Rose William and Catherine

This to rose is having beautiful full-petalled, cup-shaped blooms, having at the center of each bloom a button eye of small inward folding petals, an opening color that is a soft creamy apricot, which quickly fades to cream and then to pure white, and a fragrance that is pure myrrh and of medium strength. The petals of the flower drop very cleanly and it forms a most attractive, bushy, but relatively upright shrub that is extremely healthy.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY
The following detailed description of the rose variety ‘William and Catherine’ is provided with color descriptions using terminology of the The Royal Horticultural Society (London) Colour Chart (2001), except where ordinary dictionary significance of color is indicated. Phenotypic expression may vary with environmental, cultural and climatic conditions, as well as differences in conditions of light and soil.

FLOWER

This rose variety has a recurrent flowering habit. Blooms in flushes with short breaks from 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 flower buds of this rose variety are medium sized, the length of the bud is about 2.7 cm long and 1.6 cm in diameter when the petals start to unfurl. The bud form is short and globular. When the sepals first divide, the bud color is dark purple red (Group RHS 60A) and light green (Group RHS 145C). When half open, the upper and the lower sides of the petals on the bud become white (Group RHS N155D).

The sepals on the upper surface have medium brown green colour (Group RHS 147C) and on the lower surface they are mediump brown green (Group RHS 144A) with some dark purple red intonations (Group RHS 60B). The length of the sepals is 2.7 cm on average and the width is about 7 mm. The shape of the sepals is lanceolate, the surface texture on the upper surface is downy and on the lower surface is glandular. There are 3 normally appendaged sepals and there are 2 unappendaged sepals with hairy edges.

The receptacles of this rose are funnel shaped, about 1 cm long and are about 1 cm in diameter, have a smooth surface. The colour of the receptacle is medium green (Group RHS 144A).

Peduncle of this rose variety is short, averaging to about 5 cm, strong and has a glandular surface. The color of the peduncle is medium green (Group RHS 144A).

Bloom:

The average open diameter of the flowers of ‘William and Catherine’ ’is about 9 cm. When first open, the bloom shape is cupped. The shape persists until the end, the outer petal edges curl slightly. At the center of each bloom there is a button eye of small inward folding petals. The number of petals under normal conditions is 115 on average. They are usually borne several together in clusters of 4-14 blooms having flat shape. The flowering stems are strong, average length is about 40 cm and the diameter is about 5 mm.

The upper and the reverse sides of the petals are white/near white (Group RHS 155B). The bases of the petals have the same white colour (Group RHS 155B). The variegations on the petals of the flowers are not observed.

There is no discoloration observed on the flowers of this rose variety. The general tonality at the end of the first day is white (Group RHS 155B), and no changes in colour is observed at the end of the third day.

Petals:

The texture of the petals and their surface is smooth. The shape of the petals is obovate with entire margins on some petals and notched on some. The apex of the petals has some weak undulations and the base is pointed. Average width of the petals is about 2.8 cm and the length is 4.5 cm. The form of the petals is incurved and they have imbricated arrangement.

Normally there are few petaloids present in the center of the flowers, 5 on average. They are usually tied together with filaments, where filaments have a length of about 6 mm and medium yellow colour (Group RHS 10A), the anthers are about 2 mm long and medium yellow colour (Group RHS 10A), the petaloids have white colour (Group RHS 155B) and are about 13 mm long.

The petals of this rose variety usually hang in and dry, therefore the timely deadheading is important. Under normal climate conditions the petals last on the plant for about 5 days, their lasting qualities as a cut was not tested. In hot climates they fade rather quickly - within 2 - 3 days.

Fragrance:

The fragrance of rose ‘William and Catherine’ is moderate, rich, with prominent myrrh character.

Reproductive parts:

The number of stamens is 45 on average per flower, they are about 8 mm long.

The anthers have a length of about 2 mm and medium yellow in colour (Group 12A). The anthers are usually mixed with petaloids.

The colour of the filaments is medium yellow (Group 12A) and the length is 7 mm on average.

The pollen is golden yellow (Group 17B).

The number of pistils is 20 on average and they are about 3.9 mm long.

The colour of the styles is light yellow (Group 2D) and they are about 3.5 cm long.

Stigmas are about 4 mm long and are medium yellow (Group 12A).

The hips of this rose variety have not been observed yet.

PLANT

The rose variety ‘William and Catherine’ is classified as a Shrub rose. Variety has moderately vigorous growth habit, forming upright, bushy and rounded plants. Mature and well-established plant has a height of about 125 cm in height and 125 cm in diameter.

Foliage:

There is a normal quantity of the foliage on the plants of this rose variety. The number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves is 5. There are usually about 15 leaves on the average flowering stem. The foliage is medium sized, about 9.6 long and about 8.7 cm wide.

The colour of the young foliage on the upper side is dark green (Group 135A) and on the lower side is medium brown green (Group RHS 139B). The mature foliage on the upper side is dark green (Group RHS 135A) and on the lower side is medium brown green (Group RHS 139B).

