''Rosa'' 'Precious Platinum' is a medium red

hybrid tea rose Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Garden roses#Hybrid perpetual, hybrid perpetuals with ...

. It was bred by Patrick Dickson in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in 1974. The cultivar was introduced into

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1977.

History

Dickson Roses was established in 1836 by Alexander Dickson, who migrated from

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Newtownards Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...

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. Alexander's son George and George's two sons Alexander II and George II began a rose breeding program at the company in 1879. Alexander Patrick (Patrick) Dickson (1926–2012), started working for Dickson Roses in 1957 and began breeding roses for the company in 1958. During his career he introduced many successful rose varieties, including ''Rosa'' 'Sea Pearl' (1964), ''Rosa'' 'Grandpa Dickson' (1966), ''Rosa'' 'Red Devil' and ''Rosa'' 'Red Gold' (1967). Dickson bred 'Precious Platinum' in 1974. The cultivar is a hybrid of ''Rosa'' 'Red Planet' and ''Rosa'' 'Franklin Engelmann'. It was introduced into Australia in 1977 as 'Precious Platinum'.

Description

'Precious Platinum is a medium tall, upright shrub which grows up to 5 ft (152 cm) and has a 2 to 3 ft (30–60 cm) spread. The prolific, large flowers (35 petals) are fully double and high-centred in form. They have long, strong stems and are mildly fragrant. Flower colour ranges from red to deep crimson. Petals have an average diameter of 4.75 in (12 cm). The plant is well suited for cut flowers or garden. It blooms repeatedly from spring to fall. The dark green leathery foliage provides a good contrast to the flowers. The shrub has thorns, spines, prickles and teeth.

Cultivation

The cultivar is suitable for mass plantings, as a hedge or grown in containers. It is regarded as easy to grow, being disease-resistant and tolerant of poor soils. It prefers a position in full sun.

References

{{Rose, state=collapsed Precious Platinum 1974 introductions

External links

Know The Meaning of Roses
Flower Chimp