|
'Crème Caramel' rose Reviews & Comments
-
-
With or without spraying (sulphur) this rose has been showing extreme susceptibility to blackspot. It might be the reason why it seems to have been pulled from the Fryers/Blue Diamond catalogue. It's such a pity, as it's so beautiful, but the combination of lateness in coming into bloom followed by blackspot defoliation makes it a poor choice for gardens in wet and cool climates.
|
REPLY
|
-
-
More on the scent of Creme Caramel: This year I got no scent at all on the first two blooms but the third was very well-scented indeed. Interestingly, I found that Scent-sation was similarly unpredictable: Gorgeously scented when it did smell, but most of the time it just didn't. I am wondering if this is a characteristic of Fryers roses, as reports on their scents, both by retailers and growers, seem to vary wildly for the same variety. I'm intirgued by King's Macc, Cloud Nine, Mamma Mia and Seventh Heaven, and apart from lacking the space to grow them, what keeps me from buying them is that I cannot quite trust they'll be reliably fragrant. Another common characteristic Fryers' roses tend to share compared to roses from other breeders is their superior flower form. Creme Caramel is astonishingly beautiful in that department, and I find true elegance of form occurring by far more frequently in Fryers roses than the creations of any of their contemporary competitors.
|
REPLY
|
-
-
In my garden in SE England this rose seems to come into bloom a few weeks later than most. Because of that, this year (2021) I only got one flush, as the leaves got blackspot afterwards and I removed all of them. That set the plant back (I get increasingly less sun in my garden as the year progresses and by October there is virtually none) and it ended up stalling. Almost all of my roses got a bad blackspot infection in 2021, including relatively recent ones that are supposedly disease resistant (such as Eyes for You) -- due to the vagaries of the weather, no doubt, but also, I suppose, to my getting lazy with spraying them with 'sulphur rose'.
|
REPLY
|
-
-
The scent of Creme Caramel can be elusive, but once the blooms are at the right stage of development (not too tight in the bud, not too old) the scent is clearly detectable, especially on humid days, and it's mouthwatering too. It is a very sweet variant of the tea scent, with a hint of spice, that to my nose comes across as something like toffee. I thought the colour was too washed out to look good in the garden, but at the moment it's a pale mustard that looks very classy next to the candy pink of Georg Arends, the white of philadelphus, and the pale blue of hydrangea Mousseline. There are many buds on the rose and each takes ages to unfold and expand, so each flower stays on the plant for a long time.
|
REPLY
|
|