November 9th, 2003
Rose ‘Blush Noisette’
‘Blush Noisette’ has a baby powder fragrance that wafts on the breeze. It’s the only rose I have which surprises me with unexpected whiffs of scent that I can smell even if I’m digging weeds 10 feet away. In my garden, it’s is in bloom more than any other rose, even in the heat of summer.
The pale pink flowers bloom in little nosegays. Unfortunately they don’t open at once. And the individual blossoms frequently ball (turn brown before opening as shown in the photo below). They don’t seem to ball in wet weather like ‘Souvenir del Malmaison’. I think they do it if I haven’t kept up with my watering. This bunch opened over a week where it which began dry in the 90s and ended drizzling in the 40s. ‘Blush Noisette opened its biggest flowers ever in the cold drizzle.
I grow ‘Blush Noisette’ as a freestanding bush rose. It has formed a nice vase shape about three feet cubed.
by M Sinclair Stevens in Austin, Texas
November 10th, 2003
I have a friend who grows literally hundreds of roses on what used to be his family’s large farm. He had one “set” of Blush Noisettes that never opened. He gave them away and got “another set” from a different vendor. These are totally different and have done fine. He has ten now, gave the other ten to a park in Florida.