Thanks very much Patricia - and you have prompted me to do something about replacing the 'Betty' I lost last summer. The house and garden that 'Betty' was collected from has been sold, but the beautiful old rose was still there when I last drove by.
This rose isn't a re-identified foundling - the lovely woman who owned the garden remembered her father planting it and teaching her the name.
I've always thought this rose shows a lot of its Tea heritage. It is slow to establish and vulnerable in its earliest years but becomes stronger with age and is clearly capable of living to a great age if it makes it through the early years. The foliage is very nice - smooth and clean-looking. It doesn't like a hard prune - looks far lovelier and seems healthier if just trimmed and tidied up around the edges as you might a Tea. The fragrance is definitely fruity - though to my nose not just citrus notes - far more complex and layered. The colour has a subtlety and varies to the extent that sometimes it looks like a pink rose and sometimes more apricot. And yes - not a lot of petals.