I’m confused. Heirloom states that the centennial commemorative rose for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is 'Never Forget' by Fabien Ducher. The tomb website (Tombguard dot org) states that the rose is Never Forget, or 'Niphetos', which was created by Bougere. Picture below from their website.
Roses sold in Australia as Niphetos have included Mrs Herbert Stevens, White Ensign, "Mystery Cream Tea" which may be Belle Emilie, and Molly Sharman-Crawford.
Just a note on the provenance of my Niphetos, the plant of which I have posted a number of pictures. I purchased it from Roses Unlimited in South Carolina. After somebody on an antique rose forum questioned if it was actually Mrs. Herbert Stevens, I contacted Roses Unlimited, and they said their plant came from a mother plant from Vintage Roses, which used to sell both Mrs. HS and Niphetos, and distinguished between them in their catalog. I haven't grown Mrs. HS to compare, but my plant does seem to match the old pictures of Niphetos, although I'm not an expert at identification. I have it growing outside, but I am in a very mild climate, and it is still not a vigorous shrub.
rbehs, probably the provenance of your plant is Peter Beales-1; Vintage-2; (see todays PLANT REFERENCES). Your excellent thorn photos may throw into doubt any ‘Niphetos’ which came from Peter Beales in the UK.
Thank you--very interesting. I noticed that some of the old references also mention hardiness, so I wonder what the story is with this non-hardy version currently in commerce.
We have a Niphetos originating from Beales, We obtained it in 1998 as climbing niphetos. This rose is almost certainly the correct bush form and not climbing. It is incredibly tender and fragile and really can't be grown outside by us in SW France. We have both MHVs and it isn't either. We also have another named niphetos from Branchi, probably incorrect but not MHV, its a very good white tea maybe an offspring of the same
