Get a rose that glows in the dark

If you like your roses to glow in the dark, pleas, pleas, please come and take my In Appreciation, Hybrid Tea out of my garden.


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Planted bare-rooted 1 June 2012
Photo taken Tuesday 14 August


It’s a 2004 Tantau with highly glossy leaves that shine like polished copper pennies when young and turn very deep, dark green. It has a moderate fruity fragrance that I could call pineapple, but more like what I get from a tin than freshly cut fruit: a softer, flatter effect, not sharp; or maybe it’s what people call wine, never had a rose that was described as having a wine fragrance to compare.

It won best HT at the National Trial Garden of Australia and I can appreciate that it has a very beautiful form. At the moment there are three long stems with one bud/flower each (oh no, there’re going to be more), and there is one new shoot emerging from the base. I had to actually de-saturate the photo to get any kind of definition into this rose; otherwise it would be a crazy hot orange pink fuzzy blob.

To appreciate IA’s true colour, have a look at my otherwise tame cottage garden setting with the usual candidates to demonstrate contrasts: white alyssum in the foreground, purple petunias scattered about and a yellow marigold in the centre. James doesn’t often take note of my roses, but he stared at IA for a very long time, and then at me as if to question my reasons for this choice. It was a free rose, I cry out in my defense.


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Ha Ha , got to laugh at this one Jac , at least you got a husband that takes some notice of the garden , mines a cricket tragic and AFL nut , the AFL's great but the cricket, BAH !!!!! I've never planted that rose and thanks to you , i never will , thanks again ......lol .......

Maree, I promise you, if you plant an IA your husband will not only take not of your roses, but will also be excited by them.

Lol , i doubt it Jac , not unless the petals were shaped liked cricket bats or footballs lol .....

That kind of rose would probably blend in better than IA

LOL HA HA !!!

Well, I LIKE IT.
I'll put it on my list for next year.

AutumnDamask, IA has without a doubt the glossiest new leaves in my garden and also the most interestingly shaped shiny dark mature ones that create a wonderful contrast with the intense, literally glowing colour of the blooms. If I was into showing roses in competitions, I wouldn’t want IA anywhere near mine, because it grabs your attention from afar, and makes it impossible to look away after that. So just be careful where you plant it.
Today was quite a hot day here in Brisbane and the fragrance was much stronger than I reported yesterday. It’s obviously a healthy and vigorous bush and also one of my earlier bloomers. I knew somebody would love it, horses for courses.

This thread is a scream

I’m glad you’re amused

Correction, I’m glad SOMEONE is amused

Jackie, is this the colour you expected when you got it? Or have your tastes changed over time? I know mine have changed over the years.
Thanks for the laugh, another reason for coming here, never know what's in store.

Jackie , maybe the rose fairy will come along and turn the ugly duckling rose into a princess , better give it a good drink of seasol and fairy dust lol ..

Silky, it’s not quite what I expected. I knew it was going to be bright from the catalogue, but thought it was going to be OK: Most of my roses in the old garden appeared at least two shades lighter here in our sun; and roses like Gertrude Jekyll that I’ve been aware of, because of their strong fragrance, but stayed away from, because I prefer the lighter shades that blend readily, were on my list this time around.
But IA is obviously not one for lightening in the slightest, even in constant direct sunlight here.
My tastes haven’t really changed over time, but I know that I often change my views as I gain more experience in different areas. I stress, IA was a free rose that came into my life unexpectedly and I was totally unprepared for this result. But I should keep it to push me out of my comfort zone and also as a reminder to never plant a freebee into a prime position in the garden again. I could also use it as inspiration to create a crazy corner in the landscape, you know, somewhere I can send people who cheese me off.

Maree, I don’t need to give this one any extra fairy dust; its blessed enough already in this regard.

It’s not quite as blinding in full bloom, when IA looses some of its fluorescence, and it starts to fade a little every day. I’m definitively warming to the fragrance, now mainly mandarins and oranges and sometimes a hint of cinnamon; and there’s something else I can’t place.
But no way can it stay next to my delicate porcelain doll, Perle d'Or, or in direct line of sight with Monsieur Tiller, washing out his intense, but easy on the eye mix of exciting colours and turning his fascinating silky highlights grayish (that’s definitely not on).


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Jac, was this bonus rose from Treloar's? I don't think I'd hate it if that's one of the extras they select to send me. In fact, now that you talk about the scent, I quite like it from a fun specimen standpoint. Would be amusing. Beats the Marilyn Monroe and the Hot Cocoa that I've scored from Treloar's before.

Yes, IA was a Treloar bonus and the other two, Hercules and Precious Memories, send me dancing and screaming with joy so that James had to come out and check, if everything was OK; particularly Hercules. I was also happy with IA, although a bit lost for where to place her at short notice; and that’s how Claire Austin, a white, ended up against a white wall (genius!) after I spend months of carefully planning where they would all go to blend and best complement each other.

AI lightened and brightened still more over time and at the end had a very lustrous silvery sheen; and it’s fragrant: a Middle Eastern spice cake with rose-, mandarin-, and cinnamon flavors.
If you’re considering AI as a fun specimen, I’d say go for it, but note that it will not blend and is likely to wash out others in its colour range and overpower anything else delicate. Here it had also some orange pigment early on, but turned into something intensely pink over time. The reverse is a lot lighter, almost like the flesh of a white peach (something else the camera didn’t pick up, due to clumsy operation).

The only other rose I have in bloom at the moment that could hold up to IA is Raine Des Violettes. So it’s going to the very back of my garden behind it and to provide a focal point from behind everything else. Maybe it will even enhance RDV’s middle circle of petals and provide and interesting contrast with the outer ones. Not that RDV needs it with its matt, intense colours that are very easy on the eye.

Oh no, HC and MM, what’s worse, something that will not blend but is fragrant or something that will blend but has no fragrance at all. Maybe I am still lucky.