Rosa Mrs Oakley Fisher - Hybrid Tea

Rosa 'Mrs Oakley Fisher', too little planted in our gardens, is perhaps the most refined of the single-flowered Hybrid Teas. It stands out for its graceful appearance of an old or botanical rose, its slender wood of thorny bush forming beautiful eglantines with a soft yellow colour nuanced with pale orange, both charming and natural. Its flowering lasts a long time, from spring to autumn. Although much smaller than its vigorous cousin 'Mutabilis', it shares with it a unique charm, excellent disease resistance, floribundity, but also a preference for mild climates. A rose to adopt when you love eglantines!

Rosa 'Mrs Oakley Fisher' is an English creation by Benjamin R. Cant & Sons, dating back to 1921. This variety is quite difficult to find in French horticultural trade despite all its value. A little slow to establish, it forms in a well-prepared soil a pretty, slender and rounded bush, with reddish-brown thorny stems, about 80-90cm (31.5 - 35.4in) in all directions, flexible, and covered with a small foliage resistant to diseases, of a shiny and original bronze-green colour. Its flowering is abundant from June to September-October. Its corollas, 5-6cm (2 - 2.4in) wide, are single, with 5 petals, gathered in clusters of 5 to 7 light flowers revealing a crown of yellow stamens and a small bright orange heart. The pointed orange buds open into flat and well-opened cups, blending different shades of yellow, salmon, and orange sorbet. Their fragrance is light.

Bush roses allow for beautiful small hedges, planted mixed at the edge of the terrace or in small-sized shrub beds. Associate them with Abelias, Nandinas, or Caryopteris for example. They are good companions for panicle phloxes and tall Gypsophilias. The moderate pruning and the natural distinction of the 'Mrs Oakley Fisher' rose make it a variety to highlight in a small garden, among non-invasive perennials (it fears competition from other plants, especially when young) with discreet flowering that will not overshadow its unique charm (white Astrantias, Stachys, Crambe cordifolia, small grasses...). According to the desires of each gardener, it can be planted in a bed of eglantine roses (Rosa mutabilis, English roses 'Morning Mist' or 'Fighting Temeraire'), accompanied by white varieties ('Marie Pavie', 'Swanny'), or mauve ones ('Blue Boy', 'Rhapsody in Blue', 'Roman Waltz'), or mixed with easy-to-grow perennials such as perennial geraniums, small-flowered carnations, or asters.