Crazy for You Floribunda Rose Bushes

Rosa Crazy for You

This is an utterly bonkers rose, but with the RHS giving it an AGM, not to be underestimated and it is a valid entry in our list of gift roses. The flowers are single with an open centre so that you can clearly see the golden yellow boss of stamens, but the madness is in the petals which are splashed and splodged with red and white on a creamy and red background. The Jackson Pollock of the rose world, Crazy for You is not in the least garish or gimmicky because the medium sized flowers really work as mini works of art in themselves while also complementing each other. It is a pretty thorny rose, and to achieve all of that colour is keen on being in full sun but the foliage is green and glossy and it is as disease resistant as any so it is definitely a rose to consider for all skill levels of gardening. The one thing it does not have is any scent, but all perfection requires a tiny flaw and the impact of this rose weighs against its lack of smell. But if you are after a heavily perfumed, and more discreet red rose, then have a look at One in a Million which is a similar size with deep red velvety blooms.

You'd be Crazy not to Have one...

Match the exuberance of Crazy for You with other bicoloured plants: there is a wonderful Sweet Pea called America with similar spills and frills and or search out the famous Salvia 'Hot Lips' which also likes a sunny position and has red pouting 'lips' beneath white upper petals. Float some pure white cosmos over the top of this assembly and you have the sort of border that people dream of. The flounces of Crazy for You also work very well within formal, geometric constraints: imagine several of them surrounded by crisply shaped yew hedges or severe shapes where the roses provide the only colour and frivolity. And of course, Crazy for You would love to be surrounded by other pure red and pure white roses, playing to the strength of both.

Features

• Height: up to 110 cm
• Spread: 90 cm
• Colour: red/white/yellow - splashes and stripes
• Shape: flat, single - open golden boss
• Scent: none
• Flowering: continuous summer/autumn
• Group: Floribunda
• RHS AGM

How did the Rose get its Stripes?

To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, striped roses come about for different reasons. Some just have a gene that makes them variegated so that the pigment colour is distributed randomly rather than evenly through a petal. Some are sports from an old established rose, where a gene spontaneously mutated and the resulting rose was so beautiful that someone decided to breed from it. Others have been irradiated to induce a mutation. We are not sure how this beautiful rose came upon its stripes, but it was brought in in 1998 by Carruth and we think the means definitely justified the end.