Friesia

Where to plant. Sunny borders, showy groups of 3–5 bushes, containers on a terrace by places to sit (for the fragrance), borders of fragrant roses; as a 'sunny spot' in cool plantings with blue perennials.

Climate. To −26 °C — all of Ukraine with moderate winter protection; in southern Ukraine often no cover is needed.

Care. A classic floribunda — prune in spring by ⅓; profuse flowering is encouraged by removing spent flower trusses; standard disease prevention is almost unnecessary thanks to its outstanding resistance.

Name. 'Friesia' — after Friesland, a region in northern Germany and the historic home of the Kordes family. In the USA the variety is sold as 'Sunsprite' ('sun spirit'). Code KORresia — one of the first in the Kordes patent-code system (the prefix KOR = Kordes).

Breeding. Bred by Reimer Kordes (son of Wilhelm Kordes II) at Sparrieshoop, Germany. Parentage: 'Friedrich Wörlein' (Kordes 1963) × 'Spanish Sun' (Boerner 1966). Commercial introduction 1973, code registered 1977.

Significance. 'the fragrant queen of yellows'. In 1979 it received the James Alexander Gamble Fragrance Medal (ARS) — the highest ARS award for fragrance, given once every few years. Friesia is the only floribunda in the history of this award (it is usually given to large HTs — Crimson Glory, Tiffany, Fragrant Cloud, Sutter's Gold, Double Delight, Papa Meilland). In addition: ADR 1973, Baden-Baden Gold 1972, James Mason Memorial Medal 1989, RNRS Gold Medal 1989 — a full collection of international awards. NOT in the WFRS Hall of Fame (a common myth in secondary catalogues): the WFRS HoF has only 18 modern varieties (Peace, Queen Elizabeth, Fragrant Cloud, Iceberg, Double Delight, Papa Meilland, Pascali, Just Joey, New Dawn, Ingrid Bergman, Bonica, Pierre de Ronsard, Elina, Graham Thomas, Sally Holmes, Cocktail, Knock Out, Pink Flower Carpet). Friesia is the fragrant queen of yellows, but formally it is not in the Hall of Fame.