A publication of the American Rose Society

Transcription

1 A publication of the American Rose Society The American Rose Society defines Old Garden Roses as any member of a rose family that was in existence prior to On the other hand, terms such as Heritage Roses, Heirloom Roses, etc, can have a much broader meaning. This issue of the Old Garden Rose & Shrub Journal focuses on this expanded interpretation, with two articles exploring the early development of Hybrid Teas. Also included are pieces honoring people who have contributed immeasurably to the world of roses, both old and new. The Editor Rosa Foetida Persiana (Bob Bauer) 1

2 IT S ALL IN THE FAMILY: A HISTORY OF A FEW EARLY HYBRID TEAS by Darrell g.h. Schramm Because we are accustomed to finding any rose of any class or variety in a bed with roses of other classes or varieties, we rosarians understand The House of Rose is incestuous and inbred. To prove this point, this article will attempt to show some of the familial relations among and history of four or five somewhat early hybrid teas. Beyond my favorites, the Old Garden Roses, I feel an affinity for some of the red primitive hybrid teas, as one writer once called them though he may not consider the early 20 th century roses of my focus primitive. I refer to those rich, dark reds, Hadley (1914), Etoile de Hollande (1919), Barcelona (1932), and Christopher Stone (1935). Hadley and Etoile de Hollande are half-siblings, sharing the same father: E. Gurney Hill s red General MacArthur (1905); but Etoile de Hollande carries an incestuous gene, being also a child of Hadley. Christopher Stone, on the other hand, is a grandchild of General MacArthur, cousin to Hadley and an offspring of Etoile de Hollande and Hortulanus Budde. (Hortulanus Budde, by the way, was also bred in 1919 by the same hybridist of Etoile de Hollande. While the name Hortulanus Budde once caused much speculation the rose is now virtually out of commercial circulation I wonder if it was named after horticulturalist Budd, Joseph Lancaster Budd [ ], who introduced to the U.S. many fruit and ornamental trees from Russia. Another lost rose with a lost history.) Barcelona is not as close a relative as the other three. While it too lives in The House of Rose Red, it does not occupy the same room, but it does share a wall a second cousin once removed, shall we say. More specifically, it shares the hybrid tea Richmond four generations back another E. Gurney Hill product--and the hybrid tea Liberty five generations back. Liberty, you see, is in the gene pool of all four roses. Liberty (Etienne Bouret) When E. Gurney Hill introduced the Alexander Dickson rose Liberty to the U.S. in 1900, he (along with Pernet- Ducher and his Soleil d Or in France) greatly hastened the increase of new hybrid tea varieties for the next decade. Liberty expanded the color spectrum of reds. Indeed, it is through Liberty that 2 1

3 the velvet-like crimson color was passed on to Barcelona, Christopher Stone, Etoile de Hollande and Hadley. Hadley was bred by Alexander Montgomery of Hadley, Massachusetts. Dickson s Liberty and Hill s Richmond created the seed parent; General MacArthur, as I mentioned, the pollen parent. In fact, Liberty is a part of the family both three and four generations back. Hadley, a short fellow, has been described as deep reddish purple, as dark blood red with blacker tints, and as deep velvety crimson. Intensely fragrant, it changes to mauve with age. If various responses to it in several American Rose Annuals are accurate, it is a temperamental rose according to its locale. ( Location location location, Jim Delahanty would say, meaning that location matters.) Hadley (Bill Grant) It seems to do its best along the entire Pacific Coast and in Florida. To our confusion, however, a Conard-Pyle catalogue claimed it did best in the cooler parts of the country. Perhaps that claim was made because its petals can burn in hot summer sun. Where I live, summers reach degrees for one to three weeks; however, my Hadley does well in afternoon shade. And it remains a long, long time on its stem before falling. In the semi-shade, Hadley unfolds slowly and, it would seem, carelessly. The petals appear at first floppy and random, as though misbehaving, so that the end will spell disappointment. But then, as if it had a change of heart, the open bloom reveals a rich cup, very like many a full Old Garden Rose before it unfurls completely. In 1914 it won the American Rose Society Gold Medal. In 1941, it was still extensively grown and a favorite florist rose in Lima, Peru. Today it is sold by only four U.S. nurseries, as well as by one in Japan, one in Germany, and one in Australia. Five years after Hadley appeared, Verschuren, a Dutchman, gave us the star of Hollande, Etoile de Hollande. What a beauty! As to family inbreeding, not only is General MacArthur its father, but his genes are also in the previous generation, making it child and grandchild of the same sire. Gruss an Teplitz appears twice in both the second and in the third generation previous; Gloire des Rosomanes appears twice in the third and in the fourth. (Of course one might say that roses are not the human species, so the same rules don t hold. But if Adam and Eve had only two children, Cain and Abel, it doesn t take a genius to figure out how the world was populated.) I In 1929 Conard-Pyle s catalogue boasted that the glory of this flower [ Etoile de Hollande ] is in its half-open bloom, which comes as near to perfection as any red rose we have. The great Australian rose breeder Alister Clark in 1931 deemed it the leader in sweet red roses. 3 2

