Rosa Soul - modern shrub rose

Rosa 'Soul' from the beautiful Nostalgie series, combines all the qualities of a bush rose: it possesses the charm and fragrance of old-fashioned roses, perpetual flowering, excellent hardiness and exceptional disease resistance, recognised by the very demanding German A.D.R. certificate With its lovely bushy habit and heavy flowers with deep pink-violet petals, this variety will work well in a romantic garden, a flowerbed or a small flowering hedge.

The 'Soul' Bush Rose was introduced in 2014 by the German rose breeder Tantau. This exceptional variety has received several awards in Germany and England, including the A.D.R label in 2015. It is bushy, upright and vigorous and will reach an average height of 1.20 m (4ft) with a spread of 80 cm (32in) after 5 to 6 years.  Its flowering is perpetual from June to October, if the soil remains moist. Its 8-10 cm (3-4in) wide flowers are composed of more than 40 tightly packed petals. Their arrangement, in quarters, strongly resembles that of old-fashioned roses such as Madame Isaac Pereire for example. They are a durable deep pink-red-violet and their fragrance is powerful and sweet. They emerge as large dark pink buds, grouped in clusters on the current year's growth or one-year-old wood. The fairly flexible stems are covered with very healthy foliage from spring to autumn, divided into light and vibrant green leaflets with a satin finish. The young shoots of this rose are tinged with purple. The foliage falls in late autumn.

Floribunda roses are great in lovely small hedges, planted along the edge of the terrace or in beds of small shrubs. Combine them with dwarf abelias, Mexican orange blossoms, deciduous pink or blue ceanothus, or caryopteris for example. They make good companions for peonies, panicle phlox and tall baby's breath. 'Soul' is extremely fragrant, perfect for high-traffic areas, along the edge of the terrace or under a window. Planted in groups of 3, it will perfume a whole area of the garden for months on end. It is versatile, plant it alongside white varieties (Marie Pavie, Swany), pinks, reds or mauves (Blue Boy, Rhapsody in Blue, Love Song), or mixed with easy-to-grow plants such as Rozanne perennial geraniums, perennial salvias, catmints, or even herbaceous clematis.