Saw this in today's Denver Post:


GREAT FOR FRAGRANCE Another new Plant Select recommendation is Ruby Voodoo rose, a fragrant shrub rose developed by John Starnes. It features dark pink double blossoms that have an intoxicating, deep rose scent. Ruby Voodoo needs much drier soil than other hybrid roses. Plant it in full sun in a mixed perennial border where it can dry out between waterings. It blooms heavily in June, and can grow to 6 feet tall unless pruned annually. (Provided by Plant Select)

I'm going to have to see if one of my LGS has this. Love the color, love the fact that it's semi-xeric!

This photo of it is not as exciting, and HMF describes it as dark red:

http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...

Look like two TOTALLY different roses! The one the Post listed (which probably is wrong, given that its the Denver Post) looks like an Austin and the one on HMF looks like a regular HT.

Ah, here's a picture of the actual plant in action! The pic on HMF doesn't show THIS!
http://plantselect.org/support...


http://plantselect.org/plant-s...

I'm definitely going to see if I can find this! Nick's Gardens carries a LOT of Plant Select plants, so undoubtedly they'll have this. I'm going there this Saturday after my dental appt.

Also, this:

zuzu said:This photo of it is not as exciting, and HMF describes it as dark red:

http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...

How is that picture possible if the rose was introduced in 2004 and the picture is copyrighted 2001?

The 2001 picture could be from before it was introduced since it was taken in a garden of a friend of John's. John put some of his experiments in other people's gardens. I have a few of his from back the 1990's that never made it anywhere. The 2001 picture could be before the rose is fully open, but I bet it's not that red.

My guess is that it's probably that deep red/pink that is common in OGRs, given the parentage, but that's just a wild guess. Knowing John, it will be very very fragrant!

I know that I will definitely be looking for it this spring!!

Will the real Rubyt Voodoo please stand up?

Some roses might have a long pre-introduction life. I mean, even if one planned to distribute a rose broadly it could take a few seasons to build up stock. One might take a photo before the plant is registered or introduced commercially. Or maybe Ruby Voodoo in the HMF files is a completely different plant from the one at Plant Select. This seems likely to me.

It's a little difficult for me to believe the Plant Select photo above depicts a rose with a parentage of General Jacqueminot x Stephen's Purple because the rose shown is a cluster-flowered rose that seems at least a little shrubby to me. Neither parent has either inclination: both are leggy and not very well branched; neither bears clusters of flowers. The color seems possible, but not likely. I'd expect flowers more in a dark crimson than a bright magenta.

Oh, I don't know, our kids don't look like us either.

I agree Porkpal.
I've had an amazing variety of colors and habits come out of a single cross or even from selfs. And that old rose magenta pink seems to be hidden in the genes of a lot of roses.

Also, roses do grow shorter and denser here and since that's a Plant Select picture, I bet it was taken in Colorado. I grow some climbers as shrubs. That looks like a lot of new growth from the base. I wonder how cane hardy it is here?

It kinda reminds me a teeny bit of my Rose de Rescht, which I think I might like better because it really is cane hardy here. I hope I see a Ruby Voodoo this year at the garden centers.

Knowing John, it grows well on its own roots.

Not a rose person but the blossom has a lot of the body of an old garden rose of the gallica type. If that is a correct picture, it should be extremely popular.

http://paulbardenroses.com/mai...

Found out that Nick's Gardens has this rose in stock, so I'll be heading there Saturday morning after dental appt to get one. and see what else I can get myself into trouble with...

Did anyone read the comment on the HMF newer photo regarding that old red shot?
http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...
Still looks wrong to me, like 2 totally different blooms.
Look forward to see what Toni comes up with!

Nice! I prefer the pinky purple over the red. I'll definitely take pix on Saturday. Can't wait!! It'll be my first "Hunting" day. I'm limiting myself this year (finances) on my hunting.. last year was so crappy with the hunt. Hoping this year will be better!!

Sue, I agree with you. I might just be able to accept the color shift since rose colors can shift quite a bit. But I don't believe General Jacqueminot as a HP has any clustering going on. And I don't believe Stephen's Purple does either. Thing is, you can cross HP's and HT's until the cows come home and you won't get a cluster-flowered rose. So where does the apparent clustering come from?

I think Sue's right. It's two different blooms. The cherry-red one has twice as many petals as the true-red one.

Steve, I think that effect is achieved by creating a bouquet for the photograph. Some nurseries do that for their photos. They cut several blooms at the peak of perfection off various parts of the rose and stick all of them into the foliage in one spot. It's a great technique for artful shots, but it's deceptive as a marketing practice because the rose bush you buy will not produce "bouquets" of that type.

porkpal said:Oh, I don't know, our kids don't look like us either.

I dunno about that. I've had complete strangers come up to me & ask if I was Rick's daughter. I had never met these people before, but because they knew my father, they were able to put 1+1 & get 3... me. I've been told I'm a spitting image of my father. Yay.

Does anyone object to my correcting the name of this thread?

Not I.

How about "Ruby Voodoo what does it really look like?" or "Ruby Voodo - is it the next blue rose?"

Toni's photo of the whole plant clearly shows clusters of roses: there's a cluster of four or five near the bottom-center of the photo. It's hard for me to believe that was arranged by the photographer.

Toni, could you please report back as to whether it is grafted or own root? I've seen some plant select plants near me, but not the rose yet. I did get the plant select iceplant.

The entire plant picture that Toni posted doesn't show any mucking about to fake cluster flowering. Actually, it doesn't show all that much cluster flowering. I've had hybrid teas that were about as bad and needed quite a bit of disbudding ahead of time if I were to show them.

Although Ruby Voodoo is not all that cluster flowered, I have absolutely no trouble at all believing such an early (possibly the first) HP such as General Jacqueminot can throw cluster flowered offspring given that we know very little about its parentage. It's listed as a china seedling, but what else is in there? Given the other roses available at the time, it's very possible that it has cluster flowered roses in its genetics.