Blueberry Hill is a Floribunda Rose.
Blueberry Hill produces clusters of large, semi-double (12-15 petals) lilac blooms. They have a lovely, fruity fragrance with, supposedly, a hint of apple but, try as I might, I can’t recognise any apple. Blueberry Hill also, reportedly, produces decorative hips but I must be too efficient at dead-heading my bush as I have never noticed. It repeat flowers throughout the season.
Blueberry Hill has exceptionally large, long, pointed buds which I find particularly beautiful. Just check out the photo below.
Trevor Cochran and Neville Passmore in their book, The Rose: Latest and Greatest, list Blueberry Hill under the heading Plant in groups for effect, rapid reblooming with exceptional bush performance and colour range. That is a pretty good rap.
Blueberry Hill is a medium sized, upright, well-branched bush. It grows to about 130cm tall and up to 90cm wide. It is bushy and almost thornless. The foliage is semi-glossy, dark green and dense.
Blueberry Hill’s disease resistance is described as ‘great‘ and is, reportedly, consistent in all climates. It certainly does well in the hot, dry Western Australian summers.
Blueberry Hill was bred by Tom Carruth (USA) and introduced in 1997.
This is another beauty, Glenda. I don’t pay much attention to descriptions of the hips. Like you, I dead-head the bushes far too often to notice. I, too, have had problems picking up the scent as described for a particular rose. Some descriptions are right on the money but others leave me scratching my head. That’s allright. I choose a rose for its blooms. If it happens to have a nice fragrance, that’s icing on the cake.
I must say, your rose garden must be spectacular. You’ve shared photos of some real beauties!
John, You are always generous with your compliments! To be honest, if they have a fragrance, they smell nice; if they don’t, it’s a pity. That’s really as far as my nose takes it:)