Newsletter  (Aug 2001)  Page(s) 4. Vol 26, No. 3.  
 
Rev. Douglas T. Seidel, Pennsylvania. Those fabulous Foundlings: the No-Name Noisettes.
"Redoute's Red Noisette" is the study name for the variety once circulated as "Peppermint China" by Antique Rose Emporium and among rose collectors as "Charles Walker's Red." The plant has a heavy dose of Red China Rose in it - bright reddish-pink flowers of few petals often with a white stripe or two. The new growth is stained with even more red. The petals of a true China, however, darken as they age and this foundling fades. At Monticello, our plants of this welcome dose of red are never without bloom and reach three feet, so far. In Marie Butler's wonderful garden just south of Richmond the plant is five feet tall. One Easter Day (not a quiet time for me professionally) Ruth Knopf from Charleston telephoned me quite excited about this little red rose. She asked me to study the plate of Redoute's Rosa noisettiana purpurea, his "Noisette a fleurs rouges" (front cover). The details of that portrait and Thory' s excellent companion text may mean we have a match. Until more research is done, "Redoute's Red" is a study name for a variety that more of us should grow. This, unfortunately, is quite tender in my area.