4 According to an article in the 1942 American Rose Annual, it was one of the two favorites in New Zealand at the time; the same was then true for Colombia. Etoile de Hollande (Lubera Gärtnern) Until 1935 when Crimson Glory was introduced, Etoile de Hollande was the measuring rod of quality hybrid teas. Thereafter it had a rival. Nonetheless, as late as 1947 Editor McFarland wrote, If only one red rose could be admitted to the small garden, it might easily be Etoile de Hollande. Earlier, in 1929 he had announced, If it had to be just one [rose], it would be Etoile de Hollande, only that it would be necessary to flip a coin to discover whether I would not prefer Gruss an Teplitz. Doubtlessly, Gregg Lowery would agree with the first part, having asserted, This is the rose I would take to Alcatraz if they locked me up. According to an ARS survey in 1929, it headed the list of America s favorite rose; and in another later survey of 1946, it was the most widely grown rose in the U.S., followed by Crimson Glory. ( Christopher Stone was in sixth place it s all in the family.) Clearly this rose has had and still has its followers, lo, these 90 years. I d go so far as to say that any garden that favors hybrid teas but lacks Etoile de Hollande seems incomplete to me. Etoile de Hollande is a bright red or intense crimson with a velvet texture, the brightest red of the four. Blossoms often show a white streak down the center of a few petals. The fragrance is that of a damask rose outstanding perfume. It is a somewhat angular and loose bush with strong canes bearing huge flowers of 25 to 40 petals. It s less twiggy than Hadley and Barcelona. Thomas Christopher of In Search of Lost Roses declares it has a constitution that has been bred out of modern hybrid teas. Studies at the University of Arkansas in the early 1940s showed time and time again that blackspot infection on this rose was almost invariably less than on Crimson Glory or on Christopher Stone. Unfortunately, it is susceptible to mildew, but nothing that a jojoba oil solution or a solution of nine parts water to one part milk can t take care of. Like Hadley it won t object to some afternoon shade. Mine thrives with only dappled sunlight all day. Barcelona was born thirteen years later, hybridized by Kordes. Somewhat more distant in relation, it shares not only Liberty with the other three, but also Richmond with Hadley and Christopher Stone, not to mention Lady Mary Fitzwilliam with Hadley. Like the latter, it is a dark red, blackblood red rose, definitely darker than Etoile. Of the four roses, I enjoy feeling between my thumb and finger the velvet of Barcelona best. Mimicking its cousins, it too asks for some shade to prevent scorching of its petals. As the 4 3

5 cupped flowers widen, they retain their color but sometimes acquire a mottled look. Like Hadley it is reluctant to fall with age. As with its cousins, the scent is a true rose perfume. The petals retain their fragrance long after they are dry. Similar to Etoile and Hadley in bush shape and size, it grows to about 30 inches in height. Of the four, it is the most floriferous. It exhibits the idiosyncrasy of producing as few as 35 petals to according to one source as many as 105. If what I own and what is sold as Barcelona is really Francis Dubreuil, as many contest, then it is the oldest of the family members here, indeed a primitive hybrid tea, of Barcelona (Sue Brown) Christopher Stone, one of the roses Hearst grew at San Simeon Castle, was introduced by Herbert Robinson, an Englishman, in The year before, it had won the Royal National Rose Society Gold Medal. Like the others, it is a deep red. At times it leans toward black-red but it is closer in hue to Etoile de Hollande a brighter red. Its color value is excellent, that is, it doesn t fade. Norah Burke Lindsay, a garden designer in England between the two World Wars, remarked that it was the best velvety red of all red roses, and planted an enormous bed of it in her own garden. Its buds seem rather more pointed than those of the other three. More compact as well, it grows somewhat taller, to three feet or so. The previous generation of Christopher Stone contains the genes of General MacArthur and Hadley in common with the others; in the generation before that, we find General MacArthur again and Gruss an Teplitz ; and the fourth generation back, we find Gruss an Teplitz again as well as Gloire des Rosomanes (see Etoile de Hollande above), Liberty and Richmond. (I name only those roses of shared genes.) Who was Christopher Stone, the namesake? He was a pre-television radio celebrity, the brother-in-law of the novelist Compton MacKenzie, founder and first editor of the magazine The Gramophone. Born in 1882, Stone was the BBC s first disc-jockey, beginning his broadcast in Indeed, he was the first radio announcer and programmer in the United Kingdom. The rapidly rising popularity of gramophone records had engendered a need for such a role on radio. The BBC allowed him to play his favorites in music. Each week he played records organized around a theme. He also wrote a weekly column of gramophone reviews. When he took on additional work at Radio Luxemburg, which had begun in 1933, the BBC did not approve his bipartisanship and dismissed him. 5 4

6 Unlike the formal style required of him at the BBC, at Radio Luxemburg he was permitted to develop his own style freely convivial, friendly, relaxed, a style still in evidence on radio today, and not unlike the rose itself. describes it as a glowing fiery red color, and Marie Henriette Chotck in 1926 as fiery orange red on an orangeyellow ground. None of those color descriptions match the Christopher Stone I own which I bought from Vintage Gardens. Nor do those descriptions approximate the deep velvety crimson of those in this little family. Two roses Barcelona and Francis Dubrueil or Christopher Stone and perhaps Hortulanus Budde may look virtually identical. If recessive genes occur in the human family and in peas, why not also in the rose family? Christopher Stone (Kaye Kettrey) To echo an earlier reference, Lowery and Robinson state in their Vintage Gardens Book of Roses that Christopher Stone seems identical with what has been grown for many years under the name Hortulanus Budde. Certainly the latter has vanished from the marketplace, at least under that name. Somewhere along the line, could the Dutch rose have become confused with the English one? They do share the same parental seed. But the 1959 catalogue of Roses of Yesterday and Today describes Hortulanus Budde as a deep fiery red, the 1923 American Rose Annual These four or five (or six?) family members in The House of Rose Red are linked, of course, by a more profound kinship. While it may be through the gene line of Liberty that the particular velvet-like crimson color was passed on to them, it is through the genes of Slater s Crimson China (Rosa chinensis semperflorens) brought from China in 1792 that those red roses and most modern red hybrid teas not only bloom repeatedly but also flaunt the color red at all. Slater s Crimson China (Vintage Gardens) 6 5

