Striped roses, vivid streaks of two colors on the same bloom, add a colorful accent to a rose garden. Last spring, we planted two striped varieties in formal urns in front of one of our rose beds as focal points. Since we wanted something bright and striking, we selected two contrasting striped varieties, Purple Tiger and Scentimental. Importantly, these dazzling floribundas also have a compact mature growth habit well-suited to container growth.
Purple Tiger, a mauve blend (Christensen, 1991), is not a new introduction, but I love its purple and white blooms that produced dramatic stripe-like configurations on each petal. While “striped” is not an official color class ̶ two-toned roses such as striped are referred to as blends ̶ Purple Tiger has the appearance of stripes along its petals, especially from a distance. On closer inspection, you can see that each petal may display splashes of purple interlaced with white or splashes of white interspersed with purple. Either way, the striations and coloring of Purple Tiger is eye-catching.
One thing to note, though, is that mauve roses cannot tolerate extreme heat. During our heat waves this summer, our Purple Tiger blooms shattered as soon as they opened. It may have done better planted within our garden that gets afternoon shade instead of in a container that was in sunlight most of the day. Water was another consideration. Both Purple Tiger and Scentimental had to be watered more often, daily in hot weather, since the soil in the container dried out more quickly than the roses planted in the ground.
Scentimental, however, fared better under hot conditions. This floribunda (Carruth, 1999) produces vibrant sprays of red and white blooms. The saturated red on each individual petal is nicely contrasted by the intermingling of white. While Scentimental appears mostly red, each petal is streaked with white, resulting in a striped or dappled appearance. An added bonus is its strong damask fragrance, all the more noticeable because of the large flowers that grow in clusters.
Striped roses attract attention by providing lively color and creating an impressive dimension to every garden. We chose Purple Tiger and Scentimental because we liked their colors but we could have picked any number of other striped varieties since there are so many to choose from.
The Rose Journal 
Through a few months of participating in a twitter hashtag about roses, I can make the following unscientific, but probably quite accurate statement. Variegated/striped/blends are not highly sought after, nor are they very popular among ‘current’ rose admirers. Bi-color roses such as Double Delight are vastly more popular. We have Variegata di Bologna for instance, which received a mere 4 likes from the hashtag rose group. The same group of voters generally liked single-tone roses by the hundreds.
The popularity of floral colors is fluid. At one time red roses were on top as well as blends like Double Delight. But they come and go. There are colors in roses now that did not exist 25 years ago. Currently in the US earth tones and pastels are all the rage — apricot, peach, orange, buff, etc. and blends including striped varieties. In a few seasons, this will change too.