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'Fraser's Pink Musk' rose Reviews & Comments
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History of the Rose - 1954 Roy E. Shepherd
In 1818 another resident of Charleston, John Fraser, created a variety of the same parentage [as Champney's Pink Cluster] and became so enthusiastic about it that he personally took a plant of it to England in 1821. There it became known as Fraser's Pink Musk or the Blush Musk and occasionally as R. Fraseri, although the latter name was never accorded botanical recognition. The medium-sized, semidouble, intensely fragrant blush-colored blossoms borne in large clusters denoted that it was a typical Noisette.
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Reference added- thank you. Virginia
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Initial post
6 MAY 14 by
Hardy
I'd like to make a suggestion. There's one reference, from 1597 London, which says, under the heading of Musk roses, "Of these roses we haue another in our London gardens, which is most called the blush rose, it floureth when the Damaske Rose doth: [other Musks are stated to bloom in autumn] the floures hereof are very single, greater than the other Muske Roses, and of a white colour, dasht ouer with a light wash of carnation, which maketh that colour which wee call a blush colour: the proportion of the whole plant, as also the smell of the floures, are like the preceedent."[Single and double white Musks]
So we've got some spring-blooming Musk (hybrid?) with big single flowers.
Two hundred and thirteen years later, Champneys' neighbor John Fraser, brings to England a sibling plant to Champneys' Pink Cluster, but it's named a Musk, since there won't be a Noisette category for years to come.
"Between the time of 'Champneys' Pink Cluster' and 'Blush Noisette,' however, one Fraser -- also of Charleston -- had produced around 1810 a 'Fraser's Pink Musk,' usually classified with the Musks, but which appears to be a product of the same parentage as Champneys' rose." (Dickerson, The Old Rose Advisor, Vol 2, page 5)
(Champneys' Pink Cluster is also known as Champneys' Blush Cluster.)
Then along comes William Paul, who says (1872), under the heading of Musks, that there's a Blush or Fraser's which is pale red, semi-double and cupped. It sounds to me like he's lumping together the two sibling Noisettes, which (though confusingly expressed) makes complete sense. In The Old Rose Advisor, Vol 2, Dickerson cites old authors who also compare the two, and note that the Fraser's had become uncommon while the Champneys' had not.
Since I see no relationship to the (presumably extinct) rose of Shakespearean England, I'd like to suggest that the Fraser's Pink Musk be given its own entry, separate from The Blush Rose.
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Thank you for your insight and your suggestion. We will look into doing this, meanwhile does anyone else have input on this change.
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I can only comment that there are two files: ‘Fraser’s Pink Musk’ http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.26592&tab=1
and
“Frazer’s Pink Musk” http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2847
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I see no reason to assume that the blush musk of Gerard's Herball is the same rose as 'Fraser's Pink Musk' which John Fraser of Charleston is credited with having bred c.1818*. Possibly they were both pink sports or seedlings of R. moschata, but there is so little information about either rose, that I can't see that any such conclusion is warranted.
I do wonder what happened to Gerard's blush musk, since there seems to be no further record of it. Maybe it eventually reverted to white blooms, or died. If it did survive, could Fraser have collected it and brought it to his Charleston (well, really Johns Island) nursery? He (like his father, also John Fraser) was a plant collector, but it seems strange that no mention of this unusual pink Musk was made between 1597 and the mid-19th Century.
Also, it seems likely that Gerard's rose was a Musk rose that happened to be pink, whereas Rivers describes Fraser's rose as not being a true Musk; also Fraser's rose is described by Rivers as being semi-double, while Gerard describes his rose as "very single".
Virginia
*I got the c.1818 date for Fraser's Pink Musk from James R Cothran's 'Gardens of Historic Charleston', 1995, p.152: "Charleston's own contribution to the heritage of roses includes Champney's Pink Cluster, Isabella Gray, and Fraser's Pink Musk, the latter being developed around 1818 by John Fraser." If the 1818 date is correct, I wonder if the rose could have been bred in Charleston; it seems that the younger John Fraser had returned to England in 1817, and had opened a nursery near Ramsgate called 'The Hermitage'. I don't know what happened to the Frasers' SC nursery after the elder Fraser died in 1811, and his son returned to England. Obviously, if the elder John Fraser was responsible for breeding 'Fraser's Pink Musk' then the rose predates his 1811 death.
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Hortus Britannicus (1839) Robert Sweet Listed under Noisettiana Fraseri (bh) Fraser’s -- 1815
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The rose garden - Page 232 (1872) William Paul Blush, or Fraser's; flowers pale red, small and semi-double; form, cupped.
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