ATHENA® – cream-pink hybrid tea rose – pharmaROSA® NEONATAL rooted cutting
Athena brings Eleganza-grade flower quality into a practical own-root propagation format, aligning with premium 5–7 L container production where cut-flower style blooms and exhibition-level form are essential for an exclusive finished product offer. Its upright, bush-trained structure with 3–5 framework canes supports reliable crop architecture and makes it straightforward to integrate into nursery propagation beds or high-end container grow-on for retail and reseller programmes. The cultivar’s remontant habit with generous repeat flowering provides sustained saleable value, while own-root propagation supports predictable long-term stands, regeneration and lower replacement in professional ranges. Over Year 1 roots, Year 2 shoots and Year 3 full ornamental value, it matures into a stable, long-lived premium unit well-suited to thematic rose collections and show gardens used in public‑realm schemes. Its hardiness profile is an advantage for Scottish and northern English schemes where winters are cold and winds are frequent, helping you maintain consistent presentation and safeguard premium positioning in demanding projects.
Usage options
Finished-product ideas
- Premium 5–7 L Eleganza® bush – own-root, bush-trained ATHENA® in 5–7 L containers, showcasing solitary exhibition blooms and premium flower quality for an exclusive hybrid tea segment – retail / reseller benches.
- Large 40–50 L focal container – one or three ATHENA® plants per 40–50 L pot, forming an upright, densely foliated focal unit with repeated cut-rose style blooms – public-realm and institutional landscape supply.
- Thematic hybrid tea collection line – ATHENA® grouped with complementary cultivars as colour- and form-coordinated own-root premium containers to build structured hybrid tea benches – specialist rose retailers and show gardens.
- Nursery propagation mother block – field or raised-bed plantings from pharmaROSA® NEONATAL material to establish long-term, authentic stock plants with stable structure for future cutting production – nursery and integrator networks.
- Award-highlighted display plants – selected ATHENA® bushes grown-on for use in display beds and demonstration gardens, emphasising bloom form and award background as part of curated ranges – rose parks and collection-led sites.
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter |
Data |
| Name and registration |
Hybrid tea rose marketed as ATHENA® Eleganza®, registered as RühKOR, with American Rose Society exhibition name Athena; part of the Eleganza® collection and classified within the Hybrid tea rose commercial group. |
| Origin and breeding |
Bred by W. Kordes’ Söhne in Germany from an unknown own seedling crossed with ‘Helmut Schmidt’; breeding completed in 2002, registered 2004 and introduced to the German market in 2014 as a premium hybrid tea. |
| Awards and recognition |
Recognised on the show circuit with First Prize in 2014 at Baden bei Wien in Austria, underscoring its suitability for exhibition use where flower form, refinement and overall presentation are formally evaluated. |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Forms an upright bush 85–115 cm high and 50–70 cm wide, with dense, mid-green, slightly glossy foliage and moderate prickliness; most spent blooms remain, so some manual deadheading is required to maintain presentation. |
| Flower morphology |
Large, solitary, high-centred, pointed buds opening to very double blooms with over 40 petals; classic cut-rose style hybrid tea flowers carried mainly singly, with a remontant habit delivering a generous second flush under good culture. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Cream-white base with pale yellow inner tones and a soft pink rim; yellowish hues fade while the pink edge softens to pastel, with good overall colour retention and only mild fading even in strong sunlight on exposed, bright sites. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Bears a mild but pleasant fragrance typical of refined hybrid teas, offering a subtle scented contribution rather than a dominant perfume; very double blooms restrict pollinator access, so it is primarily valued as an ornamental variety. |
| Hip characteristics |
Very double flowers rarely set hips; where formed, expect occasional small ovoid orange-red hips around 10–14 mm in diameter, generally insignificant for ornamental effect and unlikely to be a major factor in production decisions. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Rated to approximately –26 to –23 °C, RHS H7, corresponding to Swedish Zone 4 and USDA Zone 5b; disease profile is medium overall, with medium powdery mildew susceptibility but resistant to black spot and rust under standard practice. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Suited to cut flower, bed and specimen use with medium maintenance; occasional pest and disease management is advisable, and as a bush-trained plant with 3–5 canes it responds well to premium container culture in 5–7 L pots. |
ATHENA® Eleganza® offers exhibition-grade flower form, reliable hardiness and premium 5–7 L container performance on a predictable own-root base that supports long-lived, homogeneous stands; please contact us to align on volumes and scheduling.
