Bred by Rosen Tantau the new Hybrid Tea rose, Rosa ‘Vianne’s Chocolat’ produces highly fragrant, repeat flowering blooms that are deep purple to velvet red, with bushy upright growth to a height of approximately 80-120cm when fully grown.
Named after the protagonist in the original best-selling book, ‘Chocolat’, author Joanna Harris has written the long awaited prequel, titled ‘Vianne‘ (Orion), which will be released on the 22nd of May, 2025. The new rose is named after the protagonist in the novels.
Joanne Harris OBE is the author of over 20 novels, including Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2000. Her work has been translated into over 50 languages, and has won a number of British and international awards. She was the Chair of the Society of Authors for 6 years and has judged numerous literary prizes.
Harris holds honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2022 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She also has a kind of synaesthesia that allows her to smell colours. Red, she says, smells of chocolate.
“As the child and grandchild of gardeners, I spent much of my childhood in gardens. I was surrounded by roses; their colours; their scents; their stories, their names. Names are words of power. Every writer knows this. To name a thing is to claim it, and behind every name, there’s a story. I’m thrilled to have been given this chance to tell the story of Vianne’s Chocolat, a beautiful rose, named after the heroine of the book that has meant so much to me and to my readers across the world. Here she is; she’s gorgeous, sweet and dusky-red, and I mean to fill my garden with scented beauties just like her,” says Harris.
In addition to Rosa ‘Vianne’s Chocolat’, the garden centre chain, Blue Diamond will launching three other roses at the RHS Chelsea, which also includes, the dual coloured, Rosa ‘Stronger Together’ in support of the Muscular Dystrophy UK, charity.
