The traditional symbolic flower of Italy is the rose, and one of the most beautiful Italian roses is the Rosa Variegata di Bologna. It is a Bourbon rose, originally bred in Italy by Bonfiglioli & Son in 1909.
The variegated blooms are lovely with their peppermint-like shades of white and pale pink-purple stripes.
The repeat blooming flowers are double and appear in clusters. They are exceptionally fragrant, even for a Bourbon rose.
The foilage is plentiful and very attractive. Since the plant is tall and has arching canes, it’s best grown and trained as a climber, a great small climber actually. It can easily be trained on an open wrought iron fence like in the picture below.
This rose probably won’t give you a good flower show the first season, so don’t be alarmed if you have little or no flowering the first year.
It will make up for it later. Most of the old roses that climb don’t produce a lot of flowers the first season. They need time to grow flowering canes and flower mostly from old wood from previous year, so do not prune for a while, or you won’t have any flowers at all.
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- Old roses and their place in my garden (countrylivinged.com)
Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland” where they are having to paint the roses to keep the Queen happy! Very beautiful.
What a wonderful comparison!!
Thanks!!
Gorgeous roses! They look so pretty climbing on the white fence. Perfect setting for a beautiful rose.
Thanks!!
Cool blog, and great pics.
Thanks!!
I’ve never seen a rose as lovely, so sweetly dappled with vermillion. Wonder how it would grow here?
I don’t have it, but I’ll bet it grows well here. It’s sold out everywhere I’ve looked online.
La rosa è bellissima….:)
Si!
They are so beautiful. What a gorgeous post to start off the weekend, thank you!
You’re very welcome!
The flower is absolutely beautiful!!! This is our first time seeing a rose like this. We wish you owned a flower shop, we would order today! Thanks for sharing. We are going to have to go looking for them.
Hope you have a great weekend!
I wish I owned a flower shop too!
I found them for sale at High Country Roses in Utah.
No words… – just AMAZING Roses !!!
They really are….