Rosa Honorine de Brabant - Bourbon Rose

The old rose 'Honorine de Brabant', both a gourmet evocation of Bourbon Island and a reminiscence of the Victorian era, produces round and double roses, striated and splashed with lilac, light magenta pink and carmine on a soft pink background, in a very "shabby chic" spirit. It forms a large bush dressed in ample and light green foliage, which can be grown as a free-standing bush or trained as a small climber on a pergola. Its flowering is late, in July, but quite generous, exhaling a pleasant fragrance with raspberry notes. It slightly blooms again in autumn with very beautiful but few roses.

Rosa 'Honorine de Brabant' is an old shrub variety, of somewhat mysterious origin, introduced to the market in 1899; it is believed to have been obtained around 1840, but the name of its creator remains uncertain. It comes from the 'Bourbon' rose, a hybrid discovered on the island of the same name, now called Reunion Island. Of beautiful stature, it forms a dense bush with an ample habit without being stiff, which can reach over 1.3m (4ft 3in) in height and 1.3m (4 ft 3 in) in width. Its deciduous and abundant foliage is carried by flexible, non-thorny stems. It has a medium disease resistance. It generally flowers in July, abundantly, and then sporadically in September-October, once it is well established in fertile soil. It produces very double roses, with fairly round cups, but well open, about 6cm (2.4in) wide, formed by more than 40 petals, grouped in 3s. Their colour, very fresh, mixes soft pink, lilac, light magenta and carmine. The fragrance of its roses is pleasant, with fruity notes that can recall the scent of raspberries or blackcurrants.

The use of the 'Honorine de Brabant' rose is versatile, from romantic bouquets, to landscape hedges, training as a small climber, to isolated specimens on a meadow. Its roses go well with the silvery foliage of Santolinias, Stachys lanata, white foxgloves or paniculate Gypsophila. It will also thrive in tall beds, in the company of variegated dogwoods, serviceberries, snowball viburnums or sweetspires, which will enhance its flowering. It also deserves, for its wonderful fragrance, to be planted in fragrance gardens.

If you have enough space, English, Old or Shrub Roses are magnificent planted in groups of three. They will grow together to form 'one' opulent bush that will bloom even more generously.