• Dr. N.C. Sen
• VIRsenmaria

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Apricot or apricot blend Hybrid Tea.
Registration name: VIRsenmaria
Exhibition name: Maria Cecilia Freeman ™

Bred by M.S. Viraraghavan (India, before 2013).

Hybrid Gigantea, Hybrid Tea.  

Apricot blend or apricot.  Apricot and pink with yellow center..  Moderate fragrance.  20 to 25 petals.  Average diameter 4.5".  Large, double (17-25 petals), borne mostly solitary bloom form.  Continuous (perpetual) bloom throughout the season.  

Medium, bushy.  Large, glossy, dark green foliage.  

Height: up to 4' (up to 120cm).  

Can be used for garden.  

Prickles: medium number, slender downward pointing, brown; young foliage brownish red.

This is a rich combination of roses from different countries—Naga Belle is Indian, ( Viru) Lady Mann is Australian ( Alister Clark), Winter Sunset is American ( Griffith Bucks) and Maebara’s Dream , while Viru’s rose has been named for a Japanese friend, Katsuhiko maebara. It has tons of R.gigantea in its parentage.
Dr N.C. Sen was a well known rose grower from Asansol in the then state of Bihar, and he was instrumental in sending us a good plant of the Bengal version of R.clinophylla. In fact he sent us a plant he had made from a plant sent to him by Mr S. Mukherjee of Bengal, one of the earliest rosarians to have this species in his garden. Many of Viru’s hybrids with R, clinophylla are from this clone. So we wanted to honor Dr Sen who had been so generous. We could not find a clinophylla seedling which we thought would do him justice, and anyway, very few rose growers are bothered about parentages, its only the flower and the plant which excite them.So since this seedling was vigorous and attractive with lovely colors in the flowers and large beautiful leaves, we called it ‘Dr. N.C.Sen’.

Then we saw the painting possibilities of the flower with its many hues of yellow and pink, and thought of our botanical artist friend, Cissy, in California. She has painted many of Viru's roses—Golden Threshold, Faith Whittlesey and R,gigantea itself, all beautifully and botanically extremely accurately portrayed. We felt strongly that we needed to pay tribute to this good friend and this rose seemed the best choice. So, in the USA it is ‘Maria Cecilia Freeman’ (Cissy’s full name) and ‘Dr. N.C.Sen’ in India.
We hope that Cissy will be enthused to paint this rose too.
2013. Hybrid gigantea. Named for a famous rosarian of West Bengal this new H.T. bears perfectly formed flowers of lovely shades of pink and gold on a vigorous plant,indicating its parentage from Rosa gigantea