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York and Lancaster is an interesting rose for a bicolor. It is white and pink, with sections of the bloom being one color or the other. It is quite typical to have three quarters of the bloom one color and one quarter the other, or maybe half and half. Often some blooms are entirely pink or entirely white. They are never striped though, the rule being that each petal is a solid color.
Legend has it that the name came out of the War of the Roses. The house of York had a white rose and the house of Lancaster had a red rose for their emblems. York and lancaster, with its bicolor blooms, supposely represented the joining of the two houses.
The blooms come in small sprays and are very fragrant. The foliage is light green and dull. The bush itself is rather messy and unattractive looking. To verify that this wasn't just *this* particular bush, I planted another in a different section of the yard. Both are messy and unattractive. It also suffers some winter dieback. I keep it because it is unique and has some historic value.
