• Royal Friend

Deep pink.

Bred by M.S. Viraraghavan (India, 2008).

Climber, Hybrid Clinophylla, Noisette.  

Deep pink.  Tea fragrance.  25 to 35 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Medium to large, full (26-40 petals), borne mostly solitary, in small clusters bloom form.  Continuous (perpetual) bloom throughout the season.  Large buds.  

Medium, climbing.  Medium, glossy, medium green foliage.  

Prickles: many , whitish grey, pointing straight. Rounded foliage.

We think that this is a new kind of rose—a climbing clinophylla Noisette.

Named to honour a very dear friend of the family, who belonged to a princely state of north India, which is a part of the Himalayan mountain range, and whom we always referred to as ‘Rajmata’ ( Queen Mother) since by the time we came to know her in the 1950s it was her son who had become the King. We feel that probably this rose species, Rosa clinophylla, was likely to have been endemic to the kingdom and region that she and her husband ruled.

Dedicated to Kamalendumati Shah (March 20, 1903 Tehri Garhwal - July 15, 1999). Indian politician and social worker