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'Prima Ballerina ®' rose Reviews & Comments
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Please see my remarks in the fourth discussion down 133-987 (reply 1) regarding the scent of Prima Ballerina and also a mystery HT rose that I have not been able to identify despite my 3 years searching the web and the reading of many printed works.
Could someone who has grown PB please comment on its fragrance?
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Could you look at the following web address?
www.thegardenoxford.co.uk/design-202021551/'prima-ballerina'.htm
The bottom right photo on that page shows a white plant label reverse with the false info about the PIT award 1989 and Glasgow Gold Medal.
I agree that PB couldn't have received the PIT award as much as 30 years after the rose's release.
Thanks
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Initial post
27 JAN
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* This post deleted by user *
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Reply
#1 of 1 posted
27 JAN by
 jedmar
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According to HMF's records the 1989 PIT was won by 'Pretty Polly' of Meilland. 'Prima Ballerina' was from 1957 - 30 years after introduction seems to far for an award. Information from the Rose Annuals would be valuable.
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Would anyone growing this rose care to describe its scent? Is it citrusy, fruity/peachy, quintessentially rose, licorice-like, tea-like, clove-like, or something else? If you could compare it to other well-scented roses you grow, that would help. This is one of Fragrant Cloud's parents and the other parent (I think) was not known for its strong scent, so chances are PB is primarily responsible for FC's fragrance. OK, it might not be that simple, I guess, but is PB's scent similar to FC's?
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There was an old hybrid tea/grandiflora which used to grow in my neighbour's garden in South Norfolk, England in the early 2000s - possibly a release from the latter half of the 20th century. That plant produced deep coral pink buds (with a hint of orange) which resembled extended pink lipsticks. These would unfurl steadily into lovely deep coloured pink-orange double blooms with 20-28 rolled back petals.
I don't recall any 'feathering' to the sepal tips (unlike Prima Ballerina). The blooms were no more than 4 inches/10cm diameter by 4 inches high. They did not flatten out and weren't wavy edged (as PB and 'Duke of Windsor' can be) nor ruffled. They did not 'spot' after rain or change colour. When cut they lasted 6-8 days in the vase without showing their centres. The petals were not yellow near their bases.
These light weight flowers were easily held upright on very slender but stiff peduncles - prickly, light green (unlike PB) and 5-7 inches long which were usually solitary but sometimes met together in 2s or 3s on a longish branch at 8 - 10 inch intervals. The foliage was fairly matt green - not glossy or bronzed. The owner had tried to train or secure the 5 foot plant somewhat, with an horizontal wire holding it against his exposed south-facing garden shed.
When I had a sniff there was a reasonably pleasant fruity 'rose' smell but after cutting just 2 blooms and leaving them in a vase of water overnight - the next morning it was SENSATIONAL !!! an extremely sweet, exotic and buoyant fruitiness of strawberry mousse and apple with a hint of lime and this perfume was pervading the ground floor of our house - greeting me from two rooms away beyond a closed door as I descended the stairs - what a lovely way to begin the day!
Much smoother and yet more penetrating than 'Fragrant Cloud', there was no trace of spice (clove, pepper or cinnamon).
The fairly recent 'Special Anniversary' rose by Edward Smith (UK 2003) does remind of the smell somewhat - so I'm starting off the climbing version of SA in our garden this year - as well as PB.
If anyone has some idea of what the mystery rose could be then I urge you to please to leave a comment.
I've been hoping PB's scent can be just as good. For some reason, the 'UK Rose Locator' pages only give PB a 5-6 (strong) out of a possible 8-10 (exceptional) but Jack Harkness wrote that he would have given PB a 10 and he gave Fragrant Cloud a '9'
- see P.259 of his book 'Roses' (1980).
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