7 Remembering The Colonel, Mel Hulse By Cass Bernstein Heritage, as Mel liked to call it. Hoisted into the lower branches of a nearby tree, GUADALUPE VOLUNTEER was released into its natural realm. Jeri Jennings of the Gold Coast Heritage Rose Group captured memorable shots of GUADALUPE VOLUNTEER enveloping its visitors.. Mel gave me GUADALUPE VOLUNTEER for my new garden. (Photo courtesy of Kent Krugh) On January 22, 2008, we lost Col Merrill W. Hulse USAF (Ret), The Colonel or, if you like, Da Kernal, who died at age 79. I am surviving my second rose season without Mel s company, but I cannot say it is the same. Like so many gardeners whose gardens serve as living memorials to a friend who offered a start of a favorite plant, to a new house when its first tree was planted, to a special event where roses were sold, I find reminders of Mel everywhere. At my back door, the prodigious GUADALUPE VOLUNTEER ( Hrgvolunteer, H Musk, w, Hulse, 2003) is scrambling past the eaves to the roof. It was found it as a seedling in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, or The Early last spring, among ten potted roses destined for a sale to benefit the Historic Rose Garden in the Sacramento Old City Cemetery was Lupe s Buttons (H Musk, w, Hulse, 2006), another seedling Mel found growing at The Heritage. Mel loved the generous bloom and vigor of this pale apricot single that softens to pink and cream in the sun. He would have been proud to see it making its way into gardens. The mother plant is well over 6 x 8 feet at the Heritage. Mel gave me Lupe s Buttons, too. Guadalupe Volunteer (San Jose Heritage Rose Garden) I once asked Mel about his most notable achievements in roses. He did not pause 7 6

8 a moment before mentioning his satisfaction at seeing Secret Garden Musk Climber (LCl, w, found by Joyce Demits) propagated from cuttings, spread around in gardens and put into commerce. Joyce Demits collected the rose initially and sold it from her nowclosed nursery in Mendocino County, California. To bury it within the class of large-flowered climbers obscures the character of the plant: both bushy and climbing in the manner of Darlow s Enigma or many Noisettes. Secret Garden Musk Climber (Jeri Jennings) Secret Garden Musk Climber is festooned with clusters of single, white, clove-scented blooms from spring through fall. Mel especially enjoyed its penetrating clove scent. He talked up the rose, grew cuttings from his own plant, and browbeat everyone he knew into growing it. My own Secret Garden Musk Climber somehow braves the gales near the San Francisco Bay in an imperfect location. Mel gave me Secret Garden Musk Climber as well. One of the more unusual seedlings from the Heritage is a Hybrid Gallica, whose presumed parentage has been described by Jill Perry with only a little irony as R. gallica The Rest Of The Garden). The French Strumpet is onceblooming, carrying lively bright-pink, semi-double blooms in small clusters with olive green, rugose foliage. It suckers and colonizes like a Gallica. Mel encouraged me dig up a sucker a couple of years ago, so I could grow The French Strumpet (HGal, dp, Hulse, 2006) in my garden. Among my new acquisitions this year is MEL HULSE (Moss, m, Ardkernel, Barden, 2001). Paul Barden hybridized this modern, mossy remontant, crossing Scarlet Moss The Prince. This will be another reminder of Mel in the garden. Mel was a friend to West Coast hybridizers, offering budwood or cuttings of roses not in commerce, testing plants, growing discards and referring them back to the hybridizer if they unexpectedly matured into fine plants. I have just such a rose in my garden today, ANNIE LAURIE MCDOWELL (LCl, lp, Rupert, 2001), a fine pink climber that Mel tested for Kim Rupert. Mel Hulse (Paul Barden) With Mel as a bad influence, I accumulated an embarrassing number of roses growing in pots, consisting of found roses with study names, rare roses 8 7

