Joseph Pernet (June 7, 1859 Lyon - November 23, 1928 Vénissieux), son of Jean Pernet, married on June 26, 1884 Marie Ducher (October 12, 1859 Lyon - November 10, 1938 Vénissieux), daughter of Claude Ducher, and took on the surname Pernet-Ducher.
[From Texas A&M Earth Kind Roses website]
Joseph Pernet was a French rosarian born near Lyon. In 1879 he began his career with the Ducher nursery and in 1882, he married the owner’s daughter. He then took on the name “Pernet-Ducher” under which he continued rose breeding until his death in 1928. Between 1907 and 1925, Monsieur Ducher won the Gold Medal thirteen times at the Annual Concours de Bagatelle International Rose Competition held in Paris.
[From Lyon horticole, 1906, Compte Rendu ...1905, p. 35:] Pernet-Ducher, rosiériste, à Vénissieux, près Lyon (Rhône). Grande culture de Rosiers, nouveautés, Pivoines.
[From Les Amis des Roses, May-June 1937, pp. 33-37:] Joseph PERNET-DUCHER était un vieux Lyonnais d'origine. Il était né à Lyon en 1859 et là où ses anciennes pépinières étendaient leurs champs de roses, se dressent, aujourd'hui, de grands immeubles modernes. En sortant de chez son père sa voie est tracée : il va voir les autres rosiéristes, travaillant chez l'un, se perfectionnant chez l'autre, il apprend ce difficile métier de cultivateur de roses, il se lie avec CROIBIER (le père de notre sympathique Président), avec Alexandre BERNAIX, Joseph SCHWARTZ, J.-B. GUILLOT, DAMAIZIN, LEVET, BONNAIRE, LACHARME. Il devient l'ami de l'oeilletiste Laurent CARLE (on cultivait aussi beaucoup d'oeillets à Lyon il y a cinquante ans) ; et PERNET dédia à son ami une rose restée fameuse. On voit encore à Monplaisir la rue Laurent-Carle. ....Nous voici en 1880, PERNET fait la connaissance de Madame DUCHER, restée veuve d'un horticulteur, rosiériste lui aussi. Elle-même fait des hybridations Madame veuve DUCHER avait une fille, Marie, et PERNET un jour délaissa ses roses pour se marier avec Marie DUCHER, qui devait être jusqu'à la fin de sa vie sa Compagne de chaque jour ...Malgré le deuil cruel qui l'avait frappé, PERNET-DUCHER n'en continua pas moins à travailler avec acharnement. Jusqu'au bout, il continua son oeuvre, et c'est en plein labeur, que la maladie implacable le terrassa le 28 novembre 1928.
[From Les Amis des Roses, May-June 1938, pp. 15-16:] Pernet-Ducher avait abandonné délibérément les sentiers battus par les anciens rosiéristes et avait attaqué dans un terrain inconnu. Il lui a fallu défricher, établir ses premiers paliers pour pouvoir, par la suite, avoir du matériel pour hybrider. Lui-même m'avait dit, en 1927, un an avant sa mort : « Je voudrais avoir vingt ans, quand je vois tout ce qu'il reste à faire et les possibilités que nous avons avec les variétés modernes ». Il avait eu à vaincre, à l'origine, une grande difficulté : c'est que les variétés mâles dont il était parti, d'abord « Persian Yellow », ensuite la « Capucine Bicolore », n'étaient pas remontants. Que l'on juge du chemin parcouru quand on voit aujourd'hui l'extrême remontance des variétés actuelles de Pernetianas. Il lui a donc fallu, à force de croisements, amener : I° cette variété jaune sur la variété remontante, et 2° éliminer la nonremontance de la variété jaune. Il est parti de l'hybride remontant » Antoine Ducher » (femelle) fécondée par « Persian Yellow ». Antoine Ducher x Persian Yellow = G1. G1 avait 5 à 10 % de variétés remontantes, mais qui n'étaient pas jaunes; il a travaillé avec quelques variétés qui étaient jaunes, mais non-remontantes En deuxième génération, G2, il avait 50 o/o de remontants, mais la couleur jaune la plus belle était toujours sur les variétés non-remontantes. Il lui a donc fallu reprendre dans les variétés de G2 celles qui avaient la plus belle couleur jaune et les croiser avec les G2 qui étaient remontantes, ce qui a donné G3, et ceci pendant trente ans, pour arriver à éliminer le caractère non-remontant et amener la couleur jaune. « Souvenir de Claudius Pernet » était peut-être la dixième ou douzième génération de « Persian Yellow ».
[From The Book on Roses, by Dr. G. Griffin Lewis, p. 136-7:] Joseph Pernet-Ducher of Lyons, France, who died on November 23, 1928, was the most prolific producer of new roses in the whole world. He turned out over one hundred each year. He worked for fifteen years, trying to introduce a pure yellow trend of everblooming roses from the Persian Yellow and the Austrian Copper, and finally his efforts were crowned with success in the form of the so-called Pernetiana class.
