(1977)  Page(s) 3.  Includes photo(s).
 
Cover photo.

p3. Unidentified Tea Rose.  This well-portrayed example of an early Tea Rose is growing among several contemporaries at Flaxmoor House, Caston, Norfolk. There is no real evidence of when it was planted, but it is undoubtedly of great age.
Theories as to its true identity have been numerous, but mid-nineteenth-century descriptions come down strongly in favour of 'Adam', one of the first true Tea Roses if not the first. Later descriptions confuse the matter somewhat. It is a sumptuous rose which, even in anonymity, will perhaps whet your appetite for the next few pages.

(1977)  Page(s) 25-26.  Includes photo(s).
 
1830 Desprez à Fleurs Jaunes Noisette
'Phoebus, what a name! Little thought poor Monsieur Desprez when he sent out his seedlings in the pride of his heart that it would associate his name throughout the rose-loving world with jaundice and bilious fever. Yellow Desprez, moreover, is not yellow, but buff or fawn colour, deliciously fragrant of beautiful foliage, blooms freely in autumn, and makes, with careful culture, a pretty pillar rose.' Such is the way Dean Hole described this rose in his famous A Book about Roses in 1869.
The Noisettes were a fairly new race of roses in the early part of the nineteenth century, but no yellow varieties were available until about 1830, when 'Jaune Desprez' appeared in France. Thus it was bound to become well known very quickly, because, as today, nurserymen were not backward in promoting their novelties.
'Jaune Desprez', therefore, would have enjoyed quite rightly a reign of popularity for a few years, until superseded by its close relatives, the Teas. Like the Teas, the Noisettes were not all completely hardy, and many fell by the wayside quite quickly. The climbing forms tended to survive longer, presumably because they were planted in the more homogenous positions of south wall and conservatories. Undoubtedly a beautiful rose, 'Jaune Desprez' displays many characteristics that will appeal to those who like old-fashioned things. A rather tubby yet pointed bud unfolds to an incurving quartered bloom of fine texture. The colour is similar to 'Gloire de Dijon', but with rather more yellow than Dean Hole is prepared to concede in his description. It is a vigorous climber with a good scent, but more a collector's rose than one for the modern garden.

(1977)  Page(s) 29-30.  Includes photo(s).
 
Pre 1832. Ispahan. Damask
The Damask Roses as a group are among our oldest. Tracing their ancestry and classifying the various hybrids have proved difficult for both botanists and geneticists. For the layman they are certainly difficult to recognise, since there is much diversification in character. There is little doubt that they are closely related to the Gallicas, probably by some cross-breeding in earlier times. It is nice to believe that the original Damask Roses were brought into Western Europe from Damascus by the homecoming Crusaders. 'Ispahan' is especially noteworthy, and indeed garden-worthy, by virtue of its long flowering period. It starts flowering earlier than many old varieties and well ahead of any other Damasks.It also goes on flowering rather longer, and will sometimes repeat in early autumn.
