Roots and Routes

Rosa ‘Ebb Tide’

• Introduced by Weeks Roses in 2004
• Bred by Tom Carruth
• Class: Floribunda
• Deep, smoky, plum-purple
• Spicy clove scent mixed with fresh citrus and sweet orange blossom
• Parentage: [((Sweet Chariot x Blue Nile) x Stephen’s Big Purple) X ((International Herald Tribune x R. soulieana derivative) x (Sweet Chariot x Blue Nile))]

Ebb Tide became an important achievement in American rose hybridizer Tom Carruth’s long pursuit of richer, darker purple roses. He, himself, has described it as the beginning of a significant breakthrough in color.

The name Ebb Tide evokes the romantic popular song of the same name, written in 1953 by composer Robert Maxwell and lyricist Carl Sigman. The song became a standard recorded by numerous artists, including Frank Sinatra, and achieved particular fame through the Righteous Brothers’ dramatic 1965 recording, which reached the Top 5 on the U.S. charts. The name is especially fitting: just as an ebb tide leaves the shoreline darkened and transformed as the sea recedes, the rose is celebrated for its unusually deep, smoky plum-purple coloring.