Rose The Poet's Wife

“The Poet's Wife” displays rich yellow flowers that gradually pale over time. The flowers have a pleasing formation, with a neat outer ring of petals surrounding a more informal cluster of petals inside. The fragrance is strong, wonderfully rich, with a hint of lemon, which grows sweeter and stronger with age. The plant forms a bushy, compact plant which looks great both in mix borders and in containers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

Throughout this specification, color references and/or values are based upon the Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society (2001) except where common terms of color definition are employed.

FLOWER

“The Poet's Wife” has a very good repeat flowering habit, blooms in flushes, with very short breaks, from early summer until frosts. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse, but there are too many to count.

Flower bud:

The fower buds are medium sized, they are about 2.2 cm long and 1.8 cm in diameter when the petals start to unfurl. The buds have pointed ovoid form.

When the sepals first divide, the bud color is yellow-green (Group RHS 151B) with red tint (Group RHS 45A). When half blown, the upper sides of the petals are yellow (Group RHS 12A), and the lower sides of the petals are also yellow (Group RHS 12B).

The calyx is star-shaped when the bloom is open and folds back against the stem. the length is about 2.6 cm and the diameter is about 1.3 cm.

The sepals are regularly arranged. The colour of the upper surface of the sepals is yellow-green (Group RHS 147C). The lower surface of the sepals have yellow-green (Group RHS 146C) with tint of red (Group RHS 47A). The sepals have length of about 2.6 cm and they are about 1 cm wide. Their shape is lanceolate, the surface texture on the upper surface is downy while the lower surface is smooth. There are 3 lightly appendaged sepals, and 2 unappendaged sepals with downy edges.

The receptacles have yellow-green colour (Group RHS 144A). The receptacles have funnel shape, they are medium sized, about 1.2 cm high and about 1 cm wide, the surface is smooth.

The peduncle is medium sized, strong, averaging about to 10 cm. The surface is glandular, the colour is yellow-green (Group RHS 144A) with reddish undertones (Group RHS 47A).

Bloom:

The flowers are large, average open diameter of the flower is about 10 cm.They are usually borne several together in clusters of 3-4 with blooms having a rounded shape. When first open, the bloom is cupped, as the flower ages the outer petals curl back. The flowers are very full, the number of petals is 77 on average.

The colour of the flowers on the upper and on the lowers sides of the petals are yellow (Group RHS 12A). Under normal growing conditions no variegation is observed on the flowers.

The general tonality of the flowers at the end of the first day is yellow (Group RHS 12A), and at the end of the third day is yellow (Group RHS 12A). Further the colour becomes lighter, light yellow, fading almost to white closer to the end of the flowering.

Petals:

The petals have a smooth surface and texture. The petals are about 3.3cm in width and are about 4.5 cm long. The shape of the petals is obovate, with a cuspidate base and rounded apex, and the edges are slightly quilled. The margin of the petals is variable, some petals with entire margins and some with incisions. Petals have informal arrangement on a flower.

There are some petaliods present on the flowers of this variety, about 10 per flower. The colour of the petaliods is the same as the major colour of the flower - yellow (Group RHS 12A). They are usually 1.9 cm long and about 6 mm wide. The shape is obovate, with some of the petaloids folded, the margin is irregular.

The petals usually drop off cleanly before drying. They last on a plant fairly long, for about 5 days. The persistence as a cut flower is not tested.

Fragrance:

The fragrance is strong, with prominent fruity character and hints of lemon.

Reproductive parts:

The number of stamens per flower is around 30, with the average length of about 6 mm.

The anthers have length of about 3 mm, their colour is orange-yellow (Group RHS 17B), and they are usually mixed with petaloids.

THe filaments have yellow-orange colour (Group RHS 20A), the length is about 8.5 mm.

The pollen has orange-yellow colour (Group RHS 17A).

The pistils are about 9 mm long, there are usually about 18 of them per flower.

The styles have white colour (Group RHS 155A), their length is about 8 mm.

The hips are not observed yet.

PLANT

The variety is classified as a Shrub rose from David Austin’s English Shrub Roses collection. The variety has moderately vigorous growth habit. The growth type is bushy, nicely rounded with arching branches. Forms a compact plant of about 90 - 110 cm in height and has about the same width.

The variety is perfect not only for mix borders, rose borders and pathways, but it also will look great in pots and containers due to its neat and compact growth habit.

Foliage:

The foliage of “The Poet's Wife” is abundant and dense. The number of leaves per flowering stem is about 10. The number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves is usually 5 (including terminal leaflet), but can vary between 3 and 7.

The leaves are medium sized. Most commonly there are two sizes present: medium, about 16 cm long and 9 cm wide; and small, about 10 cm long and 5.5 cm wide. The foliage has a rather semi-glossy appearance.

The new foliage on the upper and on the lower sides have yellow-green colour (Group RHS N144A) tinged with greyed-purple (Group RHS 183A). The mature foliage on the upper side is green (Group RHS 137A) and on the lower side is green (Group RHS 138A).

