What is a Hot Chocolate Rose?
The fiery red of the Hot Chocolate or Hot Cocoa Rose is tinged with brown, and looks warm in a vase in the chilly winter time.
This shadowy plant is filled with mystery, and its blooms last into the hot summer naturally. The bush is three to five feet (90-150cm) tall, and two to three feet (60-90cm) wide. It ranges in color from dark red to purple sometimes, and will occasionally be orange.
It is a floribunda rose, which was cultivated by Tom Curruth. Born in Texas, Curruth had an over a 40 year career, and cultivated over 100 varieties of roses. Floribundas are a cross between tea roses and polyantha. Tea roses are known to have a beautiful colour ranges, while polyantha have abundant blooms. So, the resulting rose bush is smaller and stiffer, but does not slump or sprawl, and has many flowers.
Remove old or fallen leaves in the autumn to prevent disease from touching its many dark green leaves.