Leaflets:

The leaflets are about 4.25 cm long and 3 cm wide. The shape of the leaflets is pointed oval, the shape of the leaflet tip is cuspidate and the base shape is rounded. The surface texture of the leaflets is leathery, semi-glossy. The edges are serrated, the type of serration is single and small.

The petiole has medium brown green colour (Group 139B), they are about 5 mm long and 1 mm wide, and have prickles in the underside. The petiole rachis is medium brown green (Group 139B) and has few prickles on the underside.

The auricle has lanceolate shape, it is about 8 mm long and about 2 mm wide, the colour is medium brown green (Group N138B).

The stipules are about 2 mm long, have smooth surface and medium brown green colour (Group RHS 139C) .

The veins have dark green colour (Group RHS 135A), the venation pattern is reticulate.

Wood:

The new wood has dark brown purple colour (Group RHS 178A) and smooth bark. The colour of the mature wood is dark brown green (Group RHS 146B), its bark is smooth with some rough patches.

Stems:

The average length of the mature stem is 40 cm and the diameter is about 6 mm. Internode distance is about 8-10 cm. The stem pubescence is not present on the stems of this rose variety. The above measurements are all variable, and depend on growing conditions and on the season.

Prickles:

There is an ordinary quantity of prickles on the main canes from the base, about 10 per 10 cm of the stem length. On the laterals from the main canes there are few prickles, about 4 per 10 cm of the stem length. The form of the prickles is deep concave, they usually have two types of length: the long prickles which have from 10 mm to 8 mm in length; and there are short prickles which are about 4 mm to 1 mm long. The colour of the young prickles is dark brown purple (Group RHS 178A); the colour of the mature prickles is medium brown (Group RHS 173A).

Small prickles:

There are few small prickles on the main stalks of this rose, about 15 per stem. On the laterals from the main canes the small prickles are absent. The colour of the small prickles when young is dark brown purple (Group RHS 178A); and when mature their colour changes to medium brown (Group RHS 173A).

Disease resistance:

The rose variety ‘William and Catherine’ has good resistance to most common rose diseases, in particular it is resistant to mildew, blackspot and rust under normal growing conditions. The pest resistance has not been tested yet.

The cold hardiness was not widely tested, but it shows in general good winter hardiness in climate zones similar to USDA 5 and warmer.

Named to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

English Shrub Roses

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

The rose variety ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ originated by David Austin from the cross-pollination of the two ‘unnamed’ seedlings of Rosa hybrida.

BACKGROUND OF THE VARIETY

The primary objective of this rose breeding was to produce a variety of rose with beautiful full-petalled, cup-shaped blooms, having at the center of each bloom a button eye of small inward folding petals, an opening color that is a soft creamy apricot, which quickly fades to cream and then to pure white, and a fragrance that is pure myrrh and of medium strength. The petals of the flower drop very cleanly and it forms a most attractive, bushy, but relatively upright shrub that is extremely healthy.

SUMMARY OF THE VARIETY

The objective was substantially achieved, along with other desirable improvements, as evidenced by the following unique combination of characteristics of this rose variety:

 cup-shaped blooms starting a soft creamy apricot color then quickly fading to cream then white,

 many-petalled blooms with a button eye,

 bushy but relatively upright shrub.

Asexual reproduction of this new variety by budding, as performed at Albrighton, The UK, showed that the foregoing and all other characteristics and distinctions came true to form, established and transmitted through the succeeding propagations.

COMPARISON WITH PARENTS

The seed and pollen parents of ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ are two unnamed seedlings. ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ may be distinguished from its seed parent, by the following combination of characteristics:

‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ is healthy while the parent has poor growth and is disease prone.

‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ may be distinguished from its pollen parent, by the following combination of characteristics:

‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ has white colored flowers, while the parent has pink cupped flowers with fewer petals.

COMPARISON WITH THE CLOSEST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CULTIVAR

The closest commercially available cultivars to the new variety are the ‘Ausprior’ / ‘Claire Austin’ and ‘Ausrelate’ / ‘Lichfield Angel'.

‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ may be distinguished from the ‘Ausprior’ / ‘Claire Austin’ variety by the following combination of characteristics:

 the ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ is bushy and upright reaching 1.2 m, whereas in ‘Ausprior’ / ‘Claire Austin’ has a more arching growth habit and is taller (1.35 m) and will make a climber of up to 2.4 m.

 ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ also has buds that are red and green, while ‘Ausprior’ / ‘Claire Austin’ has buds that show pale yellow-green with red specks.

Finally, ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ has a more domed shape than ‘Ausrelate’ / ‘Lichfield Angel', and ‘Ausrelate’ / ‘Lichfield Angel' has blooms that are more apricot than the purer white blooms of ‘Ausrapper’ / ‘William and Catherine’ .

USDA zone 5 and warmer