Article (newspaper)  (Oct 2012)  Page(s) 2.  
 
Patricia Routley: There is a house in Bridgetown with a heritage garden that is listed with the National Trust. Moyola is high on the hill on Turner Road with spectacular views and I visited once in 2000. I know it had trees that had been planted in 1930, large topiary, and some old roses that I admired. It must have been Margaret Rothery, the owner, who gave me cuttings of a wonderful red hybrid tea and this later struck for me. I planted it in the new Bonbon garden outside my study window and it grew almost by itself with no special attention from me. I went on to plant hundreds more roses and in my rush, saw out of the corner of my eye that the unnamed rose I was calling “Moyola” occasionally produced some very lovely blooms. But I never really stopped and looked closely at it, until I took some photographs in 2010. During this last year I have become fascinated with dark red roses and have gone to my books and typed up much in my search for more information. As I typed up a 1947 hybrid tea ‘Charles Mallerin, bred by Francis Meilland, the penny began to drop that so many of its attributes were exactly the same as my foundling “Moyola” and this identification has since been confirmed on the website HelpMeFind.com.roses It is a lover of sunshine and warm summers and has an incredible damask perfume, about 40 thickish petals which open to a six-inch, flat bloom of richly textured blackish crimson – sometimes! The tragedy with this rose is that it is a sparse bloomer, and it is an ugly grower. It put up one long thick stem for me and then it bloomed on little laterals off this main stem. It doesn’t matter how much you feed this rose it just wants to do its own thing and its own thing is a tall, lopsided and awkward habit of growth. Then it will lose its lower leaves quickly, leaving a prickly, bare and naked cane. It produces few basal canes so the bush is not a pretty sight. But oh, I would not now be without it, for it is that occasional bloom that has me in its spell. It is surrounded by petals of black velvet that one instinctively wants to touch and feel. These black petals are tipped with crimson and there is a lighter crimson effect in the middle of all this black sheen. In 1953 it was described as “A dark velvety red, wonderful, ravishing, glorious, a man's red rose, a red that stops visitors in their tracks” - and it still is. ‘Charles Mallerin’ was named after the breeder’s old mentor in rose growing who was also one of the greatest hybridists in Europe. The parentage of the rose was [‘Rome Glory’ x ‘Congo’] x ‘Tassin’. ‘Charles Mallerin’ itself has been a valuable parent, giving us such roses as ‘Papa Meilland’, ‘Mister Lincoln’ and Oklahoma’. These dark red, velvety roses with strong fragrance leave me speechless with admiration. They are voluptuous and are roses for white damask tablecloths with candles and long evenings with your best friend.

Book  (2011)  Page(s) 112.  
 
From Paris we drove through glorious country to Brussels, diverting down country lanes in Belgium to visit the garden of a former World President of the World Federation of Rose Societies, Baronne Lily de Gerlache de Gomery, where we were given a delightful lunch. The garden was approaching its peak with hard pruned bushes producing excellent quality flowers. It was strange to look down at blooms of ‘Charles Mallerin’ at knee height rather than using a step ladder at home.

Book  (2008)  Page(s) 46.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Charles Mallerin’. Hybrid tea, Francis Meilland (France), 1947. Very large shapely flowers in deepest velvet red, borne all season on a very tall bush. Wonderful fragrance. The most beautiful red rose ever raised, and a worthy tribute from the great Francis Meilland to the man who had taught him the art of breeding roses. But it is a temperamental performer, apt to be lanky in growth, stingy with its wonderful flowers and resentful of any but the lightest pruning.

Book  (2006)  
 
p77 The Maison Meilland honoured this remarkable man with a magnificent dark velvet Hybrid Tea in 1951. ‘Charles Mallerin’ still is a very popular dark red rose, and it is not surprising it got the epithet ‘darkest red rose ever’ upon introduction. It is a fitting accolade because it was a milestone in the search for the black rose, in which the torch was handed on to the Meilland family in the Fifties. It would move them from strength to strength.

p115 ….’Charles Mallerin’ was also a rose bred in 1951, a hybrid tea with slender, elegant buds opening out onto a double, very dark red flower with a penetrating fragrance. The foliage is dark green and thick. It is one of the darkest red roses; its colouring appears to be glossed over with black tints. It is named after the rose breeder friend admired by the Meillands, Charles Mallerin. The rose is born of a (’Gloire de Rome’ x ‘Congo’) x ‘Tassin’ crossing. It is the parent of a great many red and black roses: ‘Papa Meilland’, ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Perle Noire’, ‘Norita-Schwarze Rose’, ‘Ebony’, ‘El Toro’, ‘Clos Vougeot’….

Book  (2004)  Page(s) 148.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Charles Mallerin’. Hybrid Tea. Long, elegant buds open to very dark, dusky red, high-centred flowers that have a strong and sweet perfume. The flowers are lovely at the half-open stage. The leaves are dark green and leathery and somewhat prone to fungus diseases. Althogh vigorous, with good repeat, the growth is tall and erratic, so that the bush is often unattractive and gawky, with very long canes. Bred by Meilland in France and introduced in 1951, it has since featured in the parentage of some very good red roses, such as ‘Mister Lincoln’, ‘Papa Meilland’ and ‘Oklahoma’. (Rome Glory’ x Congo) x Tassin. Zones 6-9

Book  (2000)  Page(s) 156.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Charles Mallerin’ = Hybride de Thé. See reference Botanica's Roses.

Book  (1999)  Page(s) 156.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Charles Mallerin’. Modern, large flowered hybrid tea. Dark red, repeat flowering. When first introduced, this rose was described as the darkest red ever launched. The vigorous growth is sparse and erratic, with disease-prone dark green, leathery foliage; its scent, however, is still memorable. The long and pointed, elegant buds develop into large, flat, double flowers with 38 velvety, dark crimson petals. Its unique coloring established this variety as a good seller and it was named to honor Frances Meilland’s teacher, a retired railway engineer, who bred many beautiful roses himself. ‘Charles Mallerin’ has been a valuable parent, giving us such roses as ‘Papa Meilland’, ‘Mister Lincoln’ and Oklahoma’. Zones 4-9. Meilland, France 1951. (‘Rome Glory’ x ‘Congo’ x ‘Tassin’

Book  (Feb 1997)  Page(s) 34.  
 
[In 1959, the author wrote:] Charles Mallerin, though modern is not new; its color is the darkest, richest red I know; it is stalwart and fragrant, and in our rose bed [the author gardened in Maine] it blossomed right up to Thanksgiving.

Book  (Sep 1993)  Page(s) 115.  Includes photo(s).
 
Charles Mallerin Large-flowered. Parentage: ('Glory of Rome' x 'Congo') x 'Tassin'. Francis Meilland 1947... named in honor of his teacher, the retired engineer who was himself the raiser of many beautiful roses. Description... deep velvet-red, almost black...

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 19.  
 
Hybrid Tea, dark red, 1951, ('Rome Glory' x 'Congo') x 'Tassin'; Meilland, F. Description.