'Zephirine Drouhin' at the peak of the spring flush 2011 in my garden.
(you can click on the photos to enlarge)
Unfolding flower of 'Zephirine Drouhin' with water drops'Zephirine Drouhin' is a Climbing Bourbon rose that grows in a wide range of climate zones and seems to be equally loved and hated. Many of the criticism that I have read about this rose is based on her susceptibility for various rose diseases like black spot and powdery mildew, her trait to defoliate, and not to repeat well under certain circumstances.
On the other hand she is loved for her abundance of blooms, her ability to bloom in flushes or even continuously (yes, this is very contrary to the fact that it is also said, that she does not repeat well!), and her strong, incredible, and unique fragrance. I myself am split in two halves when it comes to this rose. I certainly love her in spring, but I am not too fond of her at certain other times of the year. But we will come to that later...
General Information
'Zephirine Drouhin' was bred by Bizot (France, 1868). It is classified as a Bourbon Climbing Rose. The color of its blooms is a hot bright pink. The size of her flowers is approximately 3.5" (9 cm). They have 20 - 30 petals and the average diameter of the large loosely double blooms is 4". David Austin says about her flower shape: "Although the individual flowers are not particularly fine in themselves, they are produced freely." They appear as single blooms or in small clusters of 3 - 5 flowers.
on this photo you can see a typical clusters of buds
The rose is described to have a strong, sweet, very delicious, damask fragrance and is said to bloom in flushes throughout the season. It is a tall climbing rose with matte, light green foliage. Her height is estimated to be 10' - 15' (305 to 455 cm) and the width to be 6' to 8' (185 - 245 cm). HMF lists this rose to be suitable for USDA zone 5b through 10b. The rose is vigorous and can be grown as a shrub or a climber.
My Zephirine Drouhin in spring 2009, she has grown quite a bit if you compare this photo to the ones from this year's spring.
It also has the advantage of being shade tolerant. 'Zephirine Drouhin' is known to be susceptible to black spot and powdery mildew. It is recommended to remove spent blooms to encourage re-bloom. One of her outstanding attributes is that 'Zephirine Drouhin' is almost thornless. This rose is known to be one of the earliest roses to bloom in the season and one of the last.
You often will find buds, unfolding flowers and fully opened blooms at the same time on one cane.
There are two lighter pink sports of 'Zephirine Drouhin' available: 'Kathleen Harrop' (flowers have fewer petals) and 'Marthe' (has a fuller bloom).
Personal Experience
'Zephrirne Drouhin' and I have a little bit of a complicated relationship. On the one hand she is one of the most fragrant roses that I grow in my garden and not only is her fragrance very strong, but it is also a very pleasant one to my nose not matched by any other rose that I grow. On top of this it wafts, which is very rare here because of our low humidity. She is also one of my most beautiful rose bushes in spring in terms of the overall appearance, not necessarily of the individual flower though, when she is in her first flush. My photo do not do this rose justice. You have to see a 'Zephirine Drouhin' rose in person to really be able to appreciate her beauty. It just can blow you away!
' Zephirine Drouhin' spring flush 2011
On the other hand in my garden she has periods in summer when she can be downright ugly because she gets mildew, or black spot or rust and sheds a lot of leaves for that reason. Of course, the leaves turn yellow before they fall off and that does not help with the appearance of the rose bush. Even though it is said by different sources that this rose is blooming in flushes or even continuously, mine is not. She is in her fourth year now and the re-bloom in summer has become a little better with age, but is still not anything to write home about. It is more a scattered re-bloom than a second flush.
This is how 'Zephirine Drouhin' looked just a couple of days ago.
I can attest that this rose is very vigorous once it takes off, which happened in my garden in the second year, as my photos document. I bought my rose from a local nursery and forgot what the tag said the grower was. She is most likely grafted on Dr. Huey rootstock, since that is usually the case for roses that you can buy in Southern California. Since I bury the graft of my roses, I assume that the rose is growing on her own roots by now, too. 'Zephirine Drouhin' throws up a lot of basal canes, which lets her appear lush and full. She is approximately 9' wide and 9' tall and wide by now and I have a slight suspicion that she might become much taller in Southern California than the size that is usually listed for her in rose books. I grow my rose as a fountain like shrub in a location where she is shaded by Queen Anne Palm fronds part of the day and 'Zephirine Drouhin' seems to like that. The flower color is hot pink, which is almost a little bit too bold for my taste, but the blooms fade quickly under the California sun to a more paler pink.
Basically, I grow this rose for her spectacular show in spring and even more so for her outstanding unique fragrance, which can really transport you to heaven in a second. In my small garden I do not know if I have the space for such a large rose that is only really beautiful, not to say spectacular in spring, which is just a short time of the whole growing season here in San Diego and most of the other times of the year just looks so-so. I also would prefer to see a climbing rose that gives me at least two distinctive flushes per year and is less disease susceptible.
Sometimes I catch myself thinking about replacing her with a climber or tall shrub rose that repeats better and has more healthy foliage year round. But each spring I am asking myself how I could ever even consider taking her out, because she is so breathtaking. I also have to give her credit for starting to repeat a little better over the years and her spring flush goes on for a couple of weeks.
I am curious if she will actually give me an autumn flush this year since she has matured so much more. So for now I most likely will give her another year and see how the repeat is this autumn and will at least enjoy one more breathtaking spring flush next year.
Another option could be to plant her in a less prominent location. Right now she is almost in the center spot of my backyard and there I really would love to have a rose there that performs better. One thing that I am trying this year is to fertilize her three times and also give her more water. Maybe that will improve her performance.
Even though 'Zephirine Drouhin' shows some flaws in my garden I would recommend to grow her if you have a big garden, just for the spectacular spring flush and her special perfume alone.
If you have a smaller garden you still might want to try her since this rose seems to be very temperamental how she behaves (depending probably on your climate and soil condition) and it seems to be somewhat unpredictable where she likes to grow. Who knows, she might do well for you!
Unfortunately, my experience has been that since she is a climber you have to give her even longer than the usual three years to really find out how she is performing in your garden. So you have to be patient with this rose to allow her to develop her full potential, but I feel that if you garden you have to learn to be patient anyway. In my garden 'Zephirine Drouhin' will stay a little longer, at least for now!
'Zephirine Drouhin' a little bit past her peak spring 2011
Not related to the topic of this particular post, but still very worth mentioning to me is the fact that between the last post and this one I crossed the line of my first ten thousand pageviews (You can find the counter at the sidebar of my blog). So I just would like to take the chance to thank my visitors for reading my blog, looking at my photos, becoming followers, and even leaving kind comments on my blog. If it weren't for you, it would not make sense that I would write and photograph for this blog at all. It is so much fun for me to share my own garden experience here in San Diego, California with you, dear readers, but also let you participate in my visits of other public and private gardens close and abroad. A heartfelt thanks to all of you out there! I am looking forward to continue this journey together with you!
Christina
