Rosa x persica - 'Peace and Love' - Floribunda Rose

The Rose or Rosa 'Peace and Love' (Chewsunsign) is a surprising modern hybrid, descended from a botanical species called Rosa persica. It has inherited from its eccentric ancestor, lost in the deserts of Central Asia, a highly contrasting heart that has made generations of breeders and rose enthusiasts envious. 'Peace and Love' produces thousands of simple roses with a delicate appearance, trembling in their pink corolla where a brown-red centre burns—the bright pink buds open on a small, disease-resistant bush into delicately scented flowers. The intensity and regularity of its original flowering are surprising and inevitably seductive. This astonishing and constantly flowering novelty is also a plant well adapted to dry and hot regions and pot cultivation.

The Rosa x persica Peace and Love (Chewsunsign), also called 'Bright as a button' or 'Eyes on Me', obtained by the British breeder Chris Warner (before 2006), won second prize at the Paris Bagatelle competition in 2011 and the Grand Prix de la Rose SNHF 2013. It descends from a wild rose, named the Persian rose, discovered in 1784 by the botanist André Michaux in the Zagros Mountains between Iran and Iraq. The unique bicoloured flowers it offers have since encouraged breeders to attempt its hybridization with other cosmopolitan species and varieties. After years of research and selection, interesting new hybrid cultivars have emerged, particularly in England.

'Peace and Love', classified in the floribunda rose category, is a bush or shrub with an upright and bushy habit, not exceeding 80 cm (32in) in height and 60 cm (24in) in width. It stands out for its remarkably long and regular flowering, from May to October, but also for the beautiful colour of its bicoloured roses. Its branches are moderately thorny and adorned with small foliage of a rather dark green, slightly shiny, and remarkably healthy. Flowering occurs relatively early, in May-June, sometimes as early as April in warm climates, and regularly renews until September-October. The simple flowers, formed by five petals arranged in flat cups, measure about 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3in) in diameter. They have a brown-red-purple centre on a pink background that varies in intensity depending on the flowering stage. Their fragrance is pleasant, light, and delicate.

Wild and precious, the Rosa 'Peace and Love' is a unique rose that will fit nicely in a country-style flowerbed and in a dry garden, where it will bring a lot of lushness with a few occasional waterings. This variety, which brings something genuinely new, deserves a prime location. It will be adopted more than any other in a large pot on the terrace, in a Mediterranean garden, on a slope, in a large rockery, wherever other 'classic' roses, more water-hungry, would sulk. It is also sufficiently hardy to withstand our average winters, which allows it to be adopted almost everywhere. With its small growth, it will adapt to the more limited spaces of city gardens. For example, on the edge of a flowerbed, it can be paired with pink or white foxgloves, lavender, purple linarias, or pretty grasses like Muhlenbergia capillaris or Stipa capillata. This rose is also beautiful in front of a mass of tall asters (Aster laevis, Aster turbinellus, Kalimeris mongolica, Solidaster), free in a wild garden or surrounded by catmints and silver baskets.