HELPMEFIND PLANTS COMMERCIAL NON-COMMERCIAL RESOURCES EVENTS PEOPLE RATINGS
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In Southeast England (cool and mild, zone 8) this rose smells very much like The Doctor and similar to New Zealand (which I think is its grandparent, via Meredith/Chris Beardshaw). It’s a strong but very mellow rose scent, without the slightest touch of tanginess/sharpness/fruitiness, sweet and rich, almost creamy/buttery. There’s no citrus in it at all, not even a hint. The plant has a branching (not bushy) habit, which I quite like. The first bloom this year has been lasting for several days, opening very slowly.
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To my nose, Sugar Moon is the only rose that smells like Ponds cold cream. Reminds me of my late granny whenever I get a noseful.
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#2 of 3 posted
3 JUN 18 by
Hamanasu
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I’ve never smelt Ponds cream, but I definitely agree that there’s something distinctly like a cosmetic about the scent of sugar moon!
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Totally smells like Ponds Cold cream to me too, not my favorite.
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My Destin blooms very little and though it behaved like a bush for a couple of years, now it wants to climb. I cut the outsize cane it threw last year and this year it produced two new shoots right under the cut -- one that suggested I might be able to keep it in check, and now another one that's ridiculously fat and growing a mile a minute. The blooms are beautiful and strongly scented and of course this rare heritage variety is now unobtainable in Britain because of Brexit... So I'll keep it in the hope that if I let it climb to its heart's content (ok, that'll be hard in a pot, but whatever) it will eventually reward me with a decent amount of flowers.
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The pictures you posted are amazing.
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With or without spraying (sulphur) this rose has been showing extreme susceptibility to blackspot. It might be the reason why it seems to have been pulled from the Fryers/Blue Diamond catalogue. It's such a pity, as it's so beautiful, but the combination of lateness in coming into bloom followed by blackspot defoliation makes it a poor choice for gardens in wet and cool climates.
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I grew this rose (provenance: Beales) for a season but the mildew was so appalling I quickly disposed of it (oh, the regret... I don't think it's available in Britain any more). Recently, I was in Gardone Riviera (Italy) and spotted a single, neglected but perfectly glorious bush of what I believe to have been this rose. It was growing in a small terrace-like strip of green next to a public bench between two roads running parallel, but on different levels. The scent was divine -- sweeter than Crimson Glory (which I got to smell several times on my trip, as I found a few plants of it locally). I was struck by the small fairly glaucous foliage of 'FD -- in commerce as'. This seems a pretty distinctive feature of this rose, visible in several of the pictures here on HMF, but you can't always trust cameras... Would anyone growing 'FD -- in commerce as' describe its foliage as on the glaucous side of green?
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#1 of 6 posted
8 JUL by
 Lee H.
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I grow ‘Francis Dubreuil, in commerce as’, at least the version available in the US. It is one of my favorites. I don’t think I would describe the foliage as either noticeably smaller or more glaucous than average, but to satisfy my curiosity, I compared mature terminal leaflets of F.D. (In center) with other well-known cultivars. I would say it is one of the darkest, but not necessarily bluer. Picture taken in full morning sunlight. Take a look.
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Thank you for such a wonderfully useful response! This makes me wonder what the sweet-scented rose I saw in Italy actually was. As soon as I saw it, FD came to mind, but I grew that variety some years ago, so my memory must have played tricks on me. I should have taken a picture of the rose in Italy. BTW, I realised some weeks ago that Peter Beales still sells FD and I put in an order for a new bare root plant. In 2024 I'll be able to compare notes.
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I agree with you that the foliage is glaucous.... bluey/grey green...
The first time I bought this rose, I was talking with the late Peter Beales at his nursery, and I had a pot of this in my hand... he asked me what it was.. so I showed him the label, he said ''oh yes!''.. but did not mention that it's not actually a Tea rose, which it said on the label..
I was unaware of the discrepancy at that time.. Lovely scent, rather a weak neck..
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Thank you, Marlorena. They are still selling it as FD and classifying it as a tea. I understand the logic of that commercially, but it would be nice if in the description they provided further details about the issues with identification of this variety.
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Best grab one before they sell up ... who knows what might happen to their roses in future..
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#6 of 6 posted
9 JUL by
Lee H.
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Yes, I see Beales is still selling it as the genuine article, even stating "...bred by Dubreuil". Antique Rose Emporium in the US also sells it with no qualifiers. Which left me only slightly miffed, once I found out how good this impostor really is.
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