Rosa 'Blue River' - Shrub Rose

The 'Blue River' Rose forms a small, upright, vigorous bush that tirelessly produces beautiful flowers for bouquets from summer to autumn. Its globular roses display a refined range of colours, from lilac-purple speckled with white at the heart of the flower to fuchsia-pink washed with violet that spreads across each petal on the periphery of the corolla. Medium-sized and fully double, they are pleasantly fragrant, as roses of this colour tend to be. Incredibly romantic, it pairs wonderfully with old purple roses and blue bellflowers.

The 'Blue River' Rose (KORsicht), introduced by German rose breeder Kordes in 1984, belongs to the modern hybrid tea roses. This variety results from cross-breeding between the 'Blue Moon', a mauve rose, and 'Zorina', a red-orange floribunda. It received the Gold Medal in Baden Baden for its wonderful fragrance. It grows as a small bush, with vigorous growth and a relatively upright habit, reaching a height of no more than 90cm (35in) to 1m (3ft) and a width of 60-70cm (24-28in), making it suitable for large pots as well. Its slightly stiff branches, covered in prickles, bear flowers from June until the first frost. Medium-sized, with a width of 10cm (4in), they are grouped in small clusters on the current year's growth. Fully double, composed of 26 to 40 petals, they are pleasantly fragrant. Their colour evolves throughout the day: the sizeable light magenta buds open into slightly turbinate flowers, ranging from lilac-purple to parma at the centre, darker on the edges, with the outer petals almost solid fuchsia pink. The shiny dark green foliage is somewhat susceptible to rose diseases.

'Blue River' is an elegant, romantic, and colourful rose that will be cultivated in the garden to create beautiful bouquets. The shades of mauve and fuchsia in its plump and fragrant roses blend beautifully with Angelique tulips, catmint, bellflowers, and deep purple roses like 'Cardinal de Richelieu' and 'Deuil de Paul Fontaine', or the devilish colour of the old rose 'Robert le Diable'. Its moderate growth allows it to be easily grown in a large pot on the terrace to enjoy its superb flowering.

Created by W. Kordes' Söhne in 1984.