What has happened to my ‘Arthur Bell’ rose?
Stefan says: ‘Arthur Bell’ is one of the most beautiful of the older golden yellow floribunda roses, among many fine varieties bred by the McGredy nursery in Northern Ireland in the 1960s. You’ve had yours in a container for around four years and repotted it this year.
It gave a wonderful, sweet-smelling display in July. However, among the second flush of blooms are some that appeared very different: cream with a pink edge and no fragrance.
I can speculate at what has happened, although it’s unclear why it should have done so. ‘Arthur Bell’ was bred from a cross between two other varieties: ‘Piccadilly’, which is another McGredy variety, a very popular pink and yellow bi-coloured hybrid tea, and ‘Cläre Grammerstorf’, which is a very pale, almost washed-out pink bred by Kordes in Germany; and I think your flowers are a reversion, or a throw-back to the latter.