Rose 'Burgundy Iceberg'

Sporting roses are nothing new. A sport is a mutation of an existing rose, and this was the origin of the moss rose (a sport of the cabbage or Provence rose - Rosa centifolia).

Sporting usually takes the form of a bud mutation in which a mutation occurs in a single vegetative cell. Most single cell mutations (also called "somatic mutations") are dead-ends because they don't cause a detectable phenotype. However, if by happy chance the somatic mutation occurs in an actively dividing cell, that mutation can end up forming a whole bud and then a whole shoot and so on.

This happened in a bed of 'Iceberg' roses in the Australian garden of Lila Weatherley. One shoot of the normally pure white 'Iceberg' produced pink flowers. Lila Weatherley recognised the importance of this and ended up marketing the rose through Swanes Nursery (a big rose house in Australia). And because the sport only affects the colour, and because Iceberg is a superb white rose, 'Pink Iceberg', likewise, is a superb pink rose.

But the story doesn't end there. This chance discovery launched a plant breeding career for Lila Weatherley who founded the plant breeding company Prophyl. There soon followed another rose 'Brilliant Pink Iceberg', which in turn sported to 'Burgundy Iceberg'.

Now, I have never drunk a Burgundy wine quite the colour of this rose, so the name is a slight misnomer. It has been described as "smoky plum" and this is spot on. It is certainly a very interesting colour - made even more so by the slight silvering on the reverse of the petals. People gardening in hot climates have been disappointed with the colour which is said to develop more strongly in cool climates. Here in the relatively cool Pacific north-west we are delighted by the colour (see photo), one which is found in relatively few modern roses and is reminiscent of some of the old roses.

An interesting rose indeed.