HelpMeFind Roses, Clematis and Peonies
Roses, Clematis and Peonies
and everything gardening related.
DescriptionPhotosLineageAwardsReferencesMember RatingsMember CommentsMember JournalsCuttingsGardensBuy From 
'Cécile Brunner' rose References
Magazine  (Mar 1997)  Page(s) 24-5.  
 
THE MANY FACES OF MLLE CÉCILE BRUNNER

By Hillary Merrifield


Though my promised article on the Cécile Brunner group of roses is almost complete, I still need some further information. Perhaps HRA members can help me with the following.

1 It is known that the so-called Bloomfield Abundance (which I feel is a tall shrub form of Cécile Brunner) has been grown in Australia and elsewhere in the world since at least the 1930s. If possible, I would like to hear of examples whose age can be documented or estimated fairly accurately.

2 Just when the name Bloomfield Abundance was wrongly applied to the above rose is uncertain, though I have previously expressed the opinion that it did not come into general usage until the 1960s ( HRA Journal, Vol 18, No 4, p 32). The original Bloomfield Abundance was a 1920 Hybrid Tea, now presumed lost.

In my own case, in 1963 I moved into a turn of the century house in Guildford (Perth) which had a garden where none of the roses was dated later than 1930. There was a huge bush of what I thought was Cécile Brunner and I can remember being somewhat surprised to be told a few years later by a rosarian friend that it should be called Bloomfield Abundance. I would be grateful if members could tell me when they first heard that Bloomfield Abundance was the name for this shrub rose.

3 Cécile Brunner has a number of acknowledged sports including a very vigorous climber; Spray Cécile Brunner, which seems to be very like what we have been calling Bloomfield Abundance; white forms of the bush and the climber, and the peach-coloured Mme Jules Thibaud. However, Deane Ross felt that the latter was more likely to be a sport of Perle d’Or than Cécile Brunner (HRA Journal, Vol 15, No 2, pp 24-25).

I suspect that the original low-growing Cécile Brunner may have been a chimera, ie a plant which contains two or more genetically different body tissues. Without going into technicalities here, it is possible for hidden mutations in chimeras to emerge during propagation. In this instance the mutations may have involved increased vigour and modification of sepal shape.

Consequently, I would be very interested to hear from any nurserymen and rose growers who have struck cuttings or made bud grafts of Cécile Brunner which have produced unexpected results, including the so-called Bloomfield Abundance form. There are unconfirmed reports in the literature suggesting this changeover occurs, but they are usually written off as growers using the wrong rose in the first place.

There are no reports of the vigorous Bloomfield Abundance producing Cécile Brunner during propagation [there are now HM, 2003], though Nancy Steen once observed the equally vigorous Climbing Cécile Brunner putting out low-growing branches at the base of the plant ( The Charm of Old Roses.l987.p72).

If you have any information which you think may help unravel the fascinating Cécile Brunner / so-called Bloomfield Abundance mystery please contact me at xxxxxx . All information received will be acknowledged in the article.


Journal of Heritage Roses in Australia Vol.19 No.1, Autumn 1997

Book  (1997)  Page(s) 31.  
 
One of the earliest sweetheart roses... introduced in the 1890s.
Book  (Sep 1996)  Page(s) 182.  Includes photo(s).
 
....Originally named 'Mlle. Cecile Brunner', it has also, over the years, been called 'Mignon' and 'Maltese Rose'. 
Book  (1995)  Page(s) 56.  Includes photo(s).
Book  (Nov 1994)  Page(s) 150.  
 
A pink Tea, 'Mme. de Tartas', was used on a Poly-pom, and 'Mlle. Cécile Brunner' was named in 1881... the first Tea-Poly-pom
Book  (Nov 1994)  Page(s) 150.  
 
Mlle. Cécile Brunner Poly-pom. Ducher (France) 1881. ('Mignon', 'Cécile Brunner', 'The Sweetheart Rose') Description. A seedling Poly-pom x 'Mme. de Tartas'... The blooms are of beautiful Hybrid Tea shape, but less than two inches across when fully expanded, clear, pale silvery pink, warmer in the centre...
Book  (Nov 1993)  Page(s) 56.  Includes photo(s).
Book  (Sep 1993)  Page(s) 110.  Includes photo(s).
 
Cécile Brünner ('The Sweetheart Rose', 'Mignon', 'Mademoiselle (or Madame) Cécile Brünner'). China. Parentage: Unnamed Polyantha Rose x 'Souvenir d'un Ami' or 'Madame de Tartas'. Joseph Pernet-Ducher 1881 (bred by his mother-in-law). Description... fragrant little blush-pink flowers... there are two roses that have this name: Ducher's original, a petite bush less than a metre (3 feet) tall, with its flowers in small clusters; and an interloper (which used to be called 'Bloomfield Abundance'), virtually identical in leaf and flowers but growing four times the size... Look carefully at the buds to see which version you have (or are getting): the 'spray-bearing' type often extends one of its sepals out like a green flag beyond the petals, the original one never does...
Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 81.  
 
Cécile Brunner Polyantha, bright pink on yellow ground, double, small, 1881, ('Mme. Cécile Brunner', 'Mlle. Cécile Brunner'; 'Mignon'; 'Sweetheart Rose') Ducher, Vve. Description.
Magazine  (Mar 1993)  Page(s) 12..  
 
Deane M. Ross. Mlle. Cecile Brunner and Her Entourage.  
Mlle Cécile Brunner is arguably the best known old-world rose of all; enthusiast and layman alike know it, even if only by its nick-name The Sweetheart Rose. It was introduced by the famous French breeder Pernet-Ducher in 1881, and has been in rose catalogues ever since. For those who are not familiar with it, the blooms are petite and shapely, about 50mm across, of salmon-pink shading softer on the outer petals. The blooms are fragrant, and borne on a modest bush which is impervious to most diseases.
© 2024 HelpMeFind.com