PlantFiles: China Rose, Tea Rose, Bengale Rose
Rosa 'Louis Philippe'

Beautiful rose! Now that I have it, I wouldn't be without it. It was given to me as a "Seven Sisters" rose but I knew that couldn't be right so I just called it my Ruby Red. I use the roses to make rose potpourri. It's such a generous bloomer, that I will never miss the roses I pluck. Mine does fall prey to black spot on occasion and to aphids but this plucky plant is so hardy that the overall quality and beauty of the plant is unaffected.

When I first bought this rose I was told that it was called a Cracker rose. That was at least 8 years ago. I now have 2 of them, both about 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide. When they get this big though they have to be supported by some type of heavy duty trellis or they fall over. One of my bushes is woven into a 6 foot tall board fence. The bushes bloom year round where I live in central Florida and don't seem to be effected by pests or diseases. They also have a fantastic fragrence.

I bought this rose last Spring as an "antique" rose, which are the only roses that seem to resist black spot here in our very wet Northcentral Florida, zone 8b, climate. It is still in a pot, but growing beautifully, and has flowered sporatically during our long, cool and wet summer--for us anything under 90F degrees is cool in August. It will be planted in a prominent place this fall, as the small, velvety, cerise-red flowers, with little white centers, is quite dramatic looking. The new foilage has an attractive reddish tinge.

I obtained a rooted cutting of this rose while working in Florida. With some trepidation, I planted it outside here in zone 6. It has gone through 2 winters very well, with no protection. However, the china roses are actually all warm climate roses, and continue growing all the time (resisting dormancy), so if we have an unusually cold winter I may lose it. I love it's blended colors of pink and red, it's cupped shape, and it's wonderful fragrance. It seems quite resistant to all rose diseases so far.