Pink Garden Rose Study with Alexandra Farms

Ashley Garden Rose
Vase Life: 12 Days
Details: The owner of Alexandra Roses, Jose “Joey” Azout, mentioned to me that I’d love this rose – Ashley, and he sure was right!! I’m absolutely enamored with this beautiful rose, it’s large bloom of 4-5″ in diameter and it’s super ruffly petals. It opens up perfectly and would make a beautiful statement in a centerpiece. Ashley is a true medium pink in color and offers an amazing fragrance – a rose that smells like a rose! I would say its prime day was right around day 4, so be sure to let this one open fully before you start designing with it.
She get’s 5 gold stars in my book!

Capability
Vase Life: 12+ Days
Details: The new for 2017 release from David Austin Roses is Capability. It offers an impressive vase life, I had a vase of these on my desk for two weeks! Yes, by the end of two weeks they were done, but still very impressive. A rich, sultry magenta color that this rose offers and it smells heavenly. Capability offers a large bloom of about 5″ wide in a rosette shape with many petals. If you are looking for a rose that’ll make a statement in an arrangement and cause recipients to “stop and smell the roses” this is the rose you are looking for!

Carey
Vase Life: 12+ Days
Details: Another very long lasting garden rose, this one also sat on my desk for two weeks. Like Capability it was probably done around day 12, but I kept the last few for a full two weeks. Carey is a David Austin Rose which offers its signature rosette cupped shape, packed full of petals. The bloom did take awhile to open and seemed to be at its prime around Day 5. I photographed it here on day 5 and did manipulate some of the petals to open up a bit into a fuller bloom. The bloom is about 3.5″ wide, lots of petals with a very light scent. I did find the 12 blooms to all be very consistent in color.

Mariatheresia
Vase Life: 9 Days
Details: Mariatheresia offers a petite bloom of about 3″ wide, the smallest out of the 9 in this study. She would be a great rose to use in bridal bouquet work. This rose does open quickly, all 12 roses were open fully by day 3 and I found that to be its prime day. The roses did last 9 days in the vase, but the color does change from the medium pink and starts to fade. It is lightly scented.

Mayra’s Rose
Vase Life: 12 Days
Details: This was my first time ever seeing Mayra’s Rose and I have just recently used Mayra’s Bridal Pink – also, really a very fantastic rose. Mayra’s rose is a bright medium pink rose, super rounded and full of petals- I like the ruffled tips of the petals. A good size rose, about a medium size around 3/5-4″ wide.

Miranda
Vase Life: 9 Days
Details:
A lovely offering from David Austin Roses is Miranda. She offers a completely different shape than the other garden roses – super ruffly, and opens up fully – a very unique shape. A great one to be mixed with the other roses so that your arrangements can have a variety of textures. A large bloom of about 4″ in diameter, a medium pink rose which offers a light scent. I found the prime day to be day 3 for designing and it does offer a good vase life.

Pink O’Hara
Vase Life: 10 Days
Details: A very pretty softer pink, but more color than a blush pink. The color is very consistent on all 12 blooms. The rose bloom itself was at its prime around day 5, but all the leaves had turned brittle and needed to be removed. Once I cleaned up the stems the rose continued on for a full 10+ days. I found that the bloom didn’t open easily on its own and I did need to manipulate the petals on day 5 to take its photo. I feel I have found that to be true when I use them in event work, they are worth the work though because they are long lasting and a good size so they make a nice statement in arrangements. The bloom is about 3.5″ wide, has very strong stems and offers a light scent.

Princess Kishi
Vase Life: 12+ Days
Details: Princess Kishi is a magenta rose with a very long vase life of 12+ Days. I kept Kish and Capability on my desk for 2 weeks – something about these magenta roses, they are so long lasting! Super healthy, large blooms on sturdy stems. Another good size, hearty bloom at about 4-5″ wide and when it opens it show the center. I do like it mixed with Capability so the arrangement has variety in texture. Princess Kishi does take a little longer to open, I find this to be true of all the darker colored garden roses – at it’s prime around day 5 which is shown in the photo above.

Romantic Antike
Vase Life: 9 Days
Details: This rose is special, it is a delicate rose that requires a gentle hand and a touch of patience, and a cooler, yet it is so unique and beautiful that it is worth the work! I do find that Romantic Antike needs to almost always have the outer petals removed. The bloom is about 3″ wide and packed full of petals. The outer petals are a dusty, rosy pink which fades into a peach center. So I do mention this one has a vase life of 9 days, but it really is probably closer to 7 days and then it fades rapidly so by day 9 it is done. Also, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I did not place any of these roses in the cooler – but in real life, if I were using this rose in design work I would place it in cooler soon after it is received and processed as it does open quickly.

Details about all the roses in this study:
-The Roses were never placed in the cooler once I received them!
-The Roses were set out in the house for the course of the rose study.
-I did not use quick dip, flower food or crowning glory, or any other “helpers”. Just freshly cut stems placed in clear water.

A HUGE Thank You to Alexandra Farms for providing the roses for this Rose Study! Alexandra Roses are available thru your local wholesalers.

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Photographs in this post are by Alicia Schwede.

This blog first appeared on Flirty Fleurs.