PlantFiles: Hybrid Tea Rose
Rosa 'Electron'

An absolutely brilliant, beautiful rose. I highly recommend this rose.

I LOVE THIS ROSE!!

It's like a beacon amongst my hybrid teas! The color is outstanding! The pictures do NOT do it justice... it's even brighter than my white roses!

I bought this rose as an own root juvenile from a grower. For almost a year, it didn't bloom at all (probably because it was too young). I was growing dissapointed (I seriously thought I was doing something wrong) with it until about two months ago, I finally saw a single bud. It was WELL worth the wait! It hasn't stopped blooming since! It's still shrimpy... but since it is getting a bit older, once a spent bloom comes off, it's already working on another. I can only imagine how it is going to perform when it is full grown.

I live in S. Florida, which means blackspot is a major problem. Even roses labeled "disease resistant" will get blackspot. Seriously, every hybridizer should test in S. Florida for disease/pest resistance because it's EXTREME. The Electron for some reason, was hardly ever effected by it (at the time, I was doing it "au natural" and not using any chemical treatments... I would simply remove the affected leaves.). When all the rest of my bushes had 3 or 4 leaves, the Electron was going strong! I am completely amazed as I have had some hybrid teas croak due to all the rain and humidity. So, this is one tough little bush for sure!

Before I bought it, I read up on it... some people have said they have had this bush in their garden for over 20 years. Now I know why, it's beautiful and hardy.

UPDATE: Sadly, my Electron is not doing so well. My entire garden was recently infested with spider mites (is there anything more evil than these things?!?!). Did every treatment known to man and STILL the spider mites were present. I finally got rid of them with a hosing of AVID miticide and an application a few days later of Spectracide Immunox Plus (good stuff right there). Unfortunately, the damage was done and my Electron is on the brink of death. Almost all of the leaves are wilted, or damaged in some way by the mites. Now, I have some dying canes, canes that are wilting away... it may not make it. If by some miracle it bounces back, then it is one SUPER TOUGH bush! From the looks of it though... it's pretty bleak. **cries**

NEW UPDATE: My Electron totally kicked the bucket... the Spidermites won. They also took a few others with them. :( Bummer because it took forever to get big enough just to bloom. I waited a few months to replace it and finally did just a short 2 months ago. I decided this time though, to buy two (2 is always better than one) because it was incredibly hard to find. They will probably take about a year to get big enough to bloom.

Electron has been growing in my parent's rose garden (which is now mine) for about 25 years. It's still one of the strongest rose plants in the bed and has one of the strongest fragrances. Like all hybrid tea roses in Northeast Ohio, it often dies down to the ground in cold winters, but it bounces back with beautiful blooms by mid-June. It does have large and quite numerous thorns, but I think that's its only downfall.

Bred in Northern Ireland. Won the RNRS Gold Medal in 1969, the The Hague Gold Medal and the Golden Rose in 1970, the Belfast Gold Medal in 1972, the All-America Rose Selection in 1973, the Portland Gold Medal in 1973, and the Court of Show Honor in 1999, and again in 2001.

Parentage:
Seed: Paddy McGredy
Pollen: Prima Ballerina