Magazine  (2019)  Page(s) 41. Bol 41, No. 3.  Includes photo(s).
 
Richard Walsh.  A Red Noisette.
In his presentation (at the HRIA 2016 Conference in Mittagong) on his 1810 cottage and its roses at Mulgoa, historian and conservationist James Broadbent showed pictures of a chance seedling which had germinated in the garden. It was below a large plant of R. brunonii bought from Rumseys forty years ago. R. brunonii is also known as “Himalayan Musk Rose” because of its similarity to R. moschata. The growth was consistent with it being a seedling of R. brunonii, but it was red!
The only red rose growing in the garden (or anywhere nearby) was Cramoisi Supérieur. Given the origin of Noisette Roses from R. moschata x a China Rose, Neil Mitchell was quick to point out that perhaps this was a unique red Noisette. It is a reasonable assumption that the cross is R. brunonii x Cramoisi Supérieur, given the growth habit and colour of the red seedling.   We asked James if we could visit and take some cuttings to propagate the rose and he was only too willing, so a week later we called and collected some cuttings. We got cuttings of the red and a deep pink seedling also, which we propagated by budding as well as on their own roots.   We called the red one “Broadbent 1” (photo below) and the deep pink “Broadbent 2” (photo p. 49). We are hopeful that the red one will become part of our breeding programme and will bring some vigour and new genes into the gene-pool for modern roses, especially Miniatures, given the small flowers. Neither of the roses is registered and these remain only our working names for them. We shared the roses with some other HRiA members to ensure their future.