Guinness

Where to plant. Dark 'wine' borders, containers on a terrace near places where you sit, and bouquet cut-flower groups. It creates a dramatic contrast when planted with white or yellow varieties, and is ideal for themed 'bar' or 'cocktail' flower beds.

Climate. Down to −23 °C — in northern and central Ukraine with winter cover; in southern Ukraine with moderate cover.

Care. Classic HT — prune in spring; removing spent blooms encourages new flushes; standard seasonal disease prevention.

Name. 'Guinness' is a tribute to the Irish stout Guinness, the legendary dark beer of the Dublin brewery (founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness). Deep chocolate-brown petals with a frothy, lighter centre resemble a glass of beer with white foam. The name is an example of the modern marketing approach to naming cut-flower varieties: a bright commercial association that helps sales.

Breeding. An exact registration of the variety in HelpMeFind is not documented. According to Ukrainian nurseries (Posadka, Traskovskyi, Rozarii) and Dutch growers, the variety was bred in the Netherlands around 2011, probably by the house of Lex+, Schreurs or Olij (leading breeders of Dutch cut roses). The parentage is not published, which is standard practice for commercial breeders.

Significance. IMPORTANT NOT TO CONFUSE: there is also the historic French 'Guinée' (Mallerin/Guillot, 1937), a dark red climbing HT and one of the benchmark dark red classics of the twentieth century. These are DIFFERENT varieties. Guinness is a modern Dutch hybrid tea of terracotta-brown tone; Guinée is an old French dark red climber. On the Ukrainian market, 'Guinness' refers exclusively to the modern Dutch variety. Guinness belongs to the group of modern 'fashionable brown' cut-flower varieties alongside Cappuccino, Hot Chocolate and Cinnabar, a new commercial category of roses for unusual bouquets and wedding flowers in the 2010s.