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'Purple Tiger' rose Reviews & Comments
Discussion id : 91-680
most recent 19 FEB 18 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 23 MAR 16 by drossb1986
It's still early, but here in Houston Purple Tiger hasn't been too bad. The coloring is what it is, love it or hate it. It hasn't had a blackspot issue yet. It's bloomed at a decent clip, and I've left most of the blooms on the bush rather than cut them. My only negative is that I find the foliage on PT to be, frankly, ugly. Even healthy, it looks a little sickly to my eye. It's on the lighter shade of green as rose foliage goes, and has a slight maroon edging. It's just strange, and that may be a personal taste of mine, but I would certainly not categorize it as attractive. However, PT is grown because the color is so different, not because it makes the best all around plant.

August 2016 Update: Spoke too soon. Purple Tiger got some nasty blackspot, as others often report, and almost completely defoliated despite spraying. The first 2 spring flushes were quite beautiful, but it has been a turd through the summer. I wish someone could develop a more robust and disease resistant version of Purple Tiger. As someone else said about PT, it's a bit of a love-hate relationship.
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Reply #1 of 11 posted 15 JAN 17 by Andrew from Dolton
and you can't polish a turd...
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Reply #2 of 11 posted 20 JAN 17 by Kim Rupert
Amen! When John Walden, formerly of J&P R&D Facility, visited my old Newhall garden many years ago, I asked him WHY they pushed THAT out on the gardening public. He chuckled and stated, "If you think it's bad now, you should have seen it before we cleaned it of virus." He also stated that there was an "improved" version of it in the pipeline. He was referring to Tigress (the grandiflora, not the Hulthemia), which sort of resembles it, if you squint. Tigress is a stronger grower, but was no healthier for me.
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Reply #3 of 11 posted 20 JAN 17 by Andrew from Dolton
Kim, that is very interesting, that it was virused. From the information on HMF both its parents are reliable and healthy roses. Purple Tiger grows just like an old variety of a plant that has been propagated vegetativly for years and years and eventually becomes full of virus and is weak, difficult and temperamental to grow. There is drosb1986's comment "Even healthy, it looks a little sickly to my eye" and I am wondering if it was totally cleaned of virus or certain stocks have become reinfected?
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Reply #4 of 11 posted 20 JAN 17 by Kim Rupert
When Jackson and Perkins bought Armstrong Roses, it was simply to obtain their outstanding patents. The Armstrong stock was burned in the fields due to the extensive virus. Double Delight, among others, was still under patent and Armstrong was the patent holder. I grew Purple Tiger as a new introduction, virus indexed, budded on virus indexed Dr. Huey, and it demanded the best of everything. It would not grow in the open ground, but in a large pot, in the best potting soil and regular, fairly heavy feedings, it produced reluctant inches of growth and a number of beautifully colored flowers. Could it have been re infected over the years? Certainly. The cleanliness of the stock can only be guaranteed when the tests are conducted. Once it leaves the hands of the testers, it's anyone's guess how it's propagated. It really doesn't matter whether its parents are vigorous, healthy plants. Seedlings can inherit incompatible combinations of genes even from the best of parents. You can select the best of parents and frequently raise some very "unfortunate" offspring from them. Add selecting for the "pretty face", the flower, instead of the health and vigor of the plant and you find all sorts of "should have been culled" plants like Purple Tiger. Had it not been the first commercial, striped, mauve, full sized modern rose, it would never have seen the light of day. As for whether it was completely cleaned or not, some theorize false negatives are more common than those who have been involved in the process for decades state. From what I have been told by those who actually perform the treatments and tests, false positives are more likely to be obtained. If the rose tests clean, it should be clean with no chance of the virus re occurring unless someone does something stupid, such as bud it to unclean root stock. Unfortunately, that is something that happens far too frequently when the costs of the plants are pushed too low to pay for the care required, or when you have an introducer who simply doesn't care whether their stock is contaminated or not.
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Reply #5 of 11 posted 23 JAN 17 by drossb1986
Your comment about Tigress is interesting. I've looked for it, but I haven't been able to find it. I thought that it may be a better plant, or at least one that's a bit larger and more vigorous. But, bless this little plants heart...it is the definition of struggle bus. I've actually avoided purchasing it's parent Intrigue because I've read it blackspots like crazy too. I like mauve/lavender/purple roses, but good lord they are fussy!
