Ebb Tide is Here!

Ebb Tide Rose in Maybelline's Garden

Bare root roses were planted around the pergola on January 19, 2013.  Ebb Tide tree roses and Iceberg bushes.  Today, the flowers on the Ebb Tides have opened up. I thought they would have been darker and more purple in color. Compare the two images and see for yourself.  Of course, I have trouble photographing flowers with blue hues.

See how the flowers purple up as they aged?  The image below is of an Ebb Tide flower right before the petals drop.  It's much closer to the color of that from Weeks Roses.

Aged Ebb Tide Rose in Maybelline's Garden

I can't get down and take a whiff of them yet so I'll have to believe the description given by Weeks Roses:

Ebb Tide Rose photo courtesy Weeks Roses

Ebb Tide™

2006 Intro

(cv.WEKsmopur) Pat.#10,478

Floribunda - Smoky deep plum purple

Soooo mysterious in its color…and soooo powerfully perfumed…it's certain to attract attention. Dusky deep purple buds swirl open to very double old-fashioned flowers of velvet plum washed with a haze of sultry smoke. The intense clove fragrance can nearly bowl you over. But keep your balance or you'll find yourself face down amongst the deep green leaves.

• Height / Habit: Medium / upright, bushy
• Bloom / Size: Medium, very double, old-fashioned
• Petal count: Over 35
• Parentage: [(Sweet Chariot x Blue Nile) x Stephen's Big Purple] x [(International Herald Tribune x R. soulieanna derivative) x (Sweet Chariot x Blue Nile)]
• Fragrance: Strong spicy clove
• Hybridizer: Carruth - 2006
• Comments: Gets all the better with establishment in the garden.

All the roses are growing vigorously now.  I do hope they will be able to withstand the summer.  I'm a beginner at growing roses. I can understand a bit of the description above. I'm excited if we selected some good varieties for our area.  If they bloom all summer it shouldn't be so bad to sit out under the pergola trying to cool down my swamp pants.

PS - the plant that Ajax used as a chew toy has rebounded and has a generous amount of buds ready to burst.

PPS -  did you know the meaning of Ebb Tide?  I didn't.  It's the tide between high tide and low tide when the sea is moving away from the shore.

PPPS - who do you think of when you think of the song Ebb Tide?  Farmer MacGregor thinks of the Righteous Brothers.