What Color Is An American Beauty Rose?

Ask The Expert: What color is an American Beauty Rose.  Valeria.

Flower Expert Reply:

This seems like a very simple question to answer. However, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the color and actual heritage of this rose.  The foundation for this confusion may be a result of a 1999 movie – American Beauty.  In the movie, a dark red rose is used thus creating a connection between dark red roses and the term American Beauty.

The history, color and origin of this rose is surrounded by controversy. The original American Beauty rose is said to be a rich deep pink, long-stemmed rose with intense fragrance. It has been said that the original rose came from a nursery in Baltimore MD and was planted in a Washington DC garden in the 19th century. A well-known Washington DC florist then took cuttings from this plant propagating a large number of plants which he forced to blooms. This florist then sold the long stem roses under the name American Beauty. Many rose experts claim that the American Beauty is actually a French rose called Mme. Ferdinand Jarmin, a French rose.

Since confusion and controversy surround this rose, some red roses maybe sold as American Beauty roses or called Red American Beauty roses.

Hopefully one of our readers will have more information about this rose.