Olympiad Rose

There’s something about hybrid tea roses that’s uniquely appealing.  Perhaps it’s the combination of form, fragrance and colour all coming together in what approaches perfection.

Each spring, when WalMart has hybrid tea roses for sale in the milk carton sized pots, we buy at least one.  When we get home we re-pot them and nurture them in the greenhouse until they can be planted safely outside – the first week of June.  This spring we bought three for several reasons.  The first one we saw (going by the picture on the carton) was a bicolor red and white rose called ‘Love’, so how could you resist that.  Then we saw a beautiful pink rose called ‘Queen Elizabeth’, and since it’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year we had to have one of those.  Finally, we came across a deep red rose called ‘Olympiad’.  Well, it’s the summer Olympics in London this year, so why not?

What a treat when ‘Olympiad’ bloomed recently.  The photo below doesn’t really do the colour justice because digital cameras seem to have difficulty rendering the colour red, but this is not a bad representation.  The form is absolutely flawless, and the fragrance is lovely – not an overwhelming scent like we get from our rugosas, but more subtle.  By the way, don’t mind the accompanying leaves in the vase, it’s just a small sprig from our red-leafed rose (rosa rubrifolia).


Presenting ‘Olympiad’ …



And here is the ‘Love’ rose.  Again, a bit of trouble with getting the red colour to match what the eye sees, but pretty nice.



And, here’s ‘Queen Elizabeth’,