Spice
Earth Kind is an important designation given to select roses by
the Texas A&M University Agriculture program. Earth Kind Roses
have been through rigorous statewide testing and evaluation by
a team of horticultural experts and found to possess the high
level of landscape performance and utstanding disease and insect
tolerance/resistance required to for this special designation.
Earth Kind
Roses are among the most thoroughly tested and environmentally
responsible plants for the use in Texas landscapes. These roses
do very well in almost any soil type, from the well-drained
acid sands of East Texas to the poorly aerated, highly alkaline
clays of central and Southwest Texas. Earth Kind roses are certainly
not immune to pest problems. However, their tolerance to pests
is so great that they rarely require the use of chemical pesticides.
Spice is
classified as a Bermuda Mystery rose due to its unknown parentage.
But there’s no mystery about its performance. Spice produces
wave after wave of blush pink, double blossoms that have a tea-like
fragrance. In fact, many knowledgeable rosearians believe that
Spice is the true ‘Hume’s Tea Scented China,’
(1809) and along with Parks Yellow teascented China (1824) parented
a long list of modern cultivars including Hybrid Teas.
Spice makes
a thick bush which reaches a mature size of 5 feet high by 4
feet wide. They should be planted a minimum of 6 feet apart
for optimum performance. The flowers are good for cutting and
are frequently used in vases and floral arrangements.
Cultivar
Name: Spice
Blossom Color: Blush Pink
Blossom & Fragrance: Double - Very Fragrant
Blooming Period: April - November
Mature Height: 3 - 5 feet
Mature Width: 3 - 4 feet
Rose Category: China
Growth Habit: Medium Shrub
Landscape
Uses:
Spice makes an excellent landscape plant, producing light pink
flowers throughout spring, summer and fall. This plant has some
limitations in cold tolerance and may experience winter damage
in northern climates. Like most “old roses,” Spice
is at its best in an informal landscape setting.
The
Earth Kind designation also ensures that Spice is extremely
resource efficient with outstanding landscape performance characteristics.
 Join
the Earth Kind Rose Brigade:
We invite you to become a member of the “Earth Kind Rose
Brigade,” a group of dedicated amateurs helping to conduct
advanced field testing of experimental rose selections. Your
participation will be educational as well as valuable in providing
information to the Earth Kind Team of Extension specialists
and research scientists at Texas A&M University.
To
participate, simply purchase and plant one or more of the Brigade
roses then, at one, two, three, and four years after transplanting,
provide the benefit of your growing experience.
These
cultivars should be planted where they will receive at least
8 hours of direct sun each day with good air movement over the
foliage. The use of compost and organic mulches is encouraged.
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