New rose honors screen legend

An extraordinary rose, named to honor American legend Mari-lyn Monroe, is new for the 2003 growing season. Fans of the beloved movie star, as well as fans of exceptional roses, will love the large, delicately colored creamy apricot flowers that are perfect for cutting. In fact, they have the longest vase life of any apricot rose ever.

The classically form-ed flowers grow on long cutting stems. The delicate color of the petals belies their toughness. In fact, they are so full of substance that you might call them petals of steel. The outer petals are washed with palest lime green, which is actually a hint of chlorophyll. Helping to feed the flowers after they’ve been cut, chlorophyll makes the cut flowers last and last. The buds unfurl slowly, with perfect hybrid tea form, from bud to buxom open bloom. Astoundingly beautiful like its namesake, ‘Marilyn Monroe’ will be a favorite of rose exhibitors and novice gardeners alike.

A gem in any garden with full sun, ‘Marilyn Monroe’ is a plant that’s of medium height and upright to slightly spreading and clothed in deep green foliage. It blooms continuously from early spring until well after the first frost. An exceptional perennial, a single plant can produce scores of flowers during the growing season and, after its winter rest, starts all over again the following spring.

‘Marilyn Monroe’ is one of the newest roses of the world. It was hybridized by Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses in California. Carruth, a longtime admirer of Marilyn Monroe, bred this magnificent rose specifically to honor the lovely and tragic American icon. It is well-known that she favored pastel colors, and those who knew Ms. Monroe assured Carruth that she would have adored the creamy apricot flowers bearing her name.

If you’d like to grow ‘Marilyn Monroe’ in your garden, you may find it at your local nursery or garden center.