A move today from the heat loving Tea and Chinas to a small cold hardy rose, the Centifolia ‘De Meaux.’ A rose that looks fragile but actually is as tough as old boots.
Highly suitable for a small garden or large container ‘De Meaux’ will reach around a metre in height on tiptoes. I had to rescue mine as she was swamped by her taller neighbours. She now grows on the edge of a bed with smaller companions although I see that ‘Nozomi’ is stretching new stems towards her. I will confess I moved ‘De Meaux’ last summer immediately after blooming in June. She was only a second season rose with a small root system and we had the wettest June for years, so she happily grew away.
Small fat pink balls wrapped in feathery sepals are the best way to describe the buds of ‘De Meaux.’ These open to a pompom like bloom, mid pink to begin with before fading to pale pink. The tightly packed petals are slightly frilly adding to her charm. These blooms arrive in early summer in clusters, and she gives a lot of bloom. Sweet fragrance typical of the Centifolia group. She is a summer blooming rose, just one glorious flush.
Grey green foliage with red bristly stems. High disease resistance, again typical of the Centifolia group, Most, if not all, of the once blooming roses have excellent disease resistance. They predate the introduction of ‘Rosa foetida’ into rose breeding, a rose that brought the much sought yellow to modern roses but with the penalty of susceptibility to fungal infection. Being a small rose pruning can be restricted to the removal of an old stem or two immediately after blooming in the summer, or you can leave her alone. Should you grow her on her own roots she will spread by throwing up suckers. I have seen her grown as a low hedge as well.
A sport of the prolific ‘Rosa centifolia’, and believed to date from the seventeenth century. From her name, I assume she originated in the town of Meaux, just outside Paris. You will find her listed in most nurseries as ‘De Meaux’ but like a lot of very old roses, she has several aliases. The word pompom occurs in a fair number of them. Widely available. Hardly USDA zones 4b-9b. Listed in the excellent book ‘Growing Roses in Cold Climates’ as hardy to minus 32C (-25F) but some winter protection is advised. The stems are thin so they could be vulnerable in hard frosts.
An undemanding pretty little rose who will charm everyone with her pink pompoms in the attractive grey green foliage.
This post first appeared in my Facebook blog on 26th January 2022
Rose of the Day 