It is said that a Rose is the most superior flora in a garden – the center of elegance.
For the past five years, I tended to a very particular rose of mine. A Cape Garden Centre purchased Rose, the name of which is no longer known to my memory.
What started as a petite and finicky small rose bush, was this beautiful Orange to Coral-Yellow Hybrid-Tea.
As the clichè goes, “short before long”, no wait – proper English, not AfriEnglish… “long story short”, I found a highly productive 20 year old (yes, it was planted in my Birth Year) Rosa Lisa-type Floribunda.
I figured, “Hey, can I possibly cross-polinate a Floribunda with Hybrid-Tea?” So off I went, and clipped a few bunches of the Lisa. Back home, I immediately went on to perform a cross-pollination with the Hybrid-Tea as host.
An undetermined amount of time passed, and things started getting weird.
This newly created Rose, briefly named “Somerset Sunset”, was born. Its colour changed to a Pinkish Coral to Orange. The fragrance changed from a soft Peach tone into a medium to strong scented Strawberry scent.
The Rose started acting highly odd, and I observed it for a year or two. The Rose didn’t miss a single flower stage. As one set of flowers started to wilt, the next set was standing by to arouse the senses.
It was at that stage that I turned to an Expert. I contacted Ludwig Taschner, a renowned Rose Breeder from South Africa. Ludwig’s response:
Success! Something which I didn’t think was possible, succeeded on the first attempt. Until this day, the new Rose has been blooming non-stop, without as much as a week between flowering sets.
I decided to chance the name of the Rose to “Brothers in Arm” – reason? This Rose currently stands on the same spot which my brother and I managed to grow a 2.2 meter high, 3cm thick stemmed sunflower plant, with 12 flowerheads having an average diameter of 20cm. A true beast of rays.
Alas, World – meet the very first Brothers in Arm host Rose. Grown with pure luck and dedication, with a spark of insanity.
P.S. I’m giving this bush a chance to finish its current new flower set, and will then start the pruning and tending process.
P.P.S Current height: ~1.9 meter.
