Rosa 'Honoré de Balzac' - Hybrid Tea Rose

The Honoré de Balzac' Rose is a variety from the Romantica series created by Meilland, perfectly combining old roses' grace and touching beauty with the floribundity and resistance of modern roses. This upright bush produces enormous roses, spherical, well double, but wildly romantic in their crinoline of cream-white silk embroidered with light carmine pink. They go as far as perfuming themselves with a subtle aroma of ripe peaches. The resistance and floribundity of this rose were rewarded with a silver medal in Saverne in 1992. To offer or to receive, to bring a touch of nostalgia to borders, or even on its own.

The 'Honoré de Balzac' or 'Meiparnin' is a modern hybrid tea obtained in 1997 by the rose breeder Meilland. This relatively upright bush reaches about 1 metre (3 feet) in height and 80 to 90 cm (32 to 35in) in width at maturity, with rapid growth. It produces stiff and strong branches with few thorns, with elegant medium green foliage that is slightly glossy and highly resistant to diseases if the growing conditions are correct. All summer, its large, fully double flowers, measuring 14 cm (6in) in diameter, arise from large pink buds that open into spherical roses divided into quarters, which open best under the sun and in a relatively warm climate. They are solitary or grouped in small bouquets of 2 or 3, carried at the end of long shoots from the current year or emerging from 2-year-old stems. Their original and fruity fragrance evokes the scent of ripe fruits.

'Honoré de Balzac', with its opulent and very "shabby chic" flowers, is a perfect rose for romantic borders and bouquets or planted on its own among low perennials such as violets, carnations, dwarf asters or aubrietas, for example, which will cover its slightly bare base after a few years. Of medium size, well bushy, it is ideal for planting on its own or in groups of 3. It blends well in borders with low flowering shrubs in summer or autumn or mixed with light perennials and annuals. Well showcased in front of a boxwood or yew hedge or surrounded by a miniature hedge, it evokes an Italian or French garden. Above all, it is a generous rose that can also be placed near the house to enjoy its fragrance. The Romantica series of roses offers many possibilities for combinations, for example, by planting 'Allegro' (purple rose), 'Palais Royal' (white) and 'Auguste Renoir' (Bengal rose) side by side.

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