Princess Charlene de Monaco rose 2025 | very fragrant French rose by Meilland
- Tat_Tatiwa
- Mar 26
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 2
One of the most beautiful and fragrant roses in my garden is Princess Charlene de Monaco rose. Funny story, back in 2020 when the rose craze hit, I ordered a bouquet of Evelyn roses from Grace Rose Farm to see what the blooms looked like (back in the days when they're still selling cut garden roses) because I wanted to know what the hype was all about.
PCdM bouquet from Grace Rose Farm in Nov 2020 (photos above)
Somehow, I received Princess Charlene de Monaco instead (but they didn't let me know that they sent a substitute) so I understood I received Evelyn roses all along! The fragrance was absolutely out of this world amazing. I was so impressed to the point that it led me on a quest to hunt for the Evelyn rose to grow in my garden!
A month later, around December 2022, Raft Island Roses in WA had limited qty. of Evelyn rose available for sale, I was fortunate to order it along with Princess Charlene de Monaco as I heard PCdM had amazing fragrance as well.
One day, I saw photos of PCdM in one rose group and it was an AHA moment! All these months, I had no idea that Princess Charlene de Monaco rose was the rose that I was searching for.
Princess Charlene de Monaco rose (or Meidysouk) is a French-bred rose by Meilland International in the Romantica collection, according to the Star Roses and Plants website, this rose has below characteristics:
Flower Color: Light Apricot, Shell Pink
Petals: Large: 100+
Foliage: Medium Green, Semi-Glossy
Scent: Fresh Fruit, Perfume, Sweet, Very Strong
Size/Habit: Hybrid Tea, Upright, Bushy, 5–5½' h x 2–3' w
My takes on this rose based on
my no-spray / no preventative or treatment approach
Rootstock:
Multiflora
Where did I purchase mine from:
Raft Island Roses (online vendor) in WA (I highly recommend this vendor, they are a small nursery that still operates and takes orders the old fashioned way but the owner is amazing. My experience has been very positive for the past 2 orders in 2020 & 2022, big and healthy bare roots, very reasonable prices and shipping). Their bare roots are less than $30 which are very hard to find as the rose prices keep going up.
I plan to order again for 2024. If you are willing to pick up in League City, we can bundle our orders together. Let me know at RosesInHouston@gmail.com so I can notify you when I get ready to order.
Flower:
In my experience growing this rose so far, I am not sure it has 100+ petals (or I may have to wait until after 3 years). It doesn’t appear to have that many petals at this point, but bloom size is decent and big during cooler weather. So far, vase life is about 3-4 days.
However, my color never gets to be very intense. Colors vary greatly. In warmer/hotter months, it’s light to almost white. On cooler days, it’s more apricot/pink but I have never seen it showing the colors that match Grace Rose Farm’s bouquet. It’s possible that my soil PH balance has a lot to do with flowers as well.
Growth habit:
the height of this rose is definitely much taller in Texas. Despite my efforts to prune it heavily a few times during the year, it still manages to grow tall. This is the rose that regular pruning throughout the year will be beneficial. Great thing about it being tall is that it makes great cut roses due to its long stems for taller vases. It doesn’t take up too much space. Mine is around 3-4 ft wide.
PCdM tends to have a lot of blindshoots for me in springtime 2 years in a row. After a regular hard pruning, it grows a lot but sends out many blindshoots so I had to trim...again.
It tends to get so tall, when a rose that isn't a climbing rose gets so tall, they spend more energy on canes more than blooms. So try removing blindshoots and keep pruning.
Heat Resistance:
I say it does fairly well given that it gets 10-12+ hours under direct su in a south-facing backyard without any shade at all. Of course, the flowers burn and bleach under such intense sun. Foliages suffer some degree of burn, but not bad. Keep in mind that mine is planted in a direct sun with long exposure during summer.
My verdict, this rose CAN handle full sun really well.
Disease/Pest Resistance:
flower thrips during springtime appear to be its worst enemies. Chili thrip hit every rose in my garden including this rose during summer time - I see more damages on the foliages than on the flowers). Chilli thrips do not stop this rose from blooming though. It keeps going despite heavy infestation.
The only disease that I’ve seen is mainly blackspots which is not bad at all compared to other roses in a no-spray garden. It’s definitely a must-have rose if you do not want to spray or use Bayer products, this rose will certainly thrive in your garden.
Fragrance:
very intense and has beautiful fruity notes. To my nose, it’s a very nice smelling expensive perfume (not the pungent one that will give you a headache, but rather a very pleasant smelling fruity perfume).
My experience growing this rose
Princess Charlene de Monaco in 2021
Planted it as a bare root, it leafed out beautifully and started budding not too long after. Its first flush was out of this world gorgeous as well. Very intense color. A few months later, I moved it to a raised bed. It bloomed a bit here and there, but not so much.
Princess Charlene de Monaco in 2022
Not much action this year. I was not impressed to be honest. It kept getting tall with lots of blind shoots - but no flowers. I planted it in full sun (south-facing backyard with 10-12+ hours of direct sun / no shade). It led me to believe that it could not handle full sun so I was thinking perhaps I needed to move it to a part-shade area. We also experienced drought in Texas this year. I decided to delay my plan to move it.
Princess Charlene de Monaco in 2023
So much growths this year, I pruned it down really hard during the spring pruning time. New growth spurt but lots of bline shoots so I had to cut down again.
After trimming down blindshoots - Holy Moly!! She turned around. PCdM finally unleashed her blooming power!! Many buds, many blooms but when I was about to get to enjoy her beautiful flowers, they were swamped by flower thrips in springtime!
Roses continue to amaze me how resilient they can be and what happens when you surrender and leave it up to nature (which is NOT an easy thing to do for most gardeners including me who used to be a perfectionist & control freak).
Almost an entire springtime, each flush was swamped by flower thrips!!
That's like 3 flushes in a row!!! Thrips got to enjoy each bud and bloom.
To my surprise, finally here she is. Y'all, this is an epic moment. Look how clean the blooms look!! I can't believe it.
During hot days, it throws out quite a few single layer blooms
Below are photos of Princess Charlene de Monaco rose in the fall of 2023
My verdict for Princess Charlene de Monaco rose?
It's a yes for both no-spray and regular garden. If you are a lazy gardener like me, this rose will thrive and do beautifully (if you are okay with damaged blooms and foliages during peak thrip period). Otherwise if you employ insecticide, you'll get beautiful blooms to enjoy as well.
Are you interested in growing roses in a holistic way that helps your roses thrive to fight off pests and diseases instead of using systemic, insecticide, pesticide or other chemicals in your garden and home?
Or you may have health and/or environemental concern and want to seek an alternative?
Join me in growing roses - The Joyful Way - where we help your roses build strenght and resilence in order to thrive no matter what Mother Nature throws at them (and you).
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