Rosa Moonstone - Hybrid Tea Rose

The 'Moonstone' Rose astonishes with its size, the soft fragrance of Tea Rose, and the perfection of its delicately edged white flowers. With a modern style, beautifully turbinate, much wider than the hand that picks them, they would resemble sugar roses or porcelain flowers if their thick texture and excellent durability did not belie this apparent fragility. The plant proudly bearing these marvels is a vigorous, heat-resistant bush supported by strong stems and adorned with tough, dark, and elegant foliage. This rose, so poetically named "moonstone," is a fantastic cut flower.

'Moonstone' or 'WEKcryland' (also known as 'Cadillac DeVille') is a modern shrub rose with large flowers related to Tea Hybrid roses, registered in 1999 by American rose breeder Tom Carruth. This talented breeder has also produced superb varieties such as 'Scentimental' and 'Hot Cocoa'. This vigorous bush with an erect and bushy habit reaches approximately 1.10m (4ft) in height and 70-80cm (28-32in) in width at maturity, with rapid growth in rich and moist soil. It produces strong, upright branches with elegant, large, dark green leaflets. Throughout the summer, if faded flowers are removed, its immense flowers, composed of 26 to 40 slightly recurved petals and measuring 14 to 16 cm (6in) in diameter, open into typical modern hybrid tea flowers. White dominates the flower, which fades over time. Its centre is pinker, and each petal is edged with the same fresh pink. They are solitary, borne at the end of long shoots from the current year or emerging from 2-year-old stems. Their fragrance is rather light, characteristic of tea roses. The flowering, very abundant, spans from June until the first frost.

This 'Moonstone' rose, with its splendid flowers and delicate fragrance, is perfect for romantic bouquets. In the garden, place it in a bed of light flowers or in groups of 3 plants as a solitary specimen, surrounded by silver baskets, perennial geraniums, and catmints. With a medium size and upright habit, it blends well in beds of shrubs with summer or autumn flowering or mixed with perennials and light annuals such as Crambe cordifolia, paniculate phlox, or tall foxgloves. White roses like 'Mémoire' or 'Virgo' accompany it. Pairing it with mauve roses is elegant: cultivars like 'Blue Girl' or 'Claude Brasseur' will enhance its beautiful pastel flowering without overshadowing it. It can be enhanced by a boxwood or yew screen or, conversely, surrounded by a miniature hedge or a carefully organised maze, as in Italian or French gardens. Above all, it is a sumptuous rose that can be placed near the house to enjoy its flowers at leisure.

Bred by Carruth in 1999.