Penelope – pale pink park rose – rooted cutting for professional production
Penelope offers a bushy, large-structured shrub rose format that suits nursery propagation beds and standard container routes where reliable, long-term park shrubs are required at volume. Its strong fragrance, semi-double clustered flowers and historically proven garden performance align well with UK thematic rose gardens and collection-focused projects, particularly where a pale pink, classically bred Hybrid Musk is desirable for edging, hedging and specimen roles. On own roots, it develops predictable, renewable growth that underpins homogeneous stands and low replacement across multi-year crop cycles, supporting capacity planning from tray-rooted cutting through to 2–3 L retail units and larger 40–50 litre landscape forms. The robust winter hardiness to H7 and USDA 5b gives dependable structure for northern and exposed sites, while good heat and moderate drought tolerance secures performance in warmer schemes, making it suitable for projects exposed to winter wind and low temperatures in northern and Scottish settings. Moderate resistance and medium maintenance needs sit comfortably within standard nursery plant-health regimes, and the partial pollinator friendliness offers added value in public-realm planting briefs. As an own-root NEONATAL cutting, root establishment in year one, structural shoot development in year two and full ornamental value from year three provide a clear, bankable development arc for professional growers targeting stable, collection-grade park shrub output.
Usage options
Finished-product ideas
- 2–3 L retail park-shrub line – NEONATAL own-root cuttings grown on to a bush-trained 2–3 L standard container, focusing on the bushy habit and remontant flowering – retail / reseller shrub rose programmes.
- Heritage collection feature shrub – select plants stepped up from 2–3 L into 40–50 litre pots to highlight historical breeding, fragrance and award pedigree in thematic rose gardens – rose collections and show gardens.
- Fragrant hedge unit – rows of uniform plants from standard containers positioned for edging and hedging, leveraging dense foliage and strong muscat scent – public-realm and institutional boundaries.
- Pollinator-assist mixed bed component – integrate 2–3 L bushes with semi-double, partially pollinator-friendly flowers into mixed shrub schemes – municipal, educational and community landscape projects.
- Landscape-grade park shrub – own-root shrubs up-potted to 40–50 litre containers for immediate structural impact, exploiting hardiness and moderate drought tolerance – landscape contractors and large garden estates.
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter |
Data |
| Name and registration |
Collection Park – shrub rose; Hybrid Musk shrub marketed as Penelope, with ARS exhibition name Penelope; unregistered cultivar name, verified authenticity for professional own-root propagation. |
| Origin and breeding |
Bred by Joseph Hardwick Pemberton in the United Kingdom, 1924; parentage ‘Ophelia’ hybrid tea × unknown Pemberton seedling; first distributed by Hazlewood Bros. Pty. Ltd. in Australia for wider markets. |
| Awards and recognition |
Holds a National Rose Society Gold Medal (United Kingdom, 1925) and RHS Award of Garden Merit (1993), indicating sustained ornamental reliability and stable performance under typical garden conditions. |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Bushy park-shrub habit with dense dark green glossy foliage, moderate prickles; approximate height 160–250 cm and spread 120–200 cm, building substantial landscape presence from own-root shrub framework. |
| Flower morphology |
Semi-double, cup-shaped clustered flowers with 13–25 petals and medium 1.5–2.75 inch diameter; remontant with a generous second flush; moderate self-cleaning, with some spent blooms developing hips on the stem. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Pale pink overall, ARS lp, RHS 65C and 155D; buds mauve-pink, opening to pastel pink outer petals and creamy, almost white interiors; colour lightens in heat and strong sun, fading to near white towards full maturity. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Strong, clearly perceptible muscat fragrance, providing a distinct scent profile suitable for fragrant-garden concepts and value-added shrub ranges, with aroma maintained over the main flowering and repeat flush period. |
| Hip characteristics |
Produces sparse but decorative orange-red spherical hips, around 10–15 mm diameter, forming mainly where moderate self-cleaning leaves spent flowers in place to set fruit, contributing subtle late-season interest. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Rated to approximately −26 to −23 °C, RHS H7, Swedish zone 4, USDA 5b; moderate disease resistance to powdery mildew, black spot and rust, fitting standard nursery plant protection with medium maintenance input. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Suitable for flower beds, edging, hedging, specimen and cut flower use; medium maintenance with occasional plant protection; recommended as bush-trained, compact plants for standard container, 2–3 L target pot production. |
Penelope combines a bushy, large shrub form, strong muscat fragrance and dependable hardiness with predictable, regenerative own-root performance, making it a sound candidate for aligning capacity and scheduling in professional rose programmes; please feel free to discuss volumes and timing.
