Rosa Leonardo da Vinci - Floribunda Rose

The 'Leonardo Da Vinci' Standard Rose is a magnificent specimen to showcase in the garden. Its "trunk" supports a vigorous crown adorned with clusters of campanulate bengal rose flowers, with an old-fashioned style, pleasantly fragrant. It is a rose with healthy foliage that is resistant to bad weather, unaffected by rain. Its flowering is almost continuous from early summer to late season.

Standard roses are obtained by grafting a variety (in this case, 'Leonardo da Vinci)' onto a single and upright stem belonging to a different rose (Rosa canina, R. laxa, or R. multiflora). The graft is done at a variable height. In very cold regions, it may be useful to protect the rootstock in winter.

The Rosa x floribunda 'Leonardo Da Vinci', created in 2004, is one of the masterpieces created by the rose breeder Meilland. 'Floribunda' roses are cultivars with bouquet-like flowers, obtained by hybridising polyantha roses and tea roses. When grafted, it will reach a height of approximately 1.70 m (6ft) with a spread of 1 m (3ft), depending on the growing conditions and how it is pruned. 'Leonardo Da Vinci' forms a highly branched, vigorous but flexible crown, dressed in very healthy, dark green, slightly glossy foliage. Its flowering is remarkably long, lasting 5 to 6 months. This shrub renews its very doubled roses, 8 cm (3in) in diameter, in successive waves throughout the summer, grouped in 2s to 5s in terminal clusters. The tightly closed buds open into round and turbinate flowers, which then produce roses with a slightly more relaxed appearance, but still highly fragrant. The exact colour of the flowers is a pure, bright Bengal rose, perfectly uniform. They exhale a light scent of green apple and cut grass.

This 'Leonardo da Vinci' Standard Rose, with its romantic style and charming flowers, will find its place in the centre of a large rose bed, as a focal point in a well-kept garden, planted along a pathway, or even in a container on the terrace. It pairs perfectly with white roses and pretty, easy-to-grow perennials such as perennial geraniums (Geranium 'Blue Cloud', 'Anne Folkard', 'Nimbus', 'Orion'), campanulas (lactiflora, rapunculoides), catmints, snapdragons, foxgloves etc. Its flowers make beautiful bouquets for a centerpiece. It will be perfect planted above romantically inspired flower beds, for example with the mauve roses of 'Blue Girl' and 'Mamy Blue' or with the white roses of the English rose 'Winchester Cathedral'.

This rose has won the Gold Medal in Monza 1994, the Certificate in Belfast in 1996, the Certificate in The Hague in 1996, the Gold Medal in The Hague in 1997, and the Top Rosen in the Netherlands in 1997.