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'Miss Edith Cavell' rose Reviews & Comments
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Shouldn't the discoverer of this sport be listed as Jan Spek Nurseries? It is given as a discovery of Jan Spek in early references, but credited to 'De Ruiter' on the description page.
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Having 'Miss Edith Cavell' in my garden, this has puzzled me too. I suspect that it may have been found by Meiderwyk in the nursery rows of De Ruiter and introduced by Spek. But that is all guesswork, which is not good enough. Who was Meiderwyk? Perhaps only old Dutch catalogues can help sort this one out.
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The 1978 reference from Harkness' book explains it, though if Harkness is correct that the discovery of 'Miss Edith Cavell' led to de Ruiter's later success, it's puzzling that he wasn't credited with the discovery from the beginning? Possibly de Ruiter was working in Spek's nursery at the time of the discovery? De Ruiter Innovations is now a large rose-growing company, presumably founded by the same Gerrit de Ruiter that Harkness spoke to? But who or what or where is Meiderwyk?
I also wonder if Harkness' speculation that de Ruiter could have produced 80,000 clones of 'Miss Edith' in 3 years was later reported as fact? I did see a mention in 'Polyantha Roses-- the History and the Romance' that de Ruiter himself claimed to have produced 80,000 plants in a year and a half, but don't know if Harkness' guess was reported as fact, or if there was an independent source in which de Ruiter stated how many plants he was able to propagate between the sport's discovery in August of 1914 and its introduction by Spek in autumn of 1917.
http://www.pacificrosesociety.org/PolyanthaRomance.html
Who in wartime Europe would have been buying 80,000 polyanthas, I wonder?
Virginia
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Reply
#3 of 3 posted
30 AUG 20 by
 jedmar
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Would like to take up this thread again as a riddle for our Dutch friends: We have two listings for 'Miss Edith Cavell', one from Meiderwyk (int. by Jan Spek Nurseries 1917), a second by Gerrit de Ruiter (discovered August 1914 according to his 1955 article). Both are scarlet sports from 'Orléans Rose' and impossible to distinguish from their photos. My conjecture: they are one and the same. Some additional info:
- Meiderwyk or better Meiderwijk is a family name which can be found in Waddingxveen, a community neighbouring Boskoop, where the Jan Spek Nurseries are located.
- Gerrit de Ruiter was born 1892 in Waddingxveen and only moved to Hazerswoude in the mid 1920s.
- The first mention de Ruyter as discoverer is by Jäger in "Rosenlexikon" (1936), who gives a date of 1932. Jäger gives a longer description for the Meiderwyk rose (1917) and states it is at Sangerhausen. Later authors, incl. "Modern Roses" take up the de Ruiter discovery and combine it with the Jan Spek introduction of 1917.
The 1955 story by Gerrit de Ruiter is a bit suspect for me as after 'Miss Edith Cavell' in 1917 there is a gap of 9 years before the next roses ('Locarno', 'Golden Salmon') are introduced by him.
Does someone have access to Dutch nursery catalogues or horticultural magazines of the the period 1917-32? then we could see whether Spek or de Ruiter were the main propagators of 'Miss Edith Cavell'. Jan Spek also introduced in 1920 'Ideal', a sport from 'Miss Edith Cavell'
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Ive always considered this may be one of the unknown parents of Ballerina.
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