Catherine Mermet

Because ‘Catherine Mermet’ favored the Hybrid Tea shape and made a good cut flower with long-lasting buds, in the early days she was popular with the florist trade and was grown under glass. She is nice for the garden although her flowers fade and fall apart quickly. Two great sports have better lasting blooms, ‘The Bride’ and ‘Bridesmaid’. Changing weather conditions can dictate the colors of the blooms. Usually opening soft pink but in hot weather soon becomes a pinkish cream with a lilac tinge on the petal edges. The blooms open from “high-centered buds into large rolled-edged petals folding into points to give a starry outline” as described in the book “Tea Roses”.The blooms come singly or in clusters and tend to nod, especially when petal numbers increase which can happen. New growth is reddish- bronze on a vase-shaped bush. The first fragrance is like sweet Tea, but can turn to that of aged violets.