Rose Victorian Wedding

‘Victorian Wedding’ is a creamy-blush florist shrub rose whose peony-shaped rosettes open from pink hearts to ivory centres edged soft green, releasing a delicate sweet-tea perfume. This rose forms upright attractive plants with dark green shiny and disease-tolerant foliage. Blooms continuously from spring to frost, and supply extra-long-lasting stems prized by both florists and romantic cottage gardens alike.

FLOWERING

This rose variety ‘Victorian Wedding’ has a continuous flowering habit, as this rose variety is suitable for cut flower production under greenhouse conditions. In greenhouse conditions, it is able to bloom all year round. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse, but there are too many to count.

Buds are globular, swathed in pale green sepals, brushed with rose-pink, and measure about 6 cm (~2.4 in) in length before the first petals unfurl. The flowers are large, expand to 10 - 12 cm (4 - 4¾ in) in diameter, forming a densely quartered, almost “cup-and-saucer” rosette which exquisite forms retain until the end. The flowers are very full, the number of petals is 80 on average per flower, whose thick, velvety texture resists bruising in transport and rain.

Colour choreography begins with a ballet-pink nexus, lightening through champagne and fading to antique ivory while the reflexed outer guard petals flush palest pistachio - an effect valued for vintage wedding palettes. A light, sweet fragrance reminiscent of rosewater and white tea is present, enough to scent a bouquet without overwhelming table companions. They are born singly or in small clusters of irregular shape, of 3 - 10 blooms together. Usually the other blooms are being nipped out for single bloom cut rose production.

In heated Dutch greenhouses the rose variety ‘Victorian Wedding’ produces marketable stems every 5–6 weeks, translating outdoors to repeat flushes from late May until the first hard frost. Field trials report individual flowers lasting 5 - 6 days on the plants and of about 12 - 16 days in cool-chain vases when harvested at “paint-brush” stage (first sepals cracked).

The full, symmetrical flowering stems of this rose have earned high scores in UK wholesale grading (A1, 60 cm class) and are increasingly seen in bridal show work, though no formal exhibition medals are yet recorded.

PLANT

The rose variety ‘Victorian Wedding’ is classified as a Modern shrub rose and often regarded as a Modern Florist Shrub rose or simply Florist rose. It is part of the “Victorian” line of cut roses from Vip Roses. The growth habit of this rose is vigorous, lightly branching, upright and slightly outwardly. The mature and well-established plants have a height of about 80 - 120 cm (2½ - 4 ft) and the width of about 40 - 80cm (1½ - 2 1⁄2 ft).

The young canes of this rose emerge olive-green with a faint lilac bloom, aging to mid-green; prickles are moderate, straight, and easily stripped with standard thorn tools. There is a normal quantity of the foliage on the plants of this rose variety. The number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves varies from 5 to 7, including the terminal leaflet. Foliage is large, leathery, glossy and very attractive. The edges of the leaflets are serrated, the type of serration is single and medium sized. The leaves show high tolerance to black spot and powdery mildew under Dutch IPM regimes, reducing fungicide passes by c. 30 %.

This rose can be growing in a garden forming beautiful border or mixborder plants. Landscape partners include silver Artemisia, Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’, and airy Thalictrum which echo its pastel tones while providing beneficial-insect habitat. This rose requires regular deadheading of the spent blooms to first five-leaflet and shorten canes by one-third in early spring to encourage straight cutting stems.

The disease resistance of this rose variety is good, particularly to mildew, blackspot and rust in greenhouse conditions, with on average day temperature maintained at 17.5 degrees C. In the garden conditions it is somewhat susceptible to mildew.

Hardiness testing in Oregon and northern China places the shrub comfortably in USDA 5b–10a (RHS H6), provided winter mulch and good drainage, but best grows in conditions similar to USDA 7 and requires winter protection in more colder climates. Give this rose a full sun position in a garden with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, and fertile loam pH 6.0–7.0.

‘Victorian Wedding’ evokes the rose-strewn romance of late-19th-century bridal fashions - full gowns, antique lace, and soft candlelight colours -mirrored in the creamy, old-garden bloom form. The grower occasionally markets the cultivar simply as “Vip Roses Victorian Wedding”, aligning it with the firm’s “Victorian” line (e.g., Victorian Classic, Victorian Peach) of pastel, garden-style blooms.

Victorian

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

The parentage of this rose is not publicly disclosed. The breeders of this rose variety are Sassen Brothers (Vip Roses), Nieuwveen, The Netherlands. The first selections were made in 2017 - 18 with commercial release 2019 via Vip Roses cut-flower programme.

North-American garden introduction followed in 2024 through Highgarden Roses, Oregon. No EU Community Plant Variety Right or US Plant Patent has yet been filed for ‘Victorian Wedding’ as of June 2025; distribution is currently managed under breeder’s contract with Schreurs for propagation.

USDA 7