6.27.2010

The Sexy-Rexy Rose

When I saw a friend's photographs of a public rose garden recently, I zeroed in on one particular variety that immediately caught my eye. Its lush and luxuriant appearance is what attracted me. I asked Gordon what they were called and he announced the name proudly: Sexy Rexy! (They are also sold in nurseries as Heckenzauber or Macrexy roses.) He also told me they are intoxicatingly fragrant, which further sold me on their virtues. If I had a rose garden, these would be growing in profusion. Below is some information about this amazing rose.

This is Gordon's photograph of the Sexy-Rexy, which he took at the Thornden Park Rose Garden in Syracuse, New York.

Sexy Rexy is a floribunda rose producing showy, heavy heads of camellia-like, rounded, fully double, rose-pink flowers with abundant glossy, dark green leaves. It is categorized as a perennial shrub and grows to about 3 feet in height. They are hardy between zones 5 and 9 and bloom from mid-spring to mid-fall, allowing for a long period of enjoyment. Like most roses, the petals are edible and have a mild, delicately bittersweet flavour, and they prefer full sun. The soil can be sandy or clay loam with pH levels ranging between 4.5 to 8.

3 comments:

Ailsa said...

http://www.ranuiwines.co.nz/sexy.htm

Andrew,
There is also a Sexy Rexy wine (a rose -- with an accent on the 'e' -- , in fact) inspired by the rose, and developed by a friend of the rose breeder. Makes a perfect complement to a lovely soft pink rose.

JIm Eber said...

More photos from our visit can be found here www.lpooljim.wordpress.com.

Anonymous said...

Pretty rose, although I do not care for floribundas. Interestingly, "Sexy Rexy" was the nickname Hollywood had bestowed upon actor Rex Harrison, of My Fair Lady fame, among his many other accomplishments of the stage and screen. Apparently, he was quite a devastating lothario, even driving one Hollywood starlet to suicide, or so the story goes. You wouldn't have guessed it from his public/on-screen persona.