I hate to say this but this rose is U G L Y In the catalog they call it "Cafe Ole" and it looks kind of beige-orangish-tanish. Well, in real life it is gray. In the bud form it has a very light purplish tint to it. Then when it is fresh and just opened it retains a little of the lavender tint. After being open a day or so it becomes gray. Not white but GRAY! Strangest thing I've ever seen. I'm tempted to dig it out and put something pretty there but it does so well :-? very pale lavender ( photo / image / picture from stratsmom's Garden ) kind of pale lavender ( photo / image / picture from stratsmom's Garden ) Ugly gray roses ( photo / image / picture from stratsmom's Garden ) ugly gray ( photo / image / picture from stratsmom's Garden )
An old gardening friend of mine had 'grey' roses. When I asked him what colour they were exactly he said they were 'ashes of roses' - makes them sound more promising than just grey somehow. I rather liked them as his were heavily scented. Also being a type of rose that was more open than some they attracted lots of pollinating insects. I'd keep them and plant something dark beside them to bring out their colour better.
For someone that is exceptionally put off by people hyping over how beautiful roses are, I have to say yours are NOT ugly! I'd rather say they are of an odd colour but look healthy!
This is a fun discussion. I agree with Eileen, plant something contrasting nearby to see if that helps. It is such as shame because the rose looks super floriferous. How about a clematis, winding its way through the rose bush?
Go get the chainsaw and cut it down. I am just kidding. The second thing I think of when I see your ugly flower is to, go get the nicest lead crystal bowl and get a couple fresh just fully bloomed ugly rose. Fill the bowl up to the widest part with water and float the ugly roses. Bet that would make them beautiful. Sometimes if you drop a little food coloring in the water, it will accent what you are floating in it. Be careful not to drip it on the tablecloth.Just one drop of Bleach will help keep the water fresh and make the rose last longer. Try it and let's see how beautiful your ugly rose can become. Show us that. Barb in Pa.
My first thought was: "all God's children..." but I grew up with bucked teeth, so ugly is relative LOL I never thought of gray as a color until art school then we had a grisaille class and then I learned about seeing colors, composition and texture using only black, white and greys. Then we were allowed to use warm and cold greys. I later read JMW Turner's biography and how he painted. He spent good weather painting outside but only using greys. Then in his winter studio he took those grisaille sketches and painted in color. My husband, then boyfriend, tried to get a grant to do a year painting as Turner painted but in Boston, particularly at the Big Dig. Now, I see grey and think it is here to help us see color and appreciate the subtle beauty of what we see every day. That said, I just mentioned your grey rose to husband and he said, "so, tear it out..." So much for Turner, I said and he snorted and went off to work! LOL I wish I could trade you for my little red roses, not sure what they are since Japanese beetles ate the petals!
I also got some UGLY (to me, at least) rose bushes... my dad planted them before I became the master-gardener and well, there's so much I could plant in their place but well, it's HIS roses...
If they smell good, I wouldn't care what color they are, and don't think they're ugly at all. Most flowers that light-colored "glow" in the dark. Do these have that attribute? But it IS your yard, if you don't like it, I'm sure you could find someone who would dig it out for you if they can have it. An easy problem to solve.
I love odd things.Dig it up and ship it to me Deanna. My weeds would choke it out.I thinkthat light lilac is pretty.
Stratsmom--I just scrolled back and looked at your rose photos again. I swear 1/2 the probem is that it is planted against a white fence! As the owner of a white fence, white shed and the former owner of a white house, I swear that white is one of the hardest colors to plant against. Oh, sure, red stuff looks great against white, green looks good, but almost any other color is bleached out by the all pervasive white background. Particularly pastels. How about trying to move it to a more sympatico background?