9 not readily available in commerce, and prospects for garden planting. The sheer scale required an automated irrigation system designed especially for pots. Mel helped me spec out a system like the one he helped set up in the Heritage. From roses he studied and registered, to pruning, care and propagation, Mel s gifts to rosarians like me were impressive, considering he was involved in roses for only 12 years. Mel brought his 26 years of military service, followed by his work at Lockheed-Martin as a systems engineer, into his new love of roses. As a volunteer at the Heritage, he propagated hundreds, if not thousands of roses, entire armies of roses if you will. At first he used the baggie method described on the ARS website; later, he started using terrariums. He passed along what he learned to anyone who would listen. Loan Hulse, sister seedling of Mel Hulse (Paul Barden) He tinkered with the database of almost 3000 varieties that was set up by thencurator, Ed Wilkinson. Always a social fellow, Mel frequented online rose discussion groups, first rec.gardens.roses and later GrowRoses and other Yahoo Groups, where he dispensed rose advice and instruction. Mel offered counsel to HelpMeFind.com, an online rose database and web application for managing rose lists, references, nurseries, gardens and suppliers. Mel was a daily companion to dozens of rosarians who read his posts for years. For his extraordinary cyber-service, Mel was recognized as a Consulting Rosarian and received an ARS Presidential Citation. Through online forums and the Heritage, Mel met rosarians from around the world - - Pat Toolan from Australia, Etienne Bouret from France, Sam McGredy from New Zealand, Sean McCann from Ireland, Girija and Viru Viraraghavan from India - - to name but a few. They came from far and wide to visit the Heritage, where Mel graciously escorted visitors through the roses. Mel contributed thousands of hours of volunteer to help sustain the resource of a vast heritage rose garden in his home town. It was not all work and no play. Mel enjoyed a good rose rescue as much as anyone, relishing the collection and preservation of old, unknown or abandoned roses. He assisted Vintage Gardens in the Mare Island Rose Rescue in 2000, when teams of rosarians canvassed the planting in the recently decommissioned naval base in Vallejo, California. Mel also joined the Gold Coast Heritage Rose Group on excursions to California s Gold Country and to San Juan Bautista to document, photograph and sometimes collect old roses. Each rose rustle was a memorable road trip. For all his passion in preserving roses, Mel was always respectful of those interred in the forgotten cemeteries we visited, pausing to pay his respects and to read the headstones commemorating those who have gone before. 9 8

10 Mel united rosarians with different interests, from old roses to virtual roses, from the American Rose Society to the Heritage Rose Foundation and Heritage Roses Group, from hybridizers to weekend gardeners. He loved us all, forgave us our foibles and prejudices, and brought all of us together as often as he could. We miss him, but we see him everywhere in our gardens. Mel was born in Oakland, California on June 20, 1928, and died in San Jose, CA on January 22, He is survived by his wife Hong Loan, of San Jose, California and three adult children. To read a series of tributes to Mel Hulse, please go to helpmefind.com Roses and search the Ezine for Mel Hulse. See a tribute to Mel in Rosa Mundi. journal of The Heritage Rose Foundation. I knew Mel for about a decade, having first encountered him as a funny, but deeply human character on rec.gardens.roses, where he often served as a referee in a cyber scrap. When I met the man in person it became much more evident that Mel was indeed a caring man, who loved both the roses he knew and grew, and the people who tended them. Mel took a personal interest in me and in my work with roses and was always enthusiastic to give a home, either in his back yard or at the Heritage, to one of my new test varieties. For Mel, the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden was as much a classroom as it was an archive of roses. If he was there, he was showing somebody how to take a good cutting, or pointing out a rarity among the rose collection. He didn't just know a lot about roses, ALL kinds of roses, but he was eager and always prepared to share what he knew with absolutely anyone. I remember a lecture series I attended at Ft. Bragg, CA several years ago and Mel was showing the group how to take their own cuttings to propagate using the "Baggie method" and everyone went away from that lecture feeling that this previously mystical technique was something they could do themselves, effortlessly and with great success. That was Mel in so many ways; the guy who made people believe in the limitless capacity for the human mind to learn and to do, and to care about each other. I will miss the man who went dashing about the West in his hot red Miata, the back seat loaded with a cooler full of cuttings, and a few roses in pots, picking up and delivering new treasures at every stop along the way, like the Johnny Appleseed of Roses. You were a good friend, Mel. By Paul Barden Mel couldn't wait to share what he had. It is because of him that I include roses like "Secret Garden Musk" and 'September Morn' in my collection; roses that I may have otherwise overlooked if it hadn't been for Mel, whose praise of some of these plants had a way of sounding like a proud parent's love for a talented child. 10 9

11 Hawkeye: Toronto, Canada " x 11.75", 132 pp., hardbound, US$59.95 ISBN Joséphine s Eden, through a collection of rose and garden color images (from Roseraie du Val-de-Marne à L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Roseraie de Bagatelle, and Roseraie de la Cour de Commer) coupled with an informative essay, documents her unique contribution to the development of the modern rose. An amazing woman whose passion for roses left us with a legacy of edens. The book celebrates Empress Joséphine as the First Lady of the Rose. Copies of Joséphine's Eden can be purchased through PayPal. First select destination: North America US$70.00 (book and shipping) or Europe US$ For further information contact Hawkeye at [email protected] 11 10

12 Great Rosarians of the World 2009 By Pat Shanley The Great Rosarians of the World Lecture Series-East Coast was presented in New York on June 5 th & 6 th. The 2009 honorees were Marilyn Wellan. Immediate Past President of the American Rose Society, and Stephen Scanniello, author, former Curator of he Cranford Rose Garden, and President of the Heritage Rose Foundation. These two outstanding rosarians are being honored for helping bridge the gap between two major factions of the hobby: Modern Roses and Old Garden Roses. The two honorees have worked tirelessly both to promote their love of roses and bridge the differences between these two branches of the hobby. Both have been actively involved in local, national, and international rose societies, giving freely of their time and energy to further the love of all roses. The Great Rosarians of the World Lecture Series 2009 East Coast, sponsored Organic Plant Health, was a full day event, presented on June 6 th at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It included a morning panel discussion on Grow Easy Roses. The panel consisted of Pat Henry, co-owner of Roses Unlimited Nursery; Peter Kukielski, Curator of Roses, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden and the New York Botanical Garden; Clair Martin, Curator of Rose and Perennial Gardens at the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA; William J. Radler, 2008 Great Rosarians of the World honoree and hybridizer of the Knock Out family of roses, and Jeff Wyckoff, incoming President of the American Rose Society. The discussion was moderated by Sarah Owens, Curator of the Cranford Rose Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The panel discussion was followed by lectures from Marilyn Wellan and Stephen Scanniello and the award presentation. The day concluded with a reception in their honor in the beautiful Rotunda of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Stephen Scanniello is best known as a hands-on gardener who transformed the Cranford Rose Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden into one of the world s most acclaimed rose gardens.. After leaving the Cranford in 1998, Stephen has devoted his full attention to 12 11

