The Last Rose

'Lovely Fairy' after the rain late in  November 2011

The last rose in my sunniest border is a sweet polyantha named 'Lovely Fairy'.

'Lovely Fairy' after the first frost later still in November

Lovely Fairy is nearly unstoppable and practically "unkillable".  If you want more, and I promise you will, she propagates easily. For me that means, a summer  soft-wood cutting stuck into moist soil that will yield a new baby rose bush by the following spring.  

'Lovely Fairy' is a sport of  'The Fairy' rose.   Except for the deeper pink color, it looks and acts very like the quintessential polyantha rose~'The Fairy'.  Polyantha roses  are generally compact, disease resistant bushes that produces clusters of small double or single  flowers over most of the growing season. They are easy care roses and require sun, well drained soil and occasional shaping and pruning.  I think it's amazing that they survive my garden; and, survive they do in the beds and in containers. (In Appreciation Of November Blooms)

'Lovely Fairy'  after two nights of 27F/-2.7C December 2, 2011

'Lovely Fairy' is one of the only roses I bother with in my difficult conditions. I haven't  killed it and that's a plus for C and L!  I am sad to say that it has no real fragrance, but, it's easy care and long bloom go a long way to make up for that.   The flowers are small (just over an inch wide) doubles (17-25 petals), and bloom in flushes throughout the season. They can start to look terrible in late summer, but,  I give them a good trim and they're back to blooming in a few weeks. They really perk up when the cooler nights arrive; and, as you can see in all the photos,  there's still life in the plant past November and into December. (USDA zone 4b through 10b. )

Here she is in November before the rains!

If you like Rosa 'Lovely Fairy' you'll surely like the light pink flowered  'The Fairy';  white flowered  'Crystal Fairy'; and, the dark pink to red roses of 'Fairy Queen'.  

I don't know why more  nurseries don't offer them instead of  the newer 'landscape' roses.  These roses have the souls of old roses.


xxoogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for her blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2009-2011. This work is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact the author for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.