Some of the many faces of Sweetness

15 years ago

Sweetness (grandiflora) is new to me! I got her as a bare root own root rose from Jackson & Perkins as a birthday present from a dear friend in January this year. Since I was not familiar with that rose, I planted her in a container to make sure that I got a correctly labeled plant and also to see the color of her flowers in reality before I place her in the garden and not only on the advertisement photo of J&P.

The rose started to grow strong immediately, but first I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed when the rose started to bloom, because I expected to get a pure lavender colored rose, but the first buds contained a lot of a color that I would call mauve on the outer side of the petals. At a certain point I felt I had bought a bi-colored rose and I found the overall impression of the rose a little bit restless.

But when the flowers matured the rose really grew on me. They turned out to be a beautiful lavender and even though the mauve is still there on the reverse of the petals it is not so prominent anymore. The flowers are huge and full (relatively high petal count) especially for such a very young rose growing in a pot. The leaves are very healthy so far. In the meantime I really like the look of this rose, but the best is her fragrance. It is truly strong and very pleasant to my nose.

Altogether I would say that it is a very promising rose, but it has to become more mature to make a final judgment. Anyway, now I am in love with her and she will get a prime spot in my garden!

Please, let me know what you think of this rose!

Thanks for looking!

Mature flower

Side view, where the mauve reverse is clearly to see

Mature flower in the evening light

Another bud opening

Young fully opened flower

Bush shot

Close up

Comments (8)

lesmc
15 years ago
I am so excited...I have a Sweetness planted and look forward to my first blooms. It is beautiful. I want to thank you for the full rose bush photo. I find this so helpful to me. Many thanks....Lesley
mashamcl
15 years ago
Thanks for your report on Sweetness, Organic. I think the color is beautiful, mixed with mauve or not :-)
Masha
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lesdvs9
15 years ago
She is just beautiful Organic! She's busting out of that pot, if she looks like that now, she'll grow like crazy once you have her planted:) I'm giving the max growth J&P gives a large grain of salt, I'm betting in these zones she gets larger, we'll see. I don't have any rose that hasn't exceeded the max given by the grower/hybridizer. I'm glad I left extra room in most cases. Great pics and I love that last in your face one, wonderful color.
Thanks for sharing, I'm glad you put these on.
Les
ramblinrosez7b
15 years ago
Sweetness in very pretty, it reminds me of Neptune the way it has the mauve reverse on it. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.
organicgardendreams
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks to all of you for your kind comments!

lesmc, I am glad that you find my bush shot photo helpful!

Masha, the color is beautiful you are right, I just had to get used to it ;-)!

Les, yes she has exploded in her pot and I totally agree with your assumption that this rose will exceed the J&P's growth numbers. I am planning to give her plenty of space, but I guess she will grow more up than wide.

ramblinrose, I looked Neptune up at HMF and I am surprised how similar these two roses seem to be! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Judging by the photos Neptune looks a tat lighter in color to me, but it is so hard to grab the color precisely in a picture. The petal count that is listed there is the same that J&P is giving for Sweetness.

I am wondering if someone, who grows both roses would chime in and let us know, what the differences are. I think Beth grows both, hopefully she reads this!
Canoli1978
10 years ago
Thank you for your post about this rose. My boyfriend and I have been looking to buy a sweetness rose and he was told that maybe the grower went out of business. We can not find it in nurseries around Portland or Seattle. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks
paulieinct
10 years ago
Outstanding shots. I grow this one too, and I agree with your accolades.
jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
10 years ago
Nice! :)