13 maintaining and designing private gardens throughout the United States. He continues to lecture, write, and serve as a judge for international rose trials in Europe and the United States. Stephen has co-authored two rose books Roses of America (1990, Holt) and Climbing Roses (1994, Prentice Hall/Horticulture, now MacMillan). Rose Companions (2005, Cool Springs Press) is about selecting the perfect companion plants for your roses. The American Horticultural Society selected his third book, A Year of Roses (1997, Holt) as one of the best ten books in horticulture for An updated edition of this award-winning classic was released in May 2006 by Cool Springs Press. His latest book, coauthored with Douglas Brenner, A Rose by Any Name, tells stories related to rose names. This book, published by Algonquin Press, was released in Scanniello is the recipient of a Horticultural Commendation, awarded by the Garden Club of America, Zone 4, in 2008 for his efforts in the preservation of Old Garden Roses. He is currently the President of the Heritage Rose Foundation and a member of the American Rose Society, Manhattan Rose Society, Dallas Area Historic Rose Society, Heritage Roses Northwest, and the Central Florida Heritage Rose Society. He lives and gardens in Jersey City and Barnegat, New Jersey. these representing Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, three years as VP, and three years as President. She has chaired on Bylaws, Membership, Marketing, Local Society Relations. National Nominating, and Finance. She is currently leading the Society s fund raising activities, and continues to serve as a member of the American Rose Center Committee. She chaired the 1997 ARS Fall Convention in Shreveport and the Spring 2003 Convention in New Orleans. During her tenure as President, Wellan helped to bring the ARS, the Heritage Rose Foundation, and the Heritage Roses Group together through proclamations which encouraged the three organizations to share knowledge, expertise, and resources where mutual interests existed and to jointly embrace the mission of the protection, preservation, and promotion of heritage roses. Wellan was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of the Heritage Rose Foundation Marilyn Wellan is the Immediate Past President of the American Rose Society. She is only the second woman to serve in that position in the 116-year history of this organization., the first coming over 40 years ago. She served on the ARS Board of Directors for 15 years, nine of 13 12

14 Marilyn was guest editor of the 1997 American Rose Annual, and was editor of A Year in the Rose Garden: the Wit and Wisdom of Pop Warner, a collection of the writings of a well-known Gulf Coast rosarian. She edited her local society bulletin for 8 years, and the award-winning Gulf District bulletin for 9 years. She created the ARS Guidelines for Rose Society Leaders. Wellan is most proud of having created the Year of the Rose 2002, a year-long, world-wide grassroots campaign designed to increase recognition for the rose as the nation s floral emblem and the world s favorite flower. She also introduced the annual Members Choice Award which recognizes outstanding new roses as selected by ARS members. Wellan has been a member of the American Rose Society since She grows approximately 250 rose bushes of all classes and types in her garden in Alexandria, LA, and is especially interested in old roses and the emerging groups of shrub roses designed for landscaping. She is an ARS Consulting Rosarian with the designation of Master Rosarian, and a judge for Rose Horticulture and Arrangements. She has been awarded her local society s Bronze Honor Medal, the Gulf District s Silver Honor Medal, the District s Outstanding CR and Outstanding Judge Awards, and has received nine Presidential Citations for service to the ARS. The Great Rosarians of the World lecture Series was originally conceived in 2001 by Clair O. Martin III, Shannon Curator of the Rose and Perennial Gardens at the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA. It was conceived as an annual lecture series to honor notable rosarians from around the world and provide them with a forum to present their work to a broader American audience. The goal of this event is to invite major figures in the world of roses authors, hybridizers, nurserymen, and scholars and ask them to present a program that would offer gardeners the opportunity to acknowledge their accomplishments and to honor their work creating and promoting our chief love, The Rose. In only nine years, the event has become famous worldwide. Past honorees of the GROW award have included notable figures in the world of roses such as Peter Beales, Ralph Moore, Miriam Wilkins, Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Peter Harkness, Viru and Girija Viraraghavan, Wilhelm Kordes III and William J. Radler. In March of 2007, for the first time, this event went bicoastal, with the award and lectures being presented at the Huntington Botanical Garden and one week later in New York, with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden as principal host and a supporting event at the New York Botanical Garden. In 2009, the Great Rosarians of the World Lectures Series was once again a bicoastal event, through the collaboration of the Huntington Botanical Garden, the Manhattan Rose Society, and the New York Metropolitan Rose Council. The West Coast portion of the series took place earlier this year at the Huntington on February 8,

