Rosa Princesse Charlene de Monaco

Rosa Princess Charlene de Monaco, dedicated to the eponymous Princess, is an excellent creation by Meilland that combines the charm of old roses with the qualities of modern ones. Its large, double peony-like flower displays a slightly ochre-tinged pink hue. It is at once contemporary and nostalgic. It encapsulates an intense and sweet fragrance reminiscent of traditional May roses. The bush is adorned with disease-resistant foliage of intense green. It blooms until the first frosts. Remarkable in the garden, its roses make delightful bouquets, alone or accompanied by lilies and peonies, for example.

Rosa Princess Charlene de Monaco is a modern bush rose with large flowers, introduced by Meilland in 2012. This excellent creation has an impressive list of awards: Gold Medal for Large Flowers, Geneva City Prize & Perfume Prize 2011, Silver Medal & Le Roeulx Perfume Prize (Belgium) 2011, Saverne Perfume Prize 2011, Gold Medal for Large Flowers & La Tacita Perfume Cup (Italy) 2015, Grasse Republic President's Prize 2016, Baden Baden Wien Certificate 2016, and Most Remarkable Rose at Biltmore (USA) 2018. It is a small bushy shrub that reaches about 90cm (35in) in height and 50cm (20in) in spread at maturity. It has a rapid growth rate. It produces strong, thorny, and well-branched stems that bear elegant foliage of an intense and satin green. The foliage is highly resistant to diseases. From June to October, the plant produces successive waves of beautiful 11cm (4in) diameter flowers, in the form of slightly ruffled cups. They consist of 65 undulated petals and open in quarters. They are soft pink on the periphery, warmed by pale ochre in the centre. They are grouped in small bouquets of 2 to 5 units that emerge at the end of long shoots from the current year or by those that emerge from 2-year-old stems. The roses will continue to flower if faded blooms are regularly removed and the soil remains fairly moist. Their fragrance of centifolia rose is pronounced, more or less perceptible depending on the time and weather conditions. The deciduous foliage is absent in winter.

Rosa Princess Charlene de Monaco is perfect for nostalgic flower beds and bouquets. It can be planted alone among low perennials such as violets, perennial geraniums, dwarf asters, or aubrietas, for example: they will hide its slightly bare base after a few years. With its modest size and dense growth, it is suitable for container gardening, and is ideal for planting in groups of 3. It blends well in flower beds with low summer or autumn-flowering shrubs, or mixed with delicate annuals such as love-in-a-mist, for example. In an Italian or French-style garden, it can be displayed in front of a boxwood or yew screen, or surrounded by a miniature hedge.