Disneyland Rose By Jackson & Perkins

For our anniversary this year, we were gifted this beautiful rose bush from Nat's folks.  And at first look, it is just a nice looking peach/orange rose plant.  We don't have any roses and have never cared for one, but we've always admired them.  So, at first blush, it was a nice, simple gift.  But take a closer look at the tag and this suddenly becomes a really thoughtful gift:

Yeah!  A Disneyland Rose.  Or a Disneyland Floribunda Rose from Jackson & Perkins to be precise. 

I actually didn't even know there *was* a Disneyland Rose.  But it is a perfect gift for us, right?  Hits us right where we swoon:  in between our love for all-things-Disney and gardening in our #newoldbackyard.  As I said:  thoughtful.  Gift giving isn't easy.  But when you find someone who is good at it, they continue to surprise and delight you over time.  There are people who are 'good' at the internet.  They post the right comments on Instagram.  They send you the right .gifs for responses in texts.  They are 'good' at the internet.  Nat's Mom is 'good' at giving gifts. 

Turns out, this rose has been an official Disneyland rose since back in 2004 and their journey started in 2001 when they went looking for a special rose.  From this DisneyParks blog post: 

The first day of spring is the perfect time to tell the story of the Disneyland Rose. The search for a rose unique and beautiful enough to be named for Disneyland park began in 2001. Karen Hedges, of the Disneyland Resort Horticulture team, conducted the search herself. 

“I visited rose field trials looking at hundreds, if not thousands, of floribunda roses, as I’ve found this type of rose to be excellent for landscape use,” Karen recalls. “It was important that the flower color was unique and the shrub itself was from disease-resistant parent stock.” 

Eventually, she discovered a shrub with bright, multi-colored petals.

It appears that you can buy these directly from Jackson & Perkins and they ship them at the exact right time to plant - which for us in USDA Zone 5B - is right now!  From the product description:

From early to late summer, Disneyland® enthralls with a fun-filled festival of blooms displaying copper, apricot, orange, and pink tones. The 3-inch flowers open from pretty pointed, ovoid buds to reveal 30 to 35 perfectly formed petals, the brilliantly colored blossoms arising in small clusters with 5-inch stems. They stand out boldly against the tall, upright, well-branched habit of attractive dark green foliage.

I've been giving it some thought about where to plant this thing.  It requires full sun, so there's an opportunity to put it close to the house somewhere where it can thrive and that we can enjoy it from the patio.  It is compact and is a bush-form that stays pretty low to the ground, so it will be good in an intermediate location in front of some taller stuff and behind low-lying groundcover.    Or, perhaps we should be thinking about a cutting garden?  Peonies - Nat's favorites.  Anemone.  And now some roses.  Martha Stewart has a cutting garden and has this video on how to plan one.  Seems something we could get behind, right?