SALLY HOLMES™ – white park rose - Holmes
Professional own-root SALLY HOLMES™ offers a reliable park-shrub platform for nurseries seeking proven cultivars with broad garden and landscape demand, combining a vigorous upright, bushy habit, large clustered sprays and remontant flowering for standard 2–3 L container routes and border, pergola or fence projects; its hardiness to -26–-23 °C with H7 rating supports dependable performance even in cooler UK regions where winter and wind exposure can be significant, while the sparsely thorned, densely foliaged framework, moderate maintenance requirement and medium self-cleaning make it operationally manageable in propagation beds and high-volume production; own-root NEONATAL material underpins long-term sustainability of stock and collection plantings, supporting systematic renewal and stable show-garden stands, and when integrated into nursery and public-realm supply chains it allows predictable development from root establishment in year one through structural shoot build-up in year two to full ornamental expression by year three, giving growers a secure foundation for retail and reseller-focused finished products and cultivar collections across UK landscape-oriented channels.
Usage options
Finished-product ideas
- 2–3 L park-shrub border line – Upright, bushy habit with dense foliage and remontant clusters translates efficiently into uniform 2–3 L shrubs on the standard container route – ideal for retail/reseller shrub benches.
- Pergola and fence feature series – Train taller specimens from NEONATAL starts to 240–330 cm over supports, offering a structural white-flowering line that builds from the same 2–3 L base – suited to landscape-focused garden centres.
- Low-prickle family garden range – Sparse prickles, reliable garden performance and own-root longevity position this as a “safer” shrub within mixed 2–3 L assortments – targeted at family-oriented retail programmes.
- Hall-of-Fame collection label – Use the awards profile to create a branded, story-rich 2–3 L collection block anchored in own-root stability – attractive for premium garden centres and specialist rose retailers.
- White landscape mass-planting block – Produce high volumes of uniform shrubs for borders and edging where remontant, clustered white bloom is required, building from standard container NEONATAL supply – geared to public-realm and contractor channels.
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter |
Data |
| Name and registration |
Sally Holmes™ is a shrub, Hybrid Musk park rose; registered cultivar name Sally Holmes with ARS exhibition name identical, positioned as a park-shrub rose for garden and park use. |
| Origin and breeding |
Bred by Robert A. Holmes in the United Kingdom from ‘Ivory Fashion’ × ‘Ballerina’; introduced in 1976 via Fryer’s Nursery Ltd., forming part of classic UK-bred shrub assortments. |
| Awards and recognition |
Holds multiple Gold Medals at Monza, Baden-Baden and Portland, Best Fragrance in Glasgow, and inclusion in the WFRS Rose Hall of Fame as “World’s Favourite Rose” (2012). |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Strong, upright, bushy habit, 240–330 cm high with 135–225 cm spread, dense dark green glossy foliage, sparsely thorned shoots and potential to be trained as a climber when mature. |
| Flower morphology |
Single to semi-double flat blooms with 5–12 petals, small (0.5–1.5 in) flowers borne in large clusters, remontant with notably abundant second flowering, self-cleaning at a medium level. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Creamy white opening with pale pink flush and apricot-cream buds, ARS code W, RHS 11D and 155D; fades through pure white with vanilla tint to delicate greenish-white with medium colour retention. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Mild, restrained muscatel scent; fragrance is noticeable but not dominant, supporting versatile use in borders and park plantings where visual effect is the primary design driver. |
| Hip characteristics |
Produces moderate quantities of small, spherical hips, 8–12 mm in diameter, in an orange-red colour that can add discrete seasonal interest and support light wildlife value in plantings. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Hardy to approximately -26–-23 °C (RHS H7, USDA 5b, Swedish zone 4); disease behaviour moderate overall, with good black spot resistance but only moderate tolerance to powdery mildew and rust. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Suited to borders, solitary specimens, pergolas, fences, arbours, edging, park schemes, cut use and containers; medium maintenance with occasional plant protection, best via standard 2–3 L container production. |
Sally Holmes™ offers vigorous, hardy, award-recognised shrub performance on a predictable, regenerative own-root base, making it a sound choice for stable, long-lived stock where we can jointly plan volumes and delivery windows.
