Jaune Desprez

class: Tea-Noisette Rose
breeding: Desprez / Sisley, 1830
photographed by Daphne Filiberti in her garden

'Jaune Despez' is like an ornamental confection. The double roses with a pouffed or muddled center are a delectible blend of fragrant pastel colors. It is also known as 'Desprez à fleur jaune' and is a hybrid of 'Blush Noisette' and 'Park's Yellow-Tea-Scented China'.

Helen van Pelt Wilson and Léonie Bell describe it as, "a mango blend of orange, pineapple, and banana found in magnolias and some Hybrid Teas, but unexpected in an older rose." I was thinking about this while I was admiring the rose and thought the petals had tints of strawberry and vanilla. Maybe I was a little carried away. The rose can be quite vigorous, and it likes to climb. Graham Thomas described the shoots, that zig zag at every node. These shoots do not interfere with one another and are clothed in healthy, shiney-green, leathery foliage. The flowers usually come in small clusters, which decorate the ends of the shoots, and gracefully drape down. I have had mine planted for five years, and it has climbed into a Oleander. The rose has attained a height of about 30 feet or so. It looks best in the spring and fall. It would be a great rose to plant in a fruit tree, but these flowers really should be appreciated at a close distance. The rose can tolerate some shade.