Other Names:  R. alba var. suaveolens

Description:

A truly elegant, creamy white rose featuring sweetly fragrant semi-double blooms with golden centers; blooms in spring and early summer on a large upright shrub, works well as a flowering hedge; all roses need full sun and well-drained soil

Ornamental Features

Alba Suaveolens Rose features showy clusters of fragrant white flowers with creamy white overtones and gold eyes at the ends of the branches from late spring to early summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. The fruits are showy orange hips carried in abundance from early to late fall. It has bluish-green deciduous foliage which emerges light green in spring. The serrated oval compound leaves turn yellow in fall.

Landscape Attributes

Alba Suaveolens Rose is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a high maintenance shrub that will require regular care and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting bees to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Suckering
• Disease
• Spiny

Alba Suaveolens Rose is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Alba Suaveolens Rose will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.