Very fragrant pink flowers with white markings on the petals, packed with 50 or more petals, set against glossy green leaves. Rosa True Bloom® True Perfume, PP35,467, grows 3 feet tall and wide in full sun, hardy to 10 below zero.
The name is the promise. This one was selected for scent first, which most disease-resistant roses give up to get their health.
True Bloom roses come from Ping Lim, the breeder behind the Easy Elegance line, who set out to cross hybrid tea roses with disease-resistant shrubs and get hybrid tea flowers on a plant that survives without a spray program. Two of them, True Passion and True Inspiration, were distinct enough that the program created a class for them: Hybrid Tea Shrub. They are grown on their own roots rather than grafted, so a plant killed back in a hard winter regrows as itself rather than reverting to rootstock, and there are no suckers from below a graft union. Most are hardy to 10 below zero, and high petal counts are the signature of the line.
The four-inch blooms are ruffled and self-cleaning, so spent flowers drop rather than browning on the plant. They cut well for bouquets.