Rio Sambra and Henry Fonda roses are two very special rose varieties for the home garden.


Rio Sambra Hybrid Rose

Rio Sambra hybrid rose is a vigorous plant that is best suited to zones six through ten. It is more hardy than the other roses in this color range. The plant also shows more disease resistance than the others.

This rose was bred by Bill Warriner of Jackson and Perkins. The parentage includes Sunbright and an unidentified seedling. This variety is suited to zones seven through ten.

This reliable plant was released in 1991 and remains very popular even now. In 1993, it was named an All America Rose Selections winner. Easy to grow, it thrives in all regions.

The plant reaches four to six feet in height and has a spread of three feet. Rio Sambra rose makes a great cut flower due to the long stems. This rose is a very free flowering plant.

The blooms often form clusters throughout the growing season. These roses have the perfect hybrid tea form. They’re large—four to six inches wide. Rio Sambra flowers feature a high petal count, up to twenty-five.

With a light fragrance, these blooms can display a wonderful mix of colors
from one flower to another. What makes them even more intriguing is that the colors can change over time. When they’re newly open, Rio Sambra roses are yellow to golden yellow with red along the edges. As time passes, these flowers develop shades of orange or pink at the same time that the red on the edges begins to spreading.

The quality of these roses is quite high. In fact, they’re recommended for exhibition purposes, such as flower shows.


Henry Fonda Hybrid Tea Rose

Henry Fonda rose is a very popular variety. This is a relatively large plant that can grow to be four to five feet in height with a spread of four feet. The highly disease resistant, very vigorous rose is suited to zones four through ten.

One of the best yellow roses, this modern shrub rose was introduced in 1996 by Bear Creek Gardens. It was hybridized by Jach Christensen. Its parentage includes Baron g Del’ ain and Sunbright rose.

Henry Fonda rose is suitable for containers and can be trained as a standard or a tree rose form.

The large blossoms are 4½ inches wide with a twenty to twenty-five petal count. These deep yellow blooms feature a classic rose shape. The semi-double roses have a very light sweet fragrance.

These are borne on extra long stems—up to twenty two inches. They’re ideal as cut flowers. The blooms are borne on new wood and are so abundant they cover the foliage.

Henry Fonda rose is in bloom from late spring or early summer through late summer. This is a repeat bloomer.