These 'Crépuscule' are two of my no-care roses. One is on the horizontal fence in the picture, the other on the fence running up the slope. The sprinklers hit it, but that's all it gets in the way of care. 'Crépuscule' must depend on itself for everything else. No deadheading, no fertilizer. I did trim out some dead wood a couple of years ago, and I tied it onto the fence a little better than it had been, but that's it for care. 'Crépuscule' is classed as a Tea-Noisette, introduced by Francis Dubreuil in 1904. I got my copy 97 years later.
It is a pleasure to prune--or would be, if I bothered to--since it is just about prickle-free. What you see there in the photo has perhaps 5 prickles scattered somewhere about. The canes are not only smooth, but flexible and easy to work with even when several years old. The flower is fragrant, though not powerfully so. The individual flower isn't much--10 or 12 raggedy petals curling and flopping around a golden center, but when you have several hundred all at once, the effect is--not bad. Since it is a Tea-Noisette, it lacks cold hardiness, and it suffers from a slight case of mildew nearly all the time, but again, when you have several hundred flowers on display, who minds?
'Crépuscule', I think, would be a more popular rose today given a different name. It translates from the French as "twilight". When I see the name, however, I think of both "pustule" and "carbuncle", neither of which is particularly appealing. Pronounce it "cray-puh-shool" and you'll be close enough, but think of it as lovely as twilight.
Absolutely magnificent! Does Crepuscule rebloom quickly?
ReplyDeleteHi Anne. Rebloom is very good. A good secondary flush after the first, then some moderate scattered bloom for the hottest part of summer, then another large flush in the fall, then good scattered bloom until February, then it takes a rest until the spring bloom in April-May.
ReplyDeleteOnly two Creps in the photos? Just how big are they? They are 10 years old? Did you get them with own roots or grafted?
ReplyDeleteHi Man,
ReplyDeleteYes, two Crepuscules, one on the lower (horizontal) and one on the vertical-ish fence above the other.
9 or 10 years old now. They are own-root from Chamblees Roses.
Are they fragrant?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a delicate (not strong) fragrance.
DeleteJust bought one to be planted along my fence...thank you for your picture, it swayed me to get crepuscule over other climbers
DeleteGive it three or four years to really get going, then watch out! :)
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