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'Comtesse du Cayla' rose Reviews & Comments
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I think the sizes given on the description page should be increased. The photos for this rose have Californian examples, with sizes given as up to 3 metres tall and 4 metres across.
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I am not terribly sure about that as the average height in the references seem to be from 4 to 6 feet high, with a width wider than the height. I wonder if the height shown in the Californian photos is average for that State?
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Probably Guillot named 'Comtesse du Cayla' after Zoé Victoire Talon, comtesse Achille de Baschi du Cayla (1785–1852). She was for many years the friend and favourite of Louis XVIII and wrote widely read memoirs of his reign.
But it is possible the rose was named for her mother-in-law, Élisabeth-Suzanne de Jaucourt, comtesse Hercule-Philippe-Étienne de Baschi du Cayla (1755-1816). A marble bust of Élisabeth-Suzanne by Houdon is in the Frick Collection in New York, showing vine leaves on her dress and roses in her hair, a masterpiece of French art.
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Wayne Winterrowd, 2003 reference, also delves into the question of which of the two women was commemorated by the rose.
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Could have been both of them. Just to throw another spanner in the works.
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Very likely. It's also possible Guillot didn't realize there was a difference between the countesses or, if he did, didn't care. Both countesses came from royalist families, and there was an alliance more than a century old between royalists and those who named roses. (Napoleonic rosarians were a minority, republican rosarians a rarity.) As the twentieth century wore on, rosarians had to resort to naming roses after more and more remote historical figures until royalism lost everything by betting its shirt on Vichy in 1940.
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I am gardening in Central Texas.
First-rate shrub for non-stop color in the garden. Height about 4 feet by 4 1/2. I cut mine back quite a bit each year to keep it in bounds. Lots of flowers of a peachy-golden-coral on top of beautiful mid-green foliage that covers the whole plant. Stems are green and lightly armed with thorns. The individual flowers are very informal and do not last long in the heat, but there are so many that you hardly notice. Fragrance is light, but always present. I have found disease resistance to be very good. This one should be seriously considered if you need a nice bush with continual bloom that does not require any special handling. I have blooms in December, even in partial shade.
Culled December 2009 to make room for new breeding stock. I still consider this a first rate plant and wish I had the room to keep it.
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This rose has almost twice as many petals in cooler weather than in extremely hot weather. They make beautiful cut flowers, especially in bud. In the Houston area it blooms non-stop all year. Needs very little care. I love this rose. I can always depend on it for bloom because it blooms continually.
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