Posted by Ken in SF (other posts) on October 20, 2011 at 16:54:35:
In Reply to: Re: What a gorgeous pic!!!!... posted by AQE on October 20, 2011 at 02:09:05:
Hi again Anadae,
Re. finding a rose that is truly as black as possible in color, my suggestion is to look under the dark red category on the Vintage Gardens website (www.vintageroses.com) -- either that, or also check out the purples. Vintage Gardens has the largest selection of roses that I know of, over 3,000 varieties (overwhelming, I know!) -- and sadly, they might be going out of business soon...
As far as any dark red or purple roses that I have grown and know from first-hnd experience, a less overwhelming website to check out is the David Austin roses (www.davidaustinroses.com). Just click on your country's flag, then click on "order bareroot roses", then click on either the "red/crimson" color category, and/or also check out the purples.
Rose that I have grown and love that are very dark in color (but unfortunately not really "black") are as follows:
"Mr. Lincoln" (an older Hybrid Tea that starts off classic red, fading to a rich purple, & famous for its powerful fragrance; but like the man himself, is a tall awkward gangly-looking grower - LOL)
"The Prince" (old-fashioned looking new English rose w/ deep purple-red color, nice fruity fragrance, turning even more rich purple w/ age; but in our N. Calif. foggy climate, suffers from mildew problems)
"Tradescant" (nice wine-red medium-sized blooms in clusters, turning even darker burgundy color as they age; healthy foliage, good fragrance, and graceful arching canes make it one of my favorites -- but still, not really "black" in color)
"Munstead Wood" (very dark classic-looking red with subtle white reverse on the outer side of the petals, yummy enough to eat fragrance, decent foliage, but so-far very small grower -- probably small enough of a plant to be able to grow in a large pot, if you're looking for that)
"Ebb Tide" (the most purple in color out of all roses I've grown so-far; but my one and only plant of this rose died even before I had it one year -- if I plant it again, I'll keep you posted...)
All of the above roses you can find on the David Austin roses website. Another rose website worth checking out is, "The Antique Rose Emporium" (www.antiqueroseemporium.com) -- it has a larger selection of roses to choose from than the David Austin US choices; yet not so overwhelming in number as Vintage garden's website.
... Happy roes-hunting!
- Ken
PS - a 4th rose website that is owned and operated by the partner of our longhaired member "Lars" is also excellent; but I'm forgetting the name of that site. Then there's also the well-known but over-rated "Jackson & Perkins", as well as "Ralph Moore Roses" (w/ a lot of insipid miniatures), and Week's Roses down in So. Calif., and plenty of others I can't remember right now (LOL)....