Although I am familiar with the Drift roses, the first time I saw the one called Peach Drift I was in L_O_V_E. Drift roses are bred and brought to you by the same people who gave us the KnockOut! family of roses.
Let me just interject an opinion here ;), I have heard many many gardeners knock the knockouts. Just as recently as last week I overheard someone in a nursery saying with disgust “Don’t even show me any of those knockouts, I HATE them.” Ahem, why???? They bloom their heads off, they are disease resistant, they tolerate all forms of neglect, they tolerate all types of soil and even do ok in shadier conditions, and the double pink and Sunny are fragrant, so what’s the problem? Don’t plant them if you don’t want to, but don’t knock a perfectly useful and beautiful garden plant without a good reason.
Back to the Peach Drift……..Any way, I was touring the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden when I spied Peach Drift absolutely foaming flowers all around a set of benches in the garden. I drifted over (couldn’t resist) and was immediately taken by the clusters of bloom that open from dark peach buds to adorable little yellow tinged mini roses and fade off to a more delicate shade of peach, and guess what? they are ever so sweetly fragrant. I took tons of photos and added” Peach Drift” to my “must-have” list, then promptly left my camera on the train. Sigh
Here in the Burrow I was already growing the Coral Drift, Sweet Drift, and Pink Drift and was continually struck by their long bloom time ( spring to hard freeze) and disease resistance. I was trying to figure out where I could squish in the Peach Drift when I came across the very plant being grown as a standard! Woo-Hoo!! Perfect! ( for those who are confused by the term, a standard is when a rose or other plant has been pruned into a sort of tree form, like topiary,) Not only does that make them easy to fit in ( I grow other roses on standards nestled in between boxwood hedges) but it also lifts up the plant to the perfect level for enjoying the fragrance.
The two Peach Drifts I bought now grace the landing at the foot of my porch where we eat breakfast every day in good weather and are a constant source of delight.
Some basic info: Peach Drift or Rosa Meiggili is a cross between a groundcover and a miniature rose. It is hardy in zones 4-11 and disease resistant. It flowers in cycles that last 5-6 weeks from spring until a really hard freeze ( not frost, it scoffs at frost). It is the most floriferous of the roses in the Drift series, and that is saying a lot! It will grow to about 1 1/2 feet tall to 2 feet wide .
You can deadhead the spent flowers to tidy it up and speed up the bloom cycle , but if you don’t it will shed them on its own and re-bloom without your help. Since my Peach Drifts are being grown in containers, I will have to water and probably fertilize them, but in the ground they would not need such coddling.