Introduced 'Cécile Brünner' (1881) and 'Mme. Caroline Testout' (1890). [Under Gardens: Pernet-Ducher's Rose Garden (1923), you can find out some more information.]
[From The Quest for the Rose, by Phillips & Rix, p. 114:] For some years it had been the goal of breeders to raise a yellow-flowered Hybrid Perpetual. By persevering with what little pollen was produced by 'Persian Yellow', Joseph raised an unsatisfactory seedling in 1891 from 'Antoine Ducher', a Hybrid Perpetual. This seedling was planted out in the nursery and in 1893 a yellow chance seedling was found nearby. It was introduced in 1900 as 'Soleil d'Or'. Using a Rosa foetida seedling, he obtained 'Rayon d'Or' in 1910. The first yellow Hybrid Tea, it is now recognized as the first of the Pernetianas and an important ancestor of 'Peace'. Joseph's two sons were to have taken over the business but both were killed in the First World War. Their roses, 'Souvenir de Claudius Pernet' and 'Souvenir de Georges Pernet', are still grown. Joseph arranged for Jean Gaujard to take over in 1924.
[From Modern Garden Roses, by Peter Harkness, p. 17:] [bred] 'Rayon d'Or', the first golden-yellow Hybrid Tea. Not only yellows, but also salmon, flame and apricot roses flowed from Pernet-Ducher's nursery, earning him the well-deserved soubriquet, the Wizard of Lyon.
[From The Old Rose Advisor, by Brent Dickerson, p. 275:] Joseph Pernet, born in Lyon in November of 1859, died in November of 1928; took the name "Pernet-Ducher" upon his marriage to Marie Ducher, daughter of the rose-breeders, in 1882; their two sons Claudius and Georges were killed early in the First World War... [see source for more information about Pernet-Ducher's breeding program]
[From Roses: Old Roses and Species Roses, by Eleonore Cruse, p. 13:] The Pernet-Ducher family concentrated on creating remontant yellow roses, starting out from Rosa foetida, and in 1908 they bred 'Rayon d'Or'.
[From The Makers of Heavenly Roses, by Jack Harkness, p. 100:] Whenever opportunity offered, [Wilhelm Kordes I] visited the great rose breeders, men who had travelled far down the road he longed to travel. At Lyon, he called upon Joseph Pernet-Ducher; the 'Grand Master', he called him.
[From Fifty Favourite Roses, by John Mattock, p. 77:] his work can be said to be found in all our modern yellow garden roses. All have the blood of R. foetida in them, even if by now very much diluted by the mixing in of other strains... orange and flame colours must be attributed to it as well...
[From The Old Rose Adventurer, by Brent C. Dickerson, p. 493:] Pernet-Ducher was born at Lyon in November of 1859. He died in November, 1928, at the age of 69... [he worked in Widow Ducher's nursery]... On the far side of Widow Ducher's nursery lived a carnation-grower known at the time, Alegiatiere, and he is the one who gave young Pernet the idea of putting caps on the hybridized rose-blossoms to keep insects from getting to them and disturbing the cross... The masterwork of his life of research was without a doubt the creation of a new race of roses, the Pernetianas... Pernet-Ducher had noted that the roses grown around 1880-1885 didn't have sparkling coloring... [Ibid] Jean Pernet -- known under the name 'Pernet pere' among breeders -- was born on the route de Vaulx, Villeurbanne, near Lyon, in 1832, and died in February, 1896, at the age of 64... he was one of the first hybridizers who sought out novelties...
[From The Old Rose Advisor, by Brent C. Dickerson, p. 287:] Jean Pernet, who died last March 31st [1896] at Charpennes, near Lyon, at the age of 64... Born October 15, 1832, at Passin... the business of the late Jean Pernet will not fall into the hands of strangers, but will be united with that of his son, Mons J. Pernet-Ducher...
[There's a photo of Pernet-Ducher on p. 8 of the American Rose Annual 1929.]
[From an appreciation written on the death of Pernet-Ducher, by J. Dupeyrat, pp. 18-20:] ... one day he was so impressed by the color of the 'Austrian Briar' ('Persian Yellow') that he conceived the ambition of transferring it to the garden roses. That was the origin of the magnificent strain of roses which has made his flory and which, as a just homage to his skill of creator, bears the name, Pernetiana... he won the Gold Medal of the International Contest of Bagatelle thirteen times, from 1907 to 1925...
[From Roses of America, p. 88:] Joseph Pernet-Ducher of Lyons, France, [was] an eccentric who was much loved by rosarians the world over... In 1900, he crossed R. foetida persiana with a seedling of a hybrid perpetual with red flowers, 'Antoine Ducher', and created 'Soleil d'Or', the ancestor of all our modern yellow roses...
[From Créateurs de roses, by Nathalie Ferrand, 2015, p. 103:] Généalogie de la famille Pernet et Ducher
