CARTE BLANCHE® – white bedding floribunda rose – Meilland
For growers building reliable, own-root floribunda ranges, Carte Blanche® provides a compact, upright bush form with dense, dark-green foliage and medium-height, bedding-suited vigour that integrates efficiently into standard-container nursery programmes. Remontant, cluster-flowering, double blooms deliver season-long white colour and a clearly noticeable honey fragrance, supporting value perception in retail and reseller channels focused on dependable garden performance. On own roots, this cultivar develops steadily—roots in year one, structural shoots in year two, and full ornamental expression by year three—underpinning predictable capacity planning. Its H7 hardiness and Swedish Zone 3 rating give reassuring winter tolerance across UK nursery networks, even where seasons are cool and exposed. Medium, manageable maintenance needs and moderate self-cleaning suit professional workflows for 2–3 L standard containers, while the evenly branching branching structure and bush-trained habit scale well for thematic rose gardens and collection plantings supplied via wholesale channels.
Usage options
Finished-product ideas
- White Bedding Floribunda 2–3 L – standard 2–3 L container line based on compact, upright habit and reliable remontant white flowering, positioned as a standard finished product for retail and reseller programmes.
- Fragrant White Feature Pot – bush-trained, floribunda form selected for strong honey fragrance and dense foliage, in 5–7.5 L containers as a step-up SKU for garden centres seeking reliable garden performance.
- Award-Line Exhibition Floribunda – labelled with Monza and St Albans awards, supplied in 2–3 L standard containers from own-root propagation beds for retailers wanting a proven, exhibition-category floribunda.
- Public-Realm Edging Rose – batches of uniform, upright plants for edging and bed use, grown from rooted cuttings into robust 5–10 L units to serve public-realm and institutional project supply chains.
- Collection Garden Signature White – curated plants for thematic and collection gardens, combining remontant cluster flowering and cool white colour in 10–15 L pots to anchor private-label or collection-led ranges.
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter |
Data |
| Name and registration |
Floribunda bedding rose, registered as MEIbarum, marketed as Carte Blanche® Bedding rose MEIbarum; exhibition floribunda category, also accepted for use as a cut flower. |
| Origin and breeding |
Bred by Alain Antoine Meilland, Meilland International, France, from (Bonica ’82 × Picasso) × Anne de Bretagne; introduced and registered in 1999 after breeding in 1998. |
| Awards and recognition |
Holds Plus belle Rose title and silver medal, Monza 1999; bronze medal at the Monza International Rose Competition 1999; Certificate of Merit, St Albans, United Kingdom, 2000. |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Upright, bush-trained floribunda reaching 80–110 cm in height and 35–55 cm spread; moderately thorny, with dense, slightly glossy, dark-green foliage delivering a full, bedding-suited structure. |
| Flower morphology |
Medium, 1.5–2.75 inch, double, cup-shaped flowers with 26–30 petals; borne in clusters; remontant with an abundant second flush, supporting sustained display in bedding and container production. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Uniformly white blooms, ARS W, RHS NN155C; buds pure snow-white with slight greenish veil, opening to cool white petals that softly cream before fading, with no significant discolouration reported in descriptions. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Strong, clearly perceptible honey scent; semi-double to double blooms offer partially accessible stamens, giving moderate pollinator attraction, suitable where fragrance is a key specification. |
| Hip characteristics |
Produces moderately abundant, spherical hips around 8–12 mm in diameter, coloured orange-red, offering additional seasonal interest where spent flowers are not fully removed. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Medium overall disease resistance, with medium tolerance to powdery mildew, black spot and rust; hardy to about -23 to -21 °C, rated RHS H7 and Swedish Zone 3; regular monitoring and care advised. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Best used in flower beds, edging, containers and as specimens; standard container route recommended, targeting 2–3 L pots; moderate maintenance with regular pruning, feeding and pest-disease surveillance. |
Carte Blanche® Bedding rose MEIbarum combines compact upright growth, strong white flowering and notable fragrance with own-root predictability and regeneration, supporting stable, long-lived stands; we would be pleased to discuss scheduling and capacity with you.
