Apricot Nectar

OK, this is s totally impossible statement for me to make considering I have four or five dozen different varieties of roses in the garden, but this is without a doubt my favorite.  Trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice.

This plant has been a hassle to grow in the garden.  It's not very fond of winters, so the first few seasons it just didn't survive.  Finding it each year is very difficult, then I found it at Martin and Krause (www.gardenrose.com, I highly recommend them for excellent roses) , up in Canada.  They produce it on it's own root stock, so I ordered three of them.  Three because paying to get them into the United States isn't inexpensive, so you can't just get one of them.

The flowers off this rose are incredible, and it's impossible to put into words how wonderful they smell.

These three roses made it through the winter of 2002/2003 when lots of other plants didn't, but did suffer some damage.  But as soon as the weather started getting better, they all sprung to life, and as of this writing (mid June) they have been full of roses.  They repeat almost overnight, and like I said smell wonderful and produce the most beautiful flowers. 

They are a floribunda, and if you want a single rose per stem you will have to do lots of debudding, but it's worth it.  If I was told I could only have one rose, this would be the bush I'd plant.