Rosa Sherlock Holmes

Rosa Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the best in the series of modern hybrids called English Legend. This astonishing variety combines beautiful form, delicate fragrance, strong growth, and excellent disease resistance. It bears beautiful dark green foliage. It produces fully double roses, delicately coloured in apricot-orange. They bloom for several months, emitting a beautiful spicy and fruity fragrance. It is a reliable choice for borders and flower beds. Its roses are also very beautiful in a vase.

The English Legend collection brings together roses created in England in the 1990s by the famous breeder Robert Harkness. With their repeat flowering and delicate fragrance, they express all the charm of English roses. Rosa Sherlock Holmes is a hybrid tea rose, characterised by an upright habit and vigorous growth. This bush quickly reaches about 90cm (35in) in height and 70cm (28in) in width. Its thorny stems bear reddish young shoots that unfold into dark green, shiny leaves, divided into 5 finely toothed leaflets. The foliage is not very susceptible to diseases under good growing conditions. Its flowering is long and abundant, renewing itself in successive waves from May-June to October if the soil remains moist. The flowers are solitary or gathered in small clusters of 3. They have a diameter of 8 to 10cm (3 to 4in). Their somewhat globular cups are composed of 90 petals arranged in quarters. Their fragrance is pronounced, reaching its peak at noon and in the evening, after a hot and sunny day. The foliage is deciduous, falling in autumn.

English shrub roses can be used to create beautiful small hedges, planted along the edge of a patio, or in modest-sized shrub borders. Combine them with Mexican oranges or caryopteris, for example. They make good companions for panicle phlox and tall baby's breath. Rosa Sherlock Holmes will look wonderful when planted in groups of 3, forming an extremely decorative large bush. It can be surrounded by catmints, lavenders, and perennial or shrubby salvias with blue, mauve, or white flowers. This very hardy rose requires little maintenance. It thrives in full sun or partial shade. It will delight all gardeners, whether beginners or experienced.