'Shades of Pink' My First Floribunda The spray in this picture has approximately 60 blooms and buds.

Over the following 5 years I must have done thousands of crosses on 'Robin Hood' with every available HT and FL I had as pollen parent. Only one of the many I tried, 'Pascali', gave me approximately 25% takes, but it was a very tedious job of emasculating 100 or more blooms at a time on the same plant. I have spend hundreds of hours sitting down on the job, emasculating bloom after bloom, after bloom.

I did not quite achieve the success of the famous 'Iceberg' however 'Shades of Pink' is very mildew resistant. It will get blackspot if not sprayed at least every six weeks. It will grow 4 to 6 feet tall, the color of the blooms is always changing. The shades of pink varies from plant to plant, and even on the same plant from one year to the next. Sometimes the blooms open pale pink and may go darker with sunshine. Other times it opens dark pink and becomes pale pink to cream color. It all depends on the weather. It's greatest asset is the number of blooms it produces per spray. On average it will give 40 to 60 blooms per spray and about half that many on the second flush. The record number I have ever recorded was 120 blooms per basal spray in 1987.

There are several photos of 'Shades of Pink' in my Floribunda Gallery. Also check out my Famous Hybridizers Gallery, for a photo of "Wilhelm Kordes II".

George Mander
January 2003