Brite eyes climbing rose

Brite Eyes(TM) Climbing Rose

Rosa x 'Radbrite' PP# 17,391

Benefits: Brite Eyes has single, salmon-pink blooms with yellow centers, and lightly fragrant. Expect several cycles of repeat blooms throughout the summer and into autumn. Compact growth habit, reaching no more than 8 feet tall, making it perfect for the smaller garden. Works well climbing on a trellis, arbor or fence. Excellent disease resistance. Another breakthrough rose bred by the famous Knock Out Breeder, William Radler.

A New Disease Resistant and Compact Climbing Rose - 'Brite Eyes'

Our most popular plant category is roses and for good reason - everyone loves roses! This week we are featuring a new climbing rose that our rose lovers will adore -'Brite Eyes'. Bred by the famous Knockout rosarian William Radler, 'Brite Eyes' is virtually the most black spot resistant climbing rose ever introduced - requiring the least maintenance of any climbing rose.

'Brite Eyes' has single blooms that are salmon-pink with yellow centers and that emit a light pleasant fragrance. Expect several cycles of repeat blooms throughout the summer and into the autumn. It has a compact growth habit, reaching no more than 8 feet tall, which makes it perfect for the smaller garden. 'Brite Eyes' works well climbing on a trellis, an arbor or a fence. On fences, we suggest planting at every other fence post. Most trellises are 6 to 8 feet tall and most climbers grow 10 to 12 feet tall, requiring regular pruning to keep them in bounds. At 6 to 8 feet ultimate height, 'Brite Eyes' is a perfect low-maintenance trellis rose. 'Brite Eyes' is sufficiently winter-hardy and restrained in habit to be excellent for container use.

For best results plant in the spring or fall.

Plant in full sun for best blooms, but will tolerate partial shade.

Plant in well-drained, compost-enriched soil.

Mulch well the first winter.

Pruning and shaping, when necessary, should be accomplished after the initial spring bloom.

Fertilize with Rose-Tone monthly from early spring until late summer.

Hardy in Zones 5-9 (possibly 4 with further testing).

Veronica Dark Blue Moody Blues

This compact Veronica is covered in dark blue spikes of blooms all season long. It will flower up to the first frost. Click.

The Francis Meilland® Rose

A tall Hyrbid Tea rose with a very large bloom and strong fragrance. A multiple award winner in Europe, it is the 2008 winner of the prestigious ADR contest.

Climbing Brite Eyes

Typically Available in Store During Fall Pre-Sale & Spring

Contact your local store to check availability

Large-flowered climber. (Plant Pat# 17,391) Salmon-pink with a light yellow eye. Grows to 8 feet. Blooms on new and old wood. The flowers have 5 petals with a light fragrance. Good disease resistance.

A Visit with Knock Out Roses' William Radler

There was snow on the ground outside, but plenty of blooms inside the home of William Radler, developer of the popular Knock Out® shrub roses, when I visited recently.

Botanical drawings of roses lined the living room walls. A bouquet of silk roses sat on a table. There was a rose inlay on the wooden floor. And in the basement, the real deal – row after row of rose seedlings, many of them in full flower, under fluorescent lights.

This is the rosarium or “greenhouse” where Radler is developing his next generation of roses. Only the best will ever make it to market. Some may even be good enough to become Knock Out® roses, which are noted for their disease resistance.

More than 80 million Knock Out® roses have been sold since the first was introduced in 2000, making it the best selling rose series in the U. S. It’s also becoming more popular overseas, especially in Europe, Australia and Japan. Two of the seven varieties have been chosen as All America Rose Selections.

With such overwhelming success, you might expect that Radler, now 70, would be slowing down or at least would have moved his rose breeding operation to a larger, more high tech facility. If so, you’d be wrong on both counts.

Radler is planning to step up his rose introductions from one or two a year to as many as five. He especially wants to expand beyond the shrub and climbing roses in his portfolio.

The goal? “I want everything,” said Radler. He hopes to have so many rose varieties that it will require a separate catalog to list them all.

“Everybody hears about the Knock Outs®,” Radler said. “They don’t realize I have 27 roses in production. They might not all be Knock Outs® but most of them are low maintenance roses, the kind of roses people are looking to put in their gardens.”