Roots and Routes

Rosa ‘Blue Girl’

• Introduced by Wheatcroft Brothers in 1964
• Bred by Reimer Kordes
• Class: Hybrid Tea
• Soft, silvery lavender-blue
• Sweet and fruity fragrance, blending traditional damask rose notes with crisp hints of fresh lilac
• Parentage: Magenta x Sterling Silver

The Blue Girl rose produces large, classically formed hybrid tea blooms in an unusual silvery lavender-lilac color that can take on a distinctly bluish cast in certain light. The pale, cool coloring is complemented by a noticeable fruity fragrance, making Blue Girl one of the better-known attempts at approaching the elusive color of a truly blue rose.

Blue Girl received a gold medal at the Rome Rose Trials in 1964, recognition of the exceptional color and form that made it so distinctive when it appeared.

The name Blue Girl reflects a goal that has fascinated rose breeders for generations: producing a genuinely blue rose. Roses naturally lack the pigment pathway needed to create the clear blues seen in flowers such as delphiniums or irises, so traditional breeding has instead produced shades of lavender, lilac, mauve, and violet. With its unusually cool, silvery-lavender petals, Blue Girl came remarkably close to the appearance gardeners imagined when dreaming of a “blue” rose—and more than sixty years after its introduction, its distinctive coloring continues to make the name seem entirely appropriate.