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Recent Questions, Answers and Comments
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Initial post
today by
 Louis Galarneau
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Where can I order this rose from Canada?
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Initial post
2 days ago by
jeffbee
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could anyone tell me how can I attach a picture in my comment orin my question?
There is only an Input box(of text) on the web page with no place or button to upload images.
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#1 of 2 posted
2 days ago by
Margaret Furness
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If you go back into your post, you will find that an Add Photo button has appeared in the interim.
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#2 of 2 posted
yesterday by
jeffbee
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Initial post
yesterday by
Howard52
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I need to add a rose to this website. I am not getting the 'Add a Plant HMF' button.
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Initial post
1 MAR by
VMartini
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Hello all,
I'm researching the story behind the Mme Caroline Testout rose, and noticed on the description page for Mme Caroline Testout the rose is listed as being dedicated to the wife of a magistrate of Grenoble. Does anyone know where this information came from? The other more repeated story about the Testout rose is that Caroline was a dressmaker from Grenoble who bought silks in Lyon, and purchased naming rights to the rose as a PR stunt for her business in London. Trying to track down the source of this alternate story, about she being a magistrate's wife.
Thanks so much,
Veronica
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#1 of 2 posted
1 MAR by
jedmar
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There is a lot of hearsay and copy paste regarding the attribution of the name:
- Journal des Roses of January 1910 says: dedicated to a lady of Grenoble, a lover of flowers
- Biltmore roses catalogue of 1913 : "named in honor of a distinguished and enthusiastic Rose-lover"
- House & Garden of 1929: "a fashionable couturière of London" [20th century books say a fashionable dressmaker of Grenoble who had salons in Paris and London!]
- The Gardeners Chronicle of May 29, 1937: "wife of a friend and customer of his who was a leading magistrate in Grenoble....M. Testout was an enthusiastic amateur gardener and had considerable success locally, principally in raising Gladioli"
- Les Amis des Roses of December 1939: wife of a magistrate of Grenoble
Now for some fact checking:
- There is no evidence of a couturière/dressmaker named Testout or Testoud in Grenoble, Paris, or London. If she was so successful, we should have found some trace of her on the web. This seems a made up story.
- The name Testout or Testoud is indeed common in the Grenoble area
- An Adolphe Testout bred a chrysanthemum 'Vaucanson' in 1893. No info on gladioli.
- A magistrat in France is a member of a court. There was indeed a A. Testout who was at the Court of Appelation in Grenoble in 1882. He is, however, mentioned as an amateur entomologist. Is this the same as Charles Adolphe Edmond Testout (January 17, 1845 - May 13, 1912 Grenoble)?
- The Zoologisches Adresssbuch of 1895 lists (p. 274) a Ch. Testout at 112 Cours Berriat, Grenoble, with collection of insects and butterflies. He is a Greffier (clerk) at the Court of Appelations. This address is a multi-story apartment building in the centre of the town. No garden in sight.
- Earlier, in 1855 a M. Testout is mentioned as propriétaire (landowner) in "La Frise, près de Polygone, 10 minutes de Grenoble". This La Frise is not far from the Cours Berriat above.
- A Mme Testout was a science teacher at the gymnasium for girls in Grenoble until 1901. Was she named Caroline?
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#2 of 2 posted
yesterday by
VMartini
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Isn't there?? Thank you for the generous response. The Grenoble line of inquiry is compelling, if still very mysterious. I found the following passage in the book A Rose Odyssey by French-American rosarian Dr. J. H. Nicolas, published in 1937: “Mme. Caroline Testout was a fashionable French dressmaker in London. She bought a rose from Pernet to advertise her business and paid a big price. Pernet told me that he had first discarded the seedling as mediocre but much to his surprise the rose became world famous.” Since it came from the "source" Pernet himself, I'm compelled to trust Nicolas, and yet, I too am skeptical about the dressmaker line, since as you say there is no mention at all of the famous Caroline Testout in fashion. Odd. I wonder where the germ of that story came from, and why. Perhaps in the end she was that gym teacher from Grenoble.
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