Introduced in1869, Paul Neyron is a Hybrid Perpetual rose with flowers of immense proportions. As a garden rose, Paul Neyron is most notable for having huge blooms, capable of reaching 7″ across…perhaps the largest blooms of any rose grown today. Color is a medium pink flushed with lilac.
Fragrance is very good. Paul Neyron is prone to blackspot and is a weak grower, rendering this rose appropriate only for the truly committed.
Huge blooms. Dainty Disposition.
The noteworthy feature of ‘Paul Neyron’ is the size of the flowers, which are considered to be the largest found on any rose. Immense blossoms of cerise pink may be as much as seven inches wide. Sometimes referred to as a cabbage rose due to the immense size of the blooms, this is somewhat of a misnomer as the term ‘cabbage rose’ is the common name for Centifolia roses.
Old roses are often recommended to gardeners as robust, healthy alternatives to the modern roses of the mid-late twentieth century. Not all old roses are the sterling examples of good health they are made out to be. Many of our so-called modern roses get their genes from the old roses. I would imagine Paul Neyron drove some of our gardening forefathers mad with the same issues we face with many garden roses today: a lack of disease resistance and weak growth habit serve to make Paul Neyron moot as a good choice for the casual gardener.
Paul Neyron is extremely susceptible to blackspot, and the growth habit can best be described as measly. Hardiness is zones 6-7. The blooms, while impressive, are produced stingily on slender, bare canes. For a rose with blooms nearly the size of those on Paul Neyron, but found on a shrub of much healthier and attractive growth habit, try Baronne Prevost.