Monday, March 21, 2011

A Visit With the Madame


Madame Alfred Carriere ("MAC") is a fine old white, climbing rose with a sweet fragrance that wafts on the breeze on a cool spring morning.  The buds start off a light, soft pink.



They stay this light pink as they open, but soon fade to a lovely, pure white.  This plant will be covered in blooms in a week or so.



It becomes quite a large climber in the South.  Mine is planted in the shadow of a big live oak tree and so is not in the ideal location.  Still, it's making the best of the situation and blooms beautifully.  There is a large flush in the spring, followed by sporadic blooms throughout the summer, and another smaller flush in the fall.  She loses about half her leaves to blackspot during the summer, but readily recovers and shrugs off the disease.  If you plant this rose on a pergola or arbor, you might also want to plant some bush rose at its base to hide the bare legs.   I recommend Marie Pavie as a nice complementary rose to go with this one.  Another thing to like about MAC is how few thorns she has. 

2 comments:

Jean Campbell said...

She's beautiful.

meemsnyc said...

That definitely is a pretty rose!