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• Belle of Portugal

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Average rating: EXCELLENT.  

Light pink Hybrid Gigantea.
Exhibition name: Belle Portugaise

Bred by Henri Cayeux (Portugal, 1903).

Hybrid Gigantea.  

Seashell-pink to light pink, salmon-pink shading.  Mild to strong, tea fragrance.  Average diameter 6".  Large, semi-double (9-16 petals), borne mostly solitary bloom form.  Once-blooming spring or summer.  

Climbing.  Light green, dense foliage.  

Height: 15' to 40' (455 to 1220cm).  Width: up to 10' (up to 305cm).

USDA zone 8b and warmer.  Very vigorous.  

Belle Portugaise, from Souvenir de Leonie Viennot X R. gigantea. A large and beautiful rose of very delicate coloring - - shell pink touched with salmon. The very long buds reach a length sometimes of 10 cm. (4 inches), especially when they are produced at the ends of vigorous branches. The flower, when completely open, may measure from 15 to 16 centimeters (6-6½ inches) in diameter. Grown in a temperate climate, Belle Portugaise attains a great development and is literally covered with its large blooms. It seems to have inherited the great luxuriance possessed by the mother plant, Souvenir de Leonie Viennot; moreover, it is able to produce fertile seeds, and might thus be very usefully employed in hybridization. Henri Cayeux, Jour. of Heredity (1929) at p. 307.

Triploid

Parentage is taken from article by Cayeux published in Journal of Heredity (1929) and is different from commonly cited parentage of Rosa gigantea x Reine Marie Henriette listed in References.