Grice (United Kingdom, 1974).

Hybrid Bracteata, Shrub.  

White and pink.  Flowers white flushed with pink.  Strong fragrance.  18 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Large, semi-double (9-16 petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters, cupped bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  

Short, compact, spreading.  Glossy, dark green foliage.  

Height: 3' to 42" (90 to 105cm).  Width: 3' to 5' (90 to 150cm).

USDA zone 6b through 9b (default).  Can be used for beds and borders, container rose, garden or ground cover.  Hardy.  vigorous.  

New Zealand - Patent No: 257  on  22 May 1985
Application No: ROS167  on  30 Sep 1983

In his 2001/2002 catalog, Peter Beales assigns a date of 1983 to this rose.
Pearl Drift was removed from the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens (ARBG) Display Trial because its trial period exipred.

Bill LeGrice (RNRS annual 2006) ‘ Possibly my favourite rose is Pearl Drift, a disputed cross between ‘Mermaid’ and ‘New Dawn’ – disputed in the sense that ‘Mermaid’ was deemed infertile. All I can say is that both plants were in the glasshouse and I helped with the cross pollination. The ability of the rose to grow in difficult conditions and flower often from late April to November plus the retention of its glossy foliage until February would seem to indicate more than a ‘selfed’ ‘New Dawn’ seedling. A DNA test would seem to be in order to determine the true background!’