Ask John Negus
Can you name this stunning rose?
Q This rambling rose was planted by my grandfather in the mid-1930s. I did not know its name, but someone told me they thought it was called ‘Seven Sisters’. Please can anyone confirm this? It is very pretty, but doesn’t have any perfume. Maureen Arthur, Gloucestershire
A According to the David Austin website, ‘Seven Sisters’ is ‘named for the seven shades that can be seen at any one time.
It says: ‘Big clusters of double, typical multiflora flowers, which gradually develop from deep cerise to pale-mauve and later ivory-white.
‘Fresh fruity fragrance. Free-flowering and strong growing.’
According to the Royal Horticultural Society it should more correctly be known as ‘Grevillei’ and is described as ‘a vigorous, spreading, deciduous shrub with coarse, arching stems, to 16ft (5m) tall, and pale-green, wrinkled foliage.
‘In summer, a single flush of double flowers is borne, comprising dense clusters of cerise-purple flowers progressing to a mauve-pink colour before fading to white. Flowers are followed by small red hips that persist into winter.’
I don’t know whether these descriptions will help to confirm the identification. It looks very like pictures of ‘Seven Sisters’, but it isn’t always easy to compare a photograph with a photograph.
It might be worth sending a photograph to a rose expert such as David Austin, or if you have a specialist rose nursery near you they
