Taking a look at 4 garden roses for this Rose Color Study. They fit into that muddy, antique, somewhat mauve range of garden roses.
Westminster Abbey, Café Latte, Quicksand, Sahara Sensation garden roses.
The roses were provided by Garden Roses Direct and grown by Alexandra Farms.
Westminster Abbey Garden Roses
Vase Life: 14+ Days
Upon arrival the blooms are tight, give them a fresh cut and into water to let them rehydrate. This is a hardy rose, the petals are firm and each bloom is packed full of petals. Give it some time to fully bloom open. The great news is it is a very long lasting bloom, as you can see here it looks fine on day 10 and it easily lasted 14 days.
Westminster Abbey is a fascinating grey-ish, lavender, touch of blush. When the bloom is open it is a good size and a great focal flower.
Quicksand Garden Roses
Vase Life: 12-14+ Days
The bloom arrived tight, cut the stems and into clean water so they can rehydrate, by the next morning they look great. The blooms open into a consistent shape. The color looks like a porcelain blush color and is quite lovely the blooms are a nice size and great as a focal flower.
Café Latte Garden Roses
Vase Life: 8-10 Days
Upon arrival the Café Latte roses have tight buds and a dark color. Give the stems a fresh cut and place in water to let them rehydrate. They bloom opens quickly and can be used in wedding design work right away. The blooms look best when fully open, super fluffy and soft. The petals are soft in comparison to say Westminster Abbey. As you can see in the photos the color does fade and goes to a dusty mauve color. The color lends itself to a variety of color palettes.
Sahara Sensation
Vase Life: 12-14 Days
Upon arrival the color is rich with peach and touches of pinks. By day 5 the color really starts to fade and lives up to its name Sahara Sensation. The color continues to fade and at the end of its vase life it is a sandy blush color.
The bloom isn’t large like the other roses in this study. It’s the perfect size for bridal bouquet work and for accent roses in arrangements. The petals are study and it has a good vase life of 12 or so days.
The three roses – Quicksand, Westminster Abbey, and Café Latte all complement each other well, all with an undertone of lavender.
Café Latte and Westminster Abbey work well together, both have undertones of lavender that connect them.
A side-by-side of Quicksand and Wesminster Abbey.
Café Latte and Quicksand look nice together with their underlying blush pink tones, both dusty hues.
Sahara Sensation and Quicksand together, kinda work together – both have dusty tones and touches blush pink in both.
A few notes about this study. The photographs were taken in December and the natural light can be a little difficult to photograph in.
These roses were never place in a cooler and were kept out on my table for the entire rose study, the temperature is rarely over 65 degrees. I did not use flower food in the water.
Have you done a study on whites and off whites?
Hi Kate,
Yes, you can see the white rose studies on this page:
https://flirtyfleurs.com/rose-color-studies-by-flirty-fleurs/
Enjoy!
Alicia
Love these studies! I can’t wait to use Westminster! Abbey! Thank you Alicia!
Thanks for the comment, Janet! You’ll love Westminster Abbey!