To Paraphrase the immortal Britney Spears - "OOPS! They (ARS) Did It Again!"
When they restored the Hybrid Gigantea class, I noticed that some prominent HGigs were missing from their initial list of cultivars, restored to the class. I was hoping they'd add them later.
So far at least, NO SUCH LUCK.
Instead, the Classification Committee of the American Rose Society recently announced that they've re-classed 'Belle Portugaise', 'La Follette' and 'Senateur Amic' as… CLIMBING TEA ROSES.
The decision came as a surprise. These three cultivars are once-blooming, tree-climbing, first-generation offspring of R. gigantea. Reading the records as carefully, I can't haven't yet found any characteristic, or anything in their pedigree that makes them "Climbing Tea Roses".
Take 'Belle Portugaise', PLEASE!
There's enough space in my garden for a Climbing Tea Rose.
Much as I admire her, however, I cannot accommodate the 30-foot-spreading, once-blooming, tree-scrambling mass of 'Belle Portugaise,'. I must enjoy her in other, larger gardens. The same factors prevent me from growing her half-siblings, 'Senateur Amic', and 'La Follette'. If I had a huge piece of land, I'd plant all three of them and enjoy the heart-stopping spectacle of their spring fireworks – but unless I win the lottery, that's not going to happen.
'Belle Portugaise' probably the best-known of the three, is said to have been created from a cross of Rosa gigantea x 'Reine Marie Henriette', (a Climbing Tea).
Modern Roses II (McFarland, 1947) appears to indicate some doubt of the participation of 'Reine Marie Henriette' in this union. Certainly, little of her is evident in the progeny. Most characteristics of 'Belle Portugaise' appear to have been derived from Gigantea. This is equally true of 'Senateur Amic' and 'La Follette'.
'Senateur Amic', is R. gigantea x 'General MacArthur'. The General is a fine, fragrant Hybrid Tea, introduced in 1905. If the record is correct, no Tea Rose, climbing or otherwise, was present at this begetting.
'La Follette', poor dear, is of more doubtful parentage. It is listed as having been created from a cross of Rosa gigantea x an un-named seedling. Where in that hidden origin, that un-recorded parentage, do we find "Climbing Tea" ?
Making their decision still more inscrutable, we see that 'Belle Blanca' remains in the Large-Flowered Climber category. This lovely White Sport of 'Belle Portugaise' is identical to its parent in all but color. Neither is a Climbing Tea Rose, but at the very least they should be in the same class!
These roses were Hybrid Giganteas until that class was eradicated.
The Hybrid Gigantea class has now been restored.
The former Hybrid Giganteas, particularly those whose physical characteristics proclaim their parentage, should be returned to their original class.
No discernable purpose is served by tossing Hybrid Giganteas, or SOME Hybrid Giganteas, willy-nilly into the Climbing Tea class. More importantly, this odd decision is a disservice to the rosarian who thinks to add them to a garden.
Imagine the dismay of the novice gardener, who plants a pair of 'Belle Portugaise' next to the average, commercially-made rose arbor. What is he or she to think, when their so-called "Climbing Teas" turns out to be spring-blooming octopi with house-eating capability?
I'm forced to conclude that no member of the Classification Committee has known a mature 'Belle Portugaise'. Not one of them can have experienced the heart-stopping sight of this graceful giant engulfing the entire canopy of a thirty-foot-tall Magnolia Tree, and draping down from branch to branch in flower-laden swags. Perhaps everyone with access to such beauty should contact them! If everyone invited one or two committee members for a spring visit, those poor souls might yet be saved.
