My experience in zone 6b, on clay soil:
I bought this when it was but a small plantlet, so I presently have it in a south-facing b...Read Moreed against the house, just to give it a little extra TLC until it's big enough to face the winter northeasters. I don't generally deal out that kind of mercy unless the plant itself is very special; and this one is.
Foliage:
Come spring, the foliage is medium apple green, shiny, small and very pretty.
Flowers:
When the blooms begin emerging in late spring/early summer, they come on like an avalanche, week after week. This makes up for the fact that each blossom lasts only a day or two...not a problem in my book. The petals are a unique glowing shade of tomato orange and have a matte yellow reverse. They are set about the yellow center like an apple blossom, and, strangely enough, smell faintly of evergreen trees. The appellation 'Rosa Foetida' is unearned, so disregard it, unless the experience of owning a rose that smells like a pine tree is so disorienting you need smelling salts to deal with it. :D
Later in the season:
Once Austrian Copper is done flowering, it promptly sheds its lower leaves. Boom. The rest of the foliage slowly succumbs to black spot, leaving you with a mass of long, thin, thorny whips with a tassel of foliage at the very end by August.
Warning:
The Austrian Copper rose is the plant kingdoms' answer to the Hobo Spider. The thorns are small, numerous, and vicious. (In fact, If you are prone to rose thorn tenosynovitis, do NOT buy this plant.) They are so evil, in fact, that I have my Austrian Copper planted beneath a first-floor window acting as a botanical security measure. Anyone trying to break in past that nightmare is going to get exactly what they deserve...and they'll be there until I feel like calling the police, too.
This rose is very commonly grown in older yards around Boise, partly because it is one of the few plants that does well in our semi-deser...Read Moret climate with little or no supplementary watering. It is susceptible to blackspot and is often nearly completely defoliated by summer's end, so is often planted in an out-of-the-way spot such as at the edge of a fence line, where it can be enjoyed when it blooms and then ignored for the rest of the year. Seems to be grown most successfully when it receives no pruning or other attention.
San Leandro, CA (Zone 9b) | November 2007 | neutral
Rosa foetida bicolor is the most grown species rose in the world. It is a sport of Rosa Foetida which is the yellow species. It gets its ...Read Morename Foetida because the fragrance it emits is fetid.
It is one of 12 specie roses in the Pimpinellifoliae group, named that because their foliage is similar to pimpinella or salad burnet.
This one goes back to the 1500s. It has a great yellow reverse with a vivid orange red front. It can throw stems that flower a bright yellow bloom like its parent, Rosa foetida, which make it visually so interesting to have both colored flowers on one plant.
My experience in zone 6b, on clay soil:
I bought this when it was but a small plantlet, so I presently have it in a south-facing b...Read More
This rose is very commonly grown in older yards around Boise, partly because it is one of the few plants that does well in our semi-deser...Read More
Rosa foetida bicolor is the most grown species rose in the world. It is a sport of Rosa Foetida which is the yellow species. It gets its ...Read More