** Eureka Rose

Posted by BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS | 10:19 PM | 0 comments »



Eureka Rose
By barrie
Rose Eureka is a butter yellow-apricot, and fairly typical of old school Floribunda roses; i.e. Eureka is a shortish bushy fellow that shoots out sprays of three to five roses in sprightly manner. Frankly, it’s hard for me to get too excited about most Floribundas, as they often look like azaleas with roses for flowers - sort of tight and compactish. Give me some graceful arching, please; the British know how to grow roses, sprays lounging decadently around the place in a wayward manner. Floribunda roses, and Eureka is no exception, are just a little too tidy for my taste.

An AARS (All-America Rose Selections) winner in 2003 (and in reading the marketing literature I cannot believe they praise Eureka for ‘light fragrance’ - marketing, sigh), it is true that Eureka is lightly fragrant. The primary recommendation for Eureka is the softish color of the roses. Foliage is light green, and truthfully I prefer dark. It may seem that I am needlessly harsh to what is certainly an unpretentious little rose, and that is not my intent. Eureka offers good cheer and reliability, and we can certainly do worse than to have friends with these qualities.
Be aware that due to their lineage yellow roses are the most susceptible of all colors to blackspot. You’ve been cautioned, so make of it what you will. Here’s more information about yellow roses and blackspot. Eureka has Sunflare as a parent, and Sunflare is fairly resistant to blackspot. Check for glossy leaves, as roses that have shiny foliage usually are more disease resistant because the diseases have difficulty penetrating the leaves’ pores. Gulp…however, there are worrisome reports that Eureka has not inherited blackspot resistance…quotes from other gardeners:
“First Prize, Yves St. Laurent and especially Eureka have succumbed to BS. The Eureka, so much so, that I’ve removed it altogether.”
“The new roses, especially the Eureka and to a lesser extent the First Prize, are quite vulnerable to black spot.”
In closing, I’m not suggesting that you omit Eureka from your list of roses to add to the garden…just be aware that with many yellow roses, blackspot is part of the package.

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