REINE DES VIOLETTES
(Millet-Malet, 1860)A beautiful Hybrid Perpetual. One or more fragrant, very full purple blooms on the end of fairly long laterals. This rose is that it is very susceptible to Black Spot. The numerous accolades accorded Reine des Violettes are probably due to its unique combination of color and remontancy. Yes, there are plenty of purplish old roses, but none rebloom with the regularity of Reine des Violettes, if they rebloom at all.
Be forewarned, if you plant Reine des Violettes, that this is not a rose one grows for its buds -- which look incapable of doing anything interesting. The full blown flowers, though, are outstanding in both color and form. While no larger than 3½ in. across, each one is a perfectly symmetrical rosette with ranks of quartered petals arranged around a button eye.
The flowers are usually violet-red, smudged with wine and purple, although under the hot sun they can become a more pedestrian, but still attractive, cerise-magenta. Either way, they are intensely and uniquely fragrant, blending 'Damask' with wine and yeast-like overtones. While it is true that individual blooms are short-lived, Reine des Violettes reblooms exceptionally well for a Hybrid Perpetual. In fact, when well cared-for, it is in bloom almost continuously from late spring until frost.
As a shrub, Reine des Violettes is tall and upright, its thornless stems clothed in distinctive blue-green, matte textured foliage. The plants are very vigorous, but unfortunately susceptible to blackspot, which can rapidly defoliate them. If cared for after an outbreak of fungal disease, however, Reine des Violettes is strong enough to bounce back within a month.