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Reply #6 of 11 posted 23 JAN 17 by Kim Rupert
Tigress is a stronger, larger plant with larger flowers. I didn't find it tremendously healthier, but it did grow more and produce more flowers. Intrigue grows better than Purple Tiger, and I grew that in 1984 (and later) when it was introduced. When it's pretty, it's very pretty. The operative word is "WHEN". I guess I've been blessed. I, too, love mauve roses and for the most part, most weren't severe issues where I have been able to grow them. Out of curiosity, have you grown Buck's Blue Skies? (Bucblu) It was horrific here, in every conceivable way. Perhaps your conditions are closer to those under which it was selected? It definitely hated the mid California desert. Blue Skies may be worth your looking into. It isn't striped, though.
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Reply #7 of 11 posted 24 JAN 17 by Daniel Alm
*Sigh* So it IS the plant and not my fault. I had a budded Purple Tiger years ago that grew perfectly well in SoCal, but I left it there after moving. I recently got one own root two or three years ago because it wasn't sold grafted at the time. The little scrublet has barely grown a centimeter since then but does bloom every now and then. This variety is barely more vigorous than Grey Pearl, but sorely lacking in intrigue. It's showing up on the shelves again budded as Weeks' standards, I'm tempted to try it as little potted lollipops, but I doubt the retarded growth from the tree grafting will help. Any idea if PT performs better on a particular rootstock? I wonder if Purple Splash is any better, but the petal count seems drastically lower.
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Reply #8 of 11 posted 24 JAN 17 by Kim Rupert
Nope, not your fault at all, other than hoping an own root plant would suffice. But, that's how we learn, isn't it? Why not learn to bud? It is NOT difficult and it IS fun! You can very easily coax a few buds from your own root disaster without removing any of the growth and place them under the bark of the stock of your choice, resulting in some almost decent plants for your garden. Of course there are the patent issues, but for those no longer under patent, it isn't a problem. If Purple Tiger was ever patented, that should have expired some five years ago, so I would explore that option if the rose is something you just HAVE to grow. Soaring Spirits does have fewer petals and it's also a climber, not a smaller floribunda, so other than similar flower coloring, there it is no real substitution for PT. As for what stocks Purple Tiger may do better on, it's more a question of which stocks are better suited for your soil/water/climate. I have friends in several places in Texas and they all report decent results using Dr. Huey, with some good reports using Ralph Moore's Pink Clouds (the EASIEST one to bud to nearly year round) with some reports of very good results using good old stand-bys like Spray Cecile Brunner. Chip Budding is the easiest method to use for the home gardener and requires very little patience, skill or practice, but practice does improve the results tremendously and it IS fun. I have a blog post about it here. http://pushingtheroseenvelope.blogspot.com/2014/11/chip-budding.html And you can find others on line, including some You Tube videos. Plus, if you'd like to send me your email, I can put you in touch with a friend down there who is into budding BIG TIME and does it very well. She's teased about being the "Rose Queen of Kerrville". Nice lady and a real fun person to know. Please let me know if you'd be interested. Thanks! Kim
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Reply #9 of 11 posted 19 FEB 18 by Give me caffeine
Just saw this, and read the blog post you linked to. Good stuff. I may have to try this.

Edit. Oh. Found the post about wrapping long cuttings. Now that I am going to have to try.
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Reply #10 of 11 posted 19 FEB 18 by Kim Rupert
Good! I'm glad you enjoyed them. Depending upon where you are, now could be a good time to try the wraps. I removed my first batch earlier this week and they worked quite well. The first is Anne Belovich, a Wichurana based large flowered climber I bred. The second is a Banksiae lutescens seedling I raised and the final ones are a complex cross I bred which makes quite sturdy, smooth wood.
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Reply #11 of 11 posted 19 FEB 18 by Give me caffeine
It's late summer here, but it's the sub-tropics and autumn is one of the best planting seasons anyway. Cuttings would probably still do ok now.
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