My Lucky Freebie

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Hercules, Modern Shrub
Planted 1 June 2012
First Bloom 20 August 2012


The free rose, which set me off yahooing when it arrived. The colour info on it reads: white, near white or white blend, gray pink, pale lavender undertones. The flowers are actually either white/near white or grayish lavender pink, and only the coloured ones have quite a strong fragrance; the whites have next to no scent.

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The coloured blooms appear at a rate of 1:3, and the fragrance is really stunning: it reminds me of another flower (White Lily? have to smell another Lily to be sure), very fresh and clear and nothing like rose.
The colour and fragrance unfortunately don’t hold for long in the QLD heat and fade at about the same rate as Blue Moon or Lagerfeld. The blooms themselves hold for much longer, I deadheaded the first on day six, because it started to look daggy and new buds wanted to come through, but the petals were not loose yet.

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The blooms come in clusters of five and the hips are very pretty. I got three clusters at once, and there is another cane like that ready to go. Pretty happy overall.

Of course, the buds are pretty; no hips yet!

Verrry nice. thanks for sharing. Have you got it at the front of a border? How high do you expect it to grow?

Jackie, your lucky freebie "Hercules", where did it come from(nursery"

I would guess it came from Treloars as I ended up with two free "Hercules"

All my roses started of at the back of the border, with cottage garden varieties in the front. However, as I continually expand the borders to make room for new seedlings that keep coming up, they are now more in the centre and may well end up towards the front sooner or later as the lawn gradually disappears; and I’m planning two feature specimens right in the centre of each side.
In my view lawns are good for children to play soccer on, but in my suburban garden a water-sucking waste of space, and I can’t wait to see the end of it.

Hercules is indicated to reach 90 to 120 x 60 cm, but I don’t believe that for one moment here in Brisbane where the bush/shrub roses will generally at least double their dimensions. Can’t find my tape-measure, but heuristics tell me it’s about 60cm h x 50 cm w at the moment.

I didn’t only get two (out of three – another really nice on plus my rose that glows in the dark) lucky freebies from Treloar, but also a very lucky product overall, David. I’ve done very well there and have no complaints at all. My many e-mails with many Qs each were always returned on the very next working day and customer service passed on Qs to others where she wasn’t sure.
But I placed my order early in the year and stressed I aimed at receiving my roses at the earliest possible time; so as to ensure I’d get the pick of the crop, and that’s exactly what I got.

How are you two Hs doing, brettv68? Can you describe the fragrance better than I could?

Hi Jackie,

I didn't get mine as early as you by the sounds so they haven't flowered yet but are darn close.

Cheers
Brett

Brett, I hope you’ll like H as much as I do, especially having two of them. But I really like white, and its more white than coloured here in the Brisbane heat.

Just saw a pic of Lilies in a magazine and it’s not them the fragrance reminds me of. The flowers are large, fluted and come in white or pink and are in every shop when in season. You’ll probably know what they are when you smell it, except if its too hot by then and you wont get much of it any more.