15 Pernetianas and Other Yellow Roses by Jeff Wyckoff In the last two centuries, when direct and indirect breeding have exponentially increased the gamut of roses, a number of names have been attached to various groups or families thereof, as breeders, nurserymen, and horticultural groups have sought to bring some sense of order to this body of plants which, as we know, has escaped the bounds of Linnaean classification. Among the most interesting of these family or group names are those associated with a particular person, usually a hybridizer, but not always. For example, we have the Lawrancianas a name which became attached to the forms and offspring of R. chinensis minima that began reaching Europe in the early 19 th century, quickly achieving considerable popularity. This moniker derived from Mary Lawrance (traditionally referred to as Miss Lawrance, at least until she became Mrs. Kearse), a botanical illustrator who died in 1830, and whose chief claim to fame was her book of some 90 rose illustrations (none of which could be considered miniatures) in A Collection of Roses from Nature, published in 1799 and now commanding up to four times the price of Redoute s Les Roses. Mary Lawrance s name apparently became synonymous with small roses after a Mr. Sims published an illustration of R. chinensis minima in Curtis s Botanical Magazine of 1815, referring to it as Miss Lawrances Rose. This appellation was reinforced three years later when Robert Sweet published his Hortus Suburbanus Londonensis, referring to Sims illustration as R. Lawranciana. Mary Lawrance published two other folios of botanical illustrations during her lifetime, but neither dealt with roses, much less miniature roses. In the first part of the 20 th century Peter Lambert, apparently flushed with the success of his Trier ( probably an Aglaia self-seedling according to MR12) in 1904, modestly began to term most of his subsequent shrubs primarily classed as Hybrid Multifloras today Lambertianas. Later in the century we encounter R. kordesii and its hybrids, and today we have a number of hybridizers attaching their name to families or groups of their roses Kordanas, Meidilands, etc. all of which have no official standing or recognition. There has also been a continuing move in some circles to denote David Austin s English Roses as an official classification. However, the problem with this, as with those previous propernamed groups, is that with subsequent breeding, by the originators and their by copycats, the botanical features that tended to delineate the originals become blurred and the names lose their meaning and identity. Whatever the future of Austin s roses, we can be thankful that 15 14

16 the proponents of a separate class for them have not suggested that we should call such a class Austinianas. Perhaps most interesting, as well as enduring, instance of the breeder s name adhering to a group of his roses is the Pernetianas, named after the French hybridizer Joseph Pernet-Ducher ( ). In 1880 the Horticultural Society of Lyon bestowed the term Hybrides de Thé on Englishman Henry Bennett s series of Pedigree Hybrids, most of which were crosses of Tea-Scented Roses and Hybrid Perpetuals. The Hybrid Tea class was adopted throughout France in 1883, and by Britain s National Rose Society in Bennett visited Lyon c and his breeding methods and the results thereof made a deep impression on the Lyon breeders, among whom was Joseph Pernet, who a year later was to add Ducher to his name upon his marriage to Marie Ducher. In addition to scientific breeding methods, Pernet-Ducher directed his efforts toward the pursuit of the theretofore most elusive color in roses, yellow, previously achieved only with the Noisettes and a few species. He selected Persian Yellow (R. foetida persiana), the double form of R. foetida, as his parent of choice and began his breeding about His breakthrough came in 1991, when he discovered a small plant of what would become Soleil d Or when it was introduced in According to Jack Harkness in The Makers of Heavenly Roses, the Soleil seedling resulted not from a cross of Antoine Ducher [a red Hybrid Perpetual] x Persian Yellow, as reported in MR12, but from a naturally selfed seedling of this cross. Whatever its true parentage, Soleil d Or ( Golden Sun ) hit the French market like a bombshell, and as Harkness further relates: The French National Society of Horticulture declared that roses like Soleil d Or, which had been called Lutea Hybrids after the yellow briar they came from, constituted a new, distinct class, deserving a name of its own. The name of the class, in honour of the breeder, was Pernetiana. This was adopted in Britain in 1914, after years of protest that it was unacceptable for botanic reasons. [R. lutea, Latin for yellow rose, is now considered synonymous with R. foetida]. Soleil d Or (Roses Loubert} Harkness wording of the Pernetiana class consisting of roses like Soleil d Or seems, in retrospect, rather vague. Was this to mean any rose with R. foetida as a direct parent, as his reference to Lutea Hybrids implies? Did it mean any new rose with R. foetida existing somewhere in its parentage? Or was it intended to include all subsequent yellow Hybrid Teas and other types, on the assumption that they would necessarily have been bred from R, foetida? Since the Lambertiana class 16 15

