Crested Damask™

The pursuit of roses with Crested (deeply frilled) seedlings is one of the Holy Grails of rose breeding for a few brave hybridizers, and is a difficult goal to achieve. The Crested characteristic is derived from the magnificent R. centifolia cristata ('Chapeau de Napoleon'), a Centifolia variety of considerable antiquity. This new variety, named simply 'Crested Damask' was bred by Paul Barden in 2003 and we now have a few plants to offer to the public. This is a compact, relaxed shrub growing about 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall, with dark green foliage. The blooms are borne in clusters of 3 to 5 in great profusion for about 5 weeks in early Summer. Each bloom is pure OGR: 3.5 inch shallow cups of over 100 petals each, in a rich raspberry-pink hue with a button eye at the center. The sepals on the buds show off the frilly cresting beautifully, adding to this rose' beauty. There is naturally a very good Old Rose fragrance. Because this is a difficult variety to propagate, we will have only a few plants to offer each year. We may start to offer this as a grafted variety in the future to help us meet demands. Thanks for your patience. Photo and Comment Copyright 2007 Paul Barden and The Uncommon Rose We have not yet seen this variety bloom in our new propagation batch, so it has yet to be completely positively identified, although all other aspects, such as foliage, seem to be verifiable.