Hybrid Tea Rose 'Tropicana'

I was a teenager when this rose won the All America Rose Selection in 1963, and I fell in love with it. I saved my allowance and bought ...Read Morethe rose for my budding back-yard garden. Forty years later, after being twice transplanted, my beloved Tropicana finally bit the dust. It simply did not do well at my new home, which did not really have a full-sun location. I regret not having taken a cutting from it. Yes, it is susceptible to disease, but its beauty is worth the extra work required to maintain it. No other rose has garnered as much admiration as did the Tropicana. There are so many beautiful roses available that are more disease resistant, but I cannot resist getting another Tropicana.

tropicana is a really gorgeous rose. some years my bloom grandiflora style other single bud. all in all an extremely hardy , somewhat ...Read Moreuncontrolled in growth if not pruned back to 5 canes. once growing, it is really the most beautiful orange rose. and the fragrance is super potent. one stem in a room and in minutes it smells as though you have two dozen or so. very nice rose.

A pathetic, weak runt. This may be the first rose bush I give up on.

I bought this rose as a replacement for another rose - Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, planted as bare root rose, was covered with fungus and I...Read More did not want other roses to get contaminated, as the fungus did not respond to various application of vinegar/baking soda/ mustard oil treatments. This plant was bought from a big box store, but has done beautifully so far. Has beautiful fragarance, is hot organge/vermillion, and bears single roses on long canes. I would like to see how it does in our Pacific NW climate and next year.

I PLANTED THE ROSE BUSH IN THE 1ST WEEK OF FEB AND THE ROSES ARE IN FULL BLOOM ALREADY!!

Can't say enough GOOD THINGS about this rose!!! I am totally in love!!!!!!! One of the most wonderfully smelling in my yard! LOVE LOVE...Read More LOVE IT!!!!!!!

'Tropicana' is a beautiful rose, however my two large plants did not survive the 103F summer heat in 2010, while the 'Impatient' rose thr...Read Moreived all summer with the same conditions in full sun and all grew in black plastic containers. Also the large flowers of 'Tropicana' become top heavy especially after a rain. I can only give 'Tropicana' 5 points out of a possible 10 when grown in full sun in the Richmond, Virginia area.

I tried this rose once. Mine grew very poorly, with a scraggly growth habit and very few blooms. Mine did have attractive blooms -- ver...Read Morey colorful, almost blaze orange. But there were very few of them. I culled this one after a year or two. Maybe it wants a warmer climate than I can give it in NE Wisconsin (zone 5).

I bought this rose from a major retailer that did not know how to care for hybrid teas. Naturally it was in sad, SAD shape. It was infest...Read Moreed with aphids, had a wicked case of blackspot, hadn't been pruned in forever. I bought it for half price and brought it home to nurse back to health. Now, I am by no means a rose guru but, I figured, why not give it a try? The worse that can happen is it'll die... it's on it's way to dying anyway. I was sad to see it in the shape it was in. So I gave it a few treatments, pruned it WAY back and it is bouncing back beautfully. It is doing so well, I planted it in a pretty 5 gallon pot and moved it in with my other Hybrid Teas. It's well on it's way to becoming one of my favorites! I can't wait till it blooms for the first time, because it will probably be COVERED with flowers!

Now, I bought ANOTHER hybrid tea at the same time (Peace) in the same exact shape. That one isn't doing so hot... I did everything to the Peace as I did to the Tropicana and the Peace doesn't have ANY new growth and looks like it's starting to turn yellow. I don't think it is going to make it at all... so it goes to show you how hardy the Tropicana really is!

Unfortunately, the Tropicana is very succeptible to black spot (I live in S. Florida... we have LOTS of humidity year round and rain of every type you can imagine) but, with a little extra special attention, it thrives. With regular disease control treatments, I haven't seen blackspot since I brought it home... and it's been raining BUCKETS! If this bush can bouce back the way it did with me (especially with all of the torrential downpurs we have been having over the last few weeks)... I would say it's a pretty hardy rose.

So even though this hybrid tea gets blackspot (as is pretty much every rose in my area); I still give it a positive because ya just can't KILL it! And trust me, the place I bought it from REALLY tried!!

UPDATE: The bush bounced back and bloomed beautifully... it's more of a peach color than orange.

Unfortunately, I got INFESTED with spidermites right after it bloomed. I am in Gardeners HADES!! Tried everything under the sun to get rid of these things: Sraying the leaves UPSIDE DOWN with a blast of water, neem, insecticidal soaps, Bayer Rose & Flower Insect Killer, Malation, I even went out and sprayed the leaves down with rubbing alcohol.. nothing worked! Finally a combination of Avid Miticide and Spectricide Immunox Plus sent the little vamps to the great garden in the sky. My roses are trying to bounce back but I lost quite a few of them n the battle... this is one that is struggling to come back. :(

Yes, she gets blackspot. However, I'm in Central Illinois, which is known for brutally humid summers. Temps are in the 90's during the ...Read Moreday, with blazing sunshine. Even if temps fall to the upper 70's or lower 80's at night, the humidity condenses near the ground and almost every morning is a soupy nightmare. Every rose I have contracted blackspot at least 3 times this growing season, no matter what its disease-resistance rating was from the American Rose Society . I spray, the blackspot goes away. It rains for a week straight & comes back again. I spray again & I'm happy for another week. I'm obviously not going the organic route, but I'm still very proud of our garden and I LOVE the color of this rose.

More info: Bred by Mathias Tantau, 1960 introduction, ARS Rating of 7.6. ARS says the blooms are 5 inches wide, but mine average about 4 inches across.

Most people would be suprised to know that Hybrid Tea roses grow really well in the island of Guam. Tropicana was one of many favorites f...Read Morerom my childhood. My mother planted 2 bushes of them in the yard. Amazingly, the constant heat of Guam's sun only enhanced the color, scent intensity, and growth habits. Though the climbing version exists, the bush variety had been known to grow to a riduculous 12 feet when given a balance of water, fertilizer, and constant sun. If anything, Tropicana should be THE hybrid tea rose of Guam among other varieties grown on the island.

I give this a positive rating even though it is so prone to blackspot. I use Bayers 3 in 1 rose treatment and it eliminates blackspot wi...Read Morethin days, not to mention no Japanese Beetles. The color is amazing, and i tend to get about twenty blooms at a time.