Leaflets:

The size of the leaflets of this variety is variable, there are two sizes of the leaflets: first is larger, about 5.2 cm long and 4 cm wide, and the second type has a length of about 3.5 cm and the width of about 2.4 cm. The leaflets have a pointed oval shape, with rounded base and pointed oval apex. The surface texture is leathery, the edges are serrated, the type of serration is double and small.

The petiole has Petiole has yellow-green colour (Group RHS 144A), the length is about 4 cm and the width is about 2 mm. The surface texture is glandular.

Petiole rachis has yellow-green colour (Group RHS 144A), the underside with prickles.

Stipules are about 2 cm long, yellow-green in colour (Group RHS 144A) and the surface is glandular.

Auricle has a lanceolate shape, is about 2 cm long and about 3 mm wide. The colour is yellow-green (Group RHS 144A).

Veins have the same colour as leaf color, the venation pattern is reticulate.

Wood:

The colour of the new wood is greyed-purple (Group RHS 183B), the bark is smooth. The old wood has yellow-green colour (Group RHS 144A) with some greyed-purple intonations (Group RHS 183B), the bark is smooth.

Stems:

Main stems usually have a length of about 90 cm, with the average diameter of about 1 cm.

There are usually about 5 branches on the stem, the length of the branch usually is about 70 cm, with a diameter of about 6 mm.

The flowering stems have a normal length, the average length is about 30-40 cm and with a diameter of about 3-4 mm.

The internode distance usually is about 2-5 cm. The above measurements are all variable, depending on growing conditions in a season. On the branches of this variety the stem pubescence is not present.

Prickles:

The quantity of prickles on the main canes from base is many, the number per stem length is about 10 per 10 cm. On laterals from main canes there are also many prickles, about 10 per 10 cm of the stem length. They have deep concave form, the length is about 6 mm. The colour of the young prickles is grayed-purple (Group RHS 183A), the mature prickles have red-brown colour (Group RHS 199B).

Small prickles:

There are no small prickles on the main stalks and on the laterals from the main canes.

Disease resistance:

The variety “The Poet’s Wife” has good disease resistance to most common rose pathogens, it is resistant to mildew, black spot, botrytis and rust. Pest resistance has not been tested yet.

Rose variety is recommended for growing in climate conditions similar to USDA 5 and requires winter protection in more colder climates.

Unfortunately we do not have information about the origin of the name of this rose.

English Shrub Roses

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

The rose variety ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” is classified as a Shrub rose, and was originated by David Austin from the cross-pollination of the two ‘unnamed’ and unpatented seedlings of Rosa hybrida.

BACKGROUND OF THE VARIETY

The primary objective of this rose breeding was to produce a rose variety having a yellow bloom with a strong, unfading color, the petals of which are informal with a neat outer ring, and that has a strong fragrance that smells distinctly of lemon, and that also has a growth that is low and rounded with shiny foliage.

SUMMARY OF THE VARIETY

Among the features which distinguish this rose variety from others is the following combination of characteristics:

 blooms having an unfading, strong yellow color with an informal arrangement of petals within a neat outer ring of petals, and low rounded growth that has shiny foliage, and a strong lemon fragrance.

Asexual reproduction of the new variety by budding as performed at Bowling Green Lane in Albrighton, The UK showed that the foregoing and other distinguishing characteristics came true to form and established and transmitted through succeeding asexual propagations. ‘Auswhirl’ may be asexually propagated by budding.

COMPARISON WITH PARENTS

The seed and pollen parents of ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” are two unnamed seedlings.

 - rose ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” may be distinguished from its seed parent, by the following combination of characteristics:

   the seed parent is more disease prone with larger pink flowers.

 - rose ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” may be distinguished from its pollen parent, by the following combination of characteristics:

   the parent is a deeper shade of yellow, with larger flowers and is more disease-prone.

COMPARISON WITH THE CLOSEST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CULTIVAR

The closest commercially available cultivar to the rose variety is the ‘Ausmol’ / ‘Molineux’ and ‘Ausbaker’ / ‘Teasing Georgia’. The new rose may be distinguished from the ‘Ausmol’ / ‘Molineux’ and ‘Ausbaker’ / ‘Teasing Georgia’ varieties by the following combination of characteristics:

 the ‘Ausmol’ / ‘Molineux’ has about 110 - 120 petals and ‘Ausbaker’ / ‘Teasing Georgia’ has about 110 petals, and those roses have more petals than ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife”, which petals count is about 77 petals.

 the arrangement of petals also differs, in ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” the petal arrangement is informal whereas for ‘Ausmol’ / ‘Molineux’ it is a regular rosette formation and for ‘Ausbaker’ / ‘Teasing Georgia’ the blooms are quartered.

 finally, ‘Auswhirl’ / “The Poet’s Wife” forms a low, rounded shrub whereas ‘Ausmol’ / ‘Molineux’ is upright and short, and ‘Ausbaker’ / ‘Teasing Georgia’ is tall and will grow as a climber.

USDA 5