Hybrid Tea Rose: Sterling Silver
Last month I found an yearling of a "Sterling Silver" rose at a local Home Depot -- the last one on display. It was a bare root baby packed in saw dust and wrapped in plastic. At the time of purchase, a few leaves were starting to unfurl and it really wasn't much to look at. My online research indicated that this rose requires much TLC and is somewhat of a weak performer, stingy bloomer, and not exactly a good fighter against diseases. The rose reviewer did not have much to say in terms of ease of growing, although he did mention that it is nearly thornless, has a delightful fruity fragrance and it is purple-tinged mauve in color. Normally, upon reading the general description, I would think twice about starting a rose like this in my garden, but this rose was mentioned in the manga "Kuroshitsuji" and so, of course, my daughter and I were curious even after looking at the pictures. Many rose photos online, especially the lavender colored varieties, can have much tweaking done in PhotoShop and often have much exaggerated blue hue to make a pinkish lavender look more bluish in color.
Knowing that this rose requires much TLC in the first 2-3 years, I decided to give it a large pot instead of putting it in the ground to compete with other plants near by -- after all, the growin height of this rose is supposed to be only 2 feet. I have towering Chicago Peace at 8 feet plus in my front yard. It's easier for me to adjust the sun exposure, which can be brutal in the dry desert heat, and give nothing but a good potting soil for the baby for the first year or so before I figured out a best location.
After a late cold snap and a hail storm where a 3/4 inch hail stones ripped my garden, the baby's first bud finally opened today. My daughter named the rose bush Ciel Phantomhive, of course. (So now, it's a "he"...)
It has the most delicate mauve/lavender shade with a hint of sepia to give an irresistible old-world nostalgia. I've noticed that the outer petal already had a slight burn where a rain drop sat while sun came out and shined through. Aside from that, it is a lovely color and the shape of the flower at this stage is quite delightful. For such a delicately elegant lady-like rose, the scent is surprisingly youthful with a lot of citrus over the classic tea rose base -- energetic and spunky.
I always get a bit sentimental when I see a baby rose bush so proudly hold its first bloom, which must require so much energy to produce, for such a small plant with so little resource to pull from for this marvelous little gem of a "performance". The delightful "boy" is lost in the garden surrounded by brighter, taller, and more flamboyant ladies that are producing blooms in profusion. But I can honestly say that I'm glad that I got my hands on the last one at the store last month. It IS quite special.