Two different colors of rose on the same plant - Ask Extension
I have a rosebush that has white roses and pink & silver roses on the same branch. There is a fork in the branch and one leads to a white rose, th...
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Two different colors of rose on the same plant #358920
Asked September 02, 2016, 12:18 PM EDT
I have a rosebush that has white roses and pink & silver roses on the same branch. There is a fork in the branch and one leads to a white rose, the other to a rose that is pink on the inside of the petals and silver on the outside. Other buds on the branch seem to be a mix of either white or pink & silver. The original color of the bush is the pink & silver roses. I moved in April and moved the bush with me, so it was recently "traumatized" by being dug out and replanted. I've attached pictures of the branch, the bush, and a closeup of a flower of the original colors. What could have caused this odd occurrence?
Ontonagon County Michigan
Expert Response
The most likely reason your rose is displaying two distinct colors of flowers is that you have a grafted rose. The pink and silver that was the color you saw when you purchased it was likely grafted onto a root stock for a white rose. Tender, showy roses are commonly grafted onto less desirable but more hardy and durable rose root stock, letting the plant you have share the qualities of both hardiness and beauty. Over time the root stock will send up shoots of it's own type, and if those are not removed, the plant will slowly and steadily revert to the type of rose that is the hardy root stock.
Note in the second photo, how the stems are two different colors - one side of the plant more red, the other a light green. The light green stems appear to be producing the white roses, while the more reddish stems are producing the pink and silver flowers.
For more information, see this article.
Note in the second photo, how the stems are two different colors - one side of the plant more red, the other a light green. The light green stems appear to be producing the white roses, while the more reddish stems are producing the pink and silver flowers.
For more information, see this article.
The white and pink roses are side-by-side on the same branch. I know it is hard to see in the first picture, but that's what I tried to show. The red stems in the background of picture two are actually a different rose bush that is beside the one with the two different rose colors.
There ended up being 2 white roses on that one branch with about 3 pink roses on the same branch. All of the other roses on the bush have been pink.
