While brown roses sometimes strike me as flat or artificial, I found the mixture of colours in Rosa ‘Koko Loco’ alluring. In demand as a wedding rose for obvious reasons, this variety can also be grown by gardeners.
The roses are an elegant colour, but not an easy one to describe: milk chocolate, creamy coffee or tan, perhaps. Fully open flowers have a large boss of golden stamens that add a warm glow. The sheeny petals gradually become suffused with lilac, eventually fading to grey.
The colour is closest to brown towards the centre of young, partly-open blooms. (While resizing this, I was wondering what it reminded me of and finally realised it was the cover of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Is that a stretch?)
Open flowers are large, sturdy and variable with some lightly frilly petals, giving a ruffled effect. This bloom was two-tone, with lilac and coffee sections.
A strong, spicy scent and a decent vase life tick off two more boxes on the rose desirability list.
I was introduced to Rosa ‘Koko Loko’ by a lady who was growing in a mixed flower border in her private garden in Madison, Mississippi. My pictures were all taken there in early May last year.
The breeder, Christian Bédard of Weeks Roses, lists the parentage as Rosa ‘Blueberry Hill’ (a lavender, semi-double floribunda) x Rosa ‘Pot O’Gold’ (a yellow hybrid tea).
Shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day. I’m planning a series of posts about some of the more unusual roses I’ve seen, although it’s fair to say my blogging plans don’t always come to fruition – wish me luck!
Susan Rushton 
Beautifully photographed crisp blooms with soft colour blends. I wish you luck with your plans
Thanks, Derrick.
That’s really beautiful although I agree it’s hard to find a single word to describe the colour. It’s almost like a soft, muted copper perhaps?
That would work. It also made me think of cinder toffee (chocolate honeycomb), perhaps because of the stamens.
Such a lovely rose!
It was a surprisingly small plant for the size of its flowers.
Incredibly beautiful! Love the color.
Thanks, Amy.
This is knock-your-socks-off beautiful, Susan. I wonder what would have made me know it would have a wonderful scent. What fun it would be to photograph it.
It was an unexpected treat.
That’s lovely. I have brown irises and have learned to love them for their unusual coloration and complexity.
I’ve seen several kinds of brown iris but have never grown them. They’re lovely.
Cinnamony!
That’s a good way of describing it.