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'Gabriel Oak ™' rose Reviews & Comments
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After three years I am removing my Gabriel Oak. It's planted in full sun, but it might be the floppiest rose I've ever seen. Maybe you could train it into a climber even, I am not sure. But I am tired of waiting for stems to bulk up that never do, and even though it blooms profusely with heavily fragrant blooms, it just isn't worth it to have a sprawling thorny octopus in the garden.
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Just casually found a young (but very vigorously growing and nearly fully blooming) plant of James Oak at a local dealer in downtown Genoa (Italy). I already saw pictures of this new variety, but wasn't nearly as impressed as I was when I saw it in person. Believe me, this rose is an absolute stunner.
It's form is like a big, full, perfectly formed rosette, somewhat smaller on certain lateral buds. I'd describe it as a morphing of Charles de Mills and an older Austin rose (Gertrude Jelyll?), or maybe as a giant and fuller Rose de Resht. Never seen such a flower form in an Austin rose before, and all buds has unfolded perfectly so far.
Its colour is strongly reminiscent of
old Austin's Othello to me, including the yellow insertion of petals, but it beautifully fades to lilac pink on external border, like some old Gallica hybrids.
And the fragrance... it would be enough to buy this rose. A very powerful Bourbon smell (Mme Isaac Pereire), with some fine Gallica aroma and some ripe raspberry. Absolutely mouthwatering.
At the dealer, I had approached these flowers very skeptically, anticipating a very likely delusion (imagining that it's not possible for such a beautiful rose to have also a beautiful fragrance LOL), expecting a slight unpleasant tea/meaty smell like Pierre de Ronsard or some other modern shrub roses, or at best an almost undetectable rose fragrance... Instead, I put my nose into one of the most powerfully and beautifully fragrant roses I ever smelled! It was already mine. Decision taken in 0,1 sec.
P.S. I'd be not surprised at all if Othello would turn out being in its genealogy.
Update: after about one month and half, it turns out being as beautiful as ever, as powerfully and yummly fragrant as ever, pretty fast to rebloom, and vigorously sprouting from graft zone... but it also turns out being somewhat prone to blackspotting on older foliage (luckily, she gets new leaves in no time).
Nobody's perfect.
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Im looking to try a little cross breeding project do you know weather or not this is fertile in pollen or makes hips? and if not which DA are not sterile
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Absolutely beautiful! But in it's first year defoliated completely from blackspot. Fragrance wasn't really there either. I think this is one of those Austin's that will take it's time to show off it's best performance.
Update: It smells exactly like Ribena to my nose!
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What about G.O. after two years? I've it from less than 2 month (it was an already nicely developed plant in a decent sized container), and I believe it's one of the most powerfully and deliciously fragrant rose out there, a very strong damask/bourbon quintessential mixed with a nice dose of ripe raspberry sweet goodness. Not less powerful than Mme Isaac Pereire, Fragrant Cloud or Comte de Chambord. It can be really overpowering in freshly opened blooms.
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I've moved it after it's first year and 2 canes died so it's not quite at it's best for me to make a fair judgement. For now, it smells exactly like blackcurrants to me!
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Scheduled for USA 2021 introduction with Eustacia Vye. Pre-orders available starting in November 2020.
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