A celebratory rose duo
To make amends for the last post, something pretty.
I was asked out for a meal this week: a rare enough occasion to merit me putting together a bunch of flowers for the host! My default for bunches is pink so I suppressed that urge and picked two roses that are lovely but do not always attract enough attention from me: the modestly named ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and the pastel ‘Champagne Moment’. Both are delightful, tough, disease-resistant roses and both were ‘Rose of the Year’ in the UK, in 2010 and 2006 respectively.
‘Absolutely Fabulous’ is an American rose, (WEKvossutono) bred by Tom Carruth and introduced in the USA as ‘Julia Child’ but also sold as ‘Anisade’ and ‘Jirina Bohdalova’. It is a moderately sized cluster-flowered rose (floribunda) with attractive, double, golden yellow flowers in small clusters (large on strong stems) that has a pleasant scent, often said to have hints of liquorice. It is a great bedding rose and repeats well and the yellow blooms suit the rich, but not dark, green foliage well.
Geoff’s rating 8/10
Garden rating 8/10
‘Champagne Moment’ (KORvanaber) is a very different rose with reddish stems and dark leaves and is much more prickly. It is also informal in growth with arching stems that rebloom from sideshoots behind the main flower cluster even before the first flowers are faded. It is more like a modern shrub rose than a cluster-flowered rose. It is German in origin, raised by Tim Hermann Kordes and although known as ‘Champagne Moment’ in the UK it is also named ‘Lions-Rose’ (USA) and ‘Lion’s Fairy Tale’ (Canada) for some bizarre reason that must be obvious to someone. The flowers are basically creamy white but have apricot centres when partly open so the UK name seems very appropriate. If you are looking for a fragrant, easy rose for a mixed border or a shrub bed this should be on your list for consideration.
Geoff’s rating 8/10
Garden rating 9/10
The Biking Gardener 
lucky host hope your meal was good .
Good morning. yes it was a nice evening 🙂
Lovely!