17 was merged with the Hybrid Teas sometime in the 1920 s and does not appear in the first edition of Modern Roses (1930) it is necessary to look to earlier records and reports as to what roses were considered Pernetianas during the first couple decades of the 20 th century, and perhaps more importantly, why. In chapter 28 of The Old Rose Informant: You Don t Have to Smell Good to be Loved Notes on Foetidas and their Early Hybrids, Brent Dickerson lists the first- or secondgeneration Foetida crosses from the period Included are those [introduced as] Pernetianas which are closest to R. foetida; there are many other Pernetianas not listed, of course, but they are more remote from R. foetida This would seem to imply that #2 above having R. foetida somewhere in its parentage would qualify a new rose as a Pernetiana. Dickerson s list of only the Pernetianas in the first and second generation Foetida crosses from is as follows: Entente Cordiale P. Guillot yb 1908 Mme Caroline Testout [HT] x Soleil d Or Veluwezoon Pallandt/Lourens? 1908 Mme. Caroline Testout x Soleil d Or Arthur R. Goodwin Pernet- Ducher or 1909 Soleil d Or x unnamed seedling Louis Barbier Barbier ob 1909 Mme Bérard [Noisette] x R. foetida bicolor Mme. Ruau Gravereaux/Kieffer pb 1909 Pharisaër [HT] x Les Rosati [Pern] Beauté de Lyon Pernet-Ducher or Soleil d Or x seedling Deutschland Kiese yb 1910 Frau Karl Druschki [HP] x Soleil d Or Juliet Easlea/W. Paul pb Mme Mélanie Soupert [HT] x Soleil d Or Rayon d Or Pernet-Ducher my Mme. Mélanie Soupert x seedling of Soleil d Or Rhodophile Gravereaux Pernet- Ducher pb 1900 Antoine Ducher x Soleil d Or [MR12 says Antoine Ducher x R. foetida persiana] Le Rêve Pernet-Ducher ly Climbing Pernetiana developed c. 1904, introduced in 1923 Souvenir de Mme. Eugène Verdier x Persian Yellow. Les Rosati Gravereaux/Kieffer rb 1906 R. foetida bicolor x seedling (HP x T) Lyon-Rose Pernet-Ducher op 1907 Mélanie Soupert [HT] x Soleil d Or [MR12 lists pollen parent as Soleil d Or x unknown] Arthur R. Goodwin (Journal des Roses 1913) 17 16

18 From this abbreviated list, we can see first of all that the color yellow was not a necessary factor for roses to be introduced as Pernetianas, and secondly that breeding with R. foetida, either Persiana or Bicolor, was not limited to Pernet-Ducher alone, but, as Dickerson says: others were not just standing by, but were also hard at work with it [R. fortida], and indeed attaining results. Two more views on the nature and features of the Pernetianas come first from George C. Thomas Jr., whose The Practical Book of Outdoor Rose Growing, published in 1917, makes him a first-hand observer of the development of the family to that point. The second is from Roy E. Shepherd, whose History of the Rose from 1954 gives him the advantage of hindsight in his assessment of the group. During the past two years a new class has come into existence Pernetianas, introduced by the great French hybridist, Pernet Ducher. The first were crosses between Lutea and the Hybrid Perpetuals, and have been classed as Hybrid Teas and Hybrid Austrian Briars in many catalogues. While possessing many such characteristics, they are, nevertheless, often distinct as to foliage, and on account of their breeding should be classed separately. Many have the fault of losing their foliage early, Lyon Rose being a great offender in this respect. The new introductions vary greatly in value, but the best, Madame Edouard Herriot, is indispensable; and from the improvement shown it is evident that this new class will have great bearing on the future of the outdoor rose. Already traces of the new cross may be noticed in many of this year s introductions, especially in the foliage and color. Many seedlings with Pernetiana blood are so distinct that they may be readily picked out from other seedlings. The foliage is beautiful and distinct while it lasts, and undoubtedly a cross will soon be made which will show even greater improvement than Madame Edouard Herriot over Lyon Rose the latter rose is nearly obsolete. We see already in Thomas the complaint that many (most?) of the Pernetianas defoliate early, presumably due to black spot, a criticism that will be echoed in Shepherd s remarks below: Lyon Rose (from George C. Thomas) Soleil d Or was originally and correctly classed as a Hybrid Foetida [as it is now] but as more varieties of similar character appeared, the group came to be known as Pernetiana Roses. The pronounced individuality of the Pernetianas was apparent in blossom color, early season of bloom, smooth foliage, thin straight prickles, and susceptibility to blackspot. These characteristics have been so modified through interbreeding with varieties 18 17

19 of the Hybrid Tea section that the group is no longer recognized as distinct among present day varieties.the tendency towards blackspot in our modern Hybrid Teas is said to have been inherited from Pernetiana roses, and although it was possibly intensified by the infusion of R. foetida persiana, many of the earlier Hybrid Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals were afflicted with it. Given then that roses of a variety of colors were bred from both Foetida species and introduced as Pernetianas, apparently the only consistent and common feature that characterized them was their distinctive and attractive foliage which, ironically, lasted only a short time before it fell prey to blackspot. It seems little wonder then that, as Shepherd states, rapid interbreeding with other types to make the offspring more disease resistant, while still, hopefully, retaining the valuable yellow color, occupied many breeders during the first two decades of the century. Do we, however have R. foetida persiana to thank exclusively for our modern yellow roses? An intriguing possibility exists that another breeding line from another hybridizer could have contributed significantly to the yellow gene pool we have today. George Dickson and his two sons, George II and Alexander II, introduced their first three roses in 1887, two red Hybrid Perpetuals and a Tea, Ethel Brownlow, described as salmon pink with yellow undertones. Their first Hybrid Teas Mrs. W. J. Grant (lp), Kathleen (op), Marjorie (w), Mavourneen (lp), and Sheila (mp) appeared in 1895; in the seven tear interim they had introduced a variety of Hybrid Perpetuals and Teas, including two yellow blend Teas: Lady Castlereagh in 1888, described in MR12 as rosy yellow, and Mrs. James Wilson in 1889, with blooms of deep lemon yellow, edged pink. From 1895 onward Dickson s prolific output consisted Hybrid Perpetuals, Teas, and Hybrid Teas, with their last HP, Lady Overtoun, appearing in 1907, and their last Tea, the deep yellow Alexander Hill Gray, debuting in Bessie Brown (Journal des Roses 1906) Contrary to the careful records kept by most hybridizers in the wake of Henry Bennett s scientific manner of rose breeding, the Dickson s had a rather different approach, as related by Jack Harkness: In response to their first failures, and as a result of their observations, Alexander II and George II evolved a system of in breeding. It may briefly 19 18

20 be explained in saying that a cross of Mother X Father = Seedling was followed by four more crosses, namely Mother X Seedling; Father X Seedling; Seedling X Mother; Seedling X Father. From the progeny, those nearest the ideal were selected, and the process was continued, if the line appeared promising, and within the limits of reasonable quantity. This policy made a mockery of their published parentages, which they announced in a simplified form. For example, their white Mildred Grant (1901) was stated to be from Niphetos x Mme. Mélanie Willermoz. In fact Alexander II admitted it arose from a seedling of these two roses, crossed with another seedling. x Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria. As questionable as this parentage may be, given Jack Harkness remarks above, it is interesting to note that Frau Karl Drushki has the light yellow Tea Safrano in its lineage, while the seed parent of Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria is Claude Ducher s light yellow Tea Coquette de Lyon. Although Dickson s yellow Hybrid Teas were but a small part of their overall output of this family, there followed a string of light to deep yellow varieties which caught the attention of the rose world. Among these were: Duchess of Wellington ly 1909 which George Thomas calls novel in color, blooming, substance, and size. Margaret Molyneux ly 1909 Mrs. Leonard Petrie my 1910 Lady Greenall yb 1911 Verna MacKay ly 1912 Mrs. Wemyss Quin dy 1914 MR12 lists the seed parent as Harry Kirk, a Dickson Tea. Mrs. MacKellar my 1915 Duchess of Wellington (from George C. Thomas) Dickson s first yellow Hybrid Tea was the light yellow Bessie Brown, introduced in Irish Harmony, part of their single/low petalled Irish series, appeared in 1904, as did Mrs. David McKee. This latter variety is virtually the only one of Dickson s early roses for which a parentage is provided by MR12, that being Frau Karl Drushki Mrs. Leonard Petrie (George S. Thomas) 20 19

21 A final piece of evidence indicating that Dickson s yellow Hybrid Teas resulted from their own backcrossing with yellow Teas and not from an infusion of Persiana blood comes from Brent Dickerson, this time from Roll Call: The Old Rose Breeder, where he indicates that none of the roses breed by Alexander Dickson II, including all of those listed above, were introduced as Pernetianas, but rather all as Hybrid Teas. By contrast, another prominent Irish hybridizer, Sam McGredy I, who began his work in 1905, introduced a number of his new roses as Pernetianas, as did Wilhelm Kordes, whose firm s first four introductions, from , were all Pernetianas. Obviously, this is a pretty thin thread, but it would seem that, given the excitement and commercial success surrounding the Pernetianas, Alexander would have promoted his yellow roses as such had then indeed been descended from R. foetida persiana. The very strong possibility that Dickson s yellow HTs came from their own breeding with Teas rather than with Persiana does not diminish the importance of the Pernetianas, the blood of which is to be found in c. 75% of modern roses according to Roy Shepherd. Rather, it is an indication that The Old Garden Rose & Shrub Journal is an official publication of the American Rose Society. It is published quarterly and posted as a link on the ARS website. Passwords for the Journal and other Members Only features are printed on the table of contents of each American Rose magazine. Submissions, comments or questions should be sent to: Mrs. Wemyss Quin Old Rose Breeder, where he indicates that none of the roses breed by Alexander Dickson II, including all of those listed above, were introduced as Pernetianas, but rather all as Hybrid Teas. By contrast, another prominent we Irish may hybridizer, have not only Sam Joseph McGredy Pernet- I, who Ducher began to his praise work for in the 1905, roses introduced of yellow a (and number damn of for his the new spots roses of black). as Pernetianas, The Dickson as did catalog Wilhelm still Kordes, abounds whose with firm s yellow, first four yellow introductions, blend, and apricot from , roses, such were as the all Pernetianas. great Elina from Obviously, 1984, this and is who a pretty is to say thin which thread, of but their it yellows would seem from that, the given past were the excitement incorporated and into the o-so-secret commercial breeding success lines surrounding of hybridizers the around Pernetianas, the world. Alexander would have promoted his yellow roses as such had then indeed been descended from R. foetida persiana. The very strong possibility that Dickson s yellow HTs came from their own breeding with Teas rather than with Persiana does not diminish the importance of the Pernetianas, the blood of which is to be found in c. 75% of modern roses according to Roy Shepherd. Rather, it is an indication that The Old Garden Rose & Shrub Journal is an official publication of the American Rose Society. It is published quarterly and posted as a link on the ARS website. Passwords for the Journal and other Members Only features are printed on the table of contents of each American Rose magazine. Submissions, comments or questions should be sent to: Mrs. Wemyss Quin Jeff Wyckoff, Editor th Ave. S. Des Moines, WA [email protected] AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY Steve Jones President Jeff Wyckoff Vice President Edwin H. Krause OGR Committee Chair Jeff Ware Executive Director who is to from the o-so-secr around th Jeff Wyc t Des Moi k AMERIC Steve Jo Jeff Wyc Edwin H Chair Jeff War 21 20