It has enchanted me at first sight, but for many years I have not even dared to think about this rose, because I thought it must be a very sensitive royal princess. However, quite on the contrary, in the reality it is one of the most robust and frost hardy roses.
![Rosa Cardinal Richelieu Cardinal de Richelieu](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8PQo3iWzP5F14Vndc41WpJf9Kq2mPXOy36hpgO5estXccHY11csrTSoDEUcG27YtDZkddjHl7-aTUAjCXr8pyXzMFaJx1NWH4PxcPEHAoKhRKbV3fAnCFlXujeWLe3Bvp94t1EFOFlk/s400/Cardinal+de+Richelieu+01c.jpg)
It has an unbelievable color. You would think that these photos are manipulated, but no. It is really something so purple-violet-grey-beet-aubergine. In the life it is unspeakably beautiful. However, it is very difficult to take good pictures on it. None of these photos are perfect, nevertheless they give some impression of it.
![Rosa Cardinal Richelieu Cardinal de Richelieu](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcwOxbCdyfgeolOl2rDw4c8oaReFpGfoUT3ndrDC0io2IKB4dTV9tim7sXSUideNn1raSIAZoW_kaUJ3aPaKHtS9AYBWXGTayUYvL2r29AgD1pDaoRsBEXDSlFqNN0jzkOArXC5SgEoA/s400/Cardinal+de+Richelieu+01c.jpg)
In any case, they show well that complex subtlety that is completely missing from twentieth-century roses.
![Rosa Cardinal Richelieu Cardinal de Richelieu](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7OkiuKFWSVnlijUwi5evrMNbF5QjN-FsTgo7YTNhlNFZULGOuoeA9nzFJwGMWvqRuNtg2yq7xPjaTwbtRNTg1cbt0gRC1H_3ZPRxHrJ_KDEvY5s2ZH1kustBC1Sh8IBDtnqTyIQ56uk/s400/Cardinal+de+Richelieu+11c.jpg)
It is undoubtedly far from the idea of “neat and tidy”. This is its most attractive feature.
![Rosa Cardinal Richelieu Cardinal de Richelieu](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-JVUaz_pl3IGOHPfdDPspLa2e4uUa17P53RZqeyniCb5WTz-oaUliUF6YUSLxGpsAXxeEfDTlU90QzTGjdJDq0UOXQLmm-C9XkG9x64w_sldNtmnZhkkAXezeuFr_qpxZBO_UlrO4YbU/s400/Cardinal+01c.jpg)
class: Gallica rose, before 1847 (
Louis-Joseph-Ghislain Parmentier)
height: 90 - 185 cm - At us it is around 120 cm.
width: 60- 90 cm - At us around 120 cm.
American hardiness zone: Z4b (down to -32 ºC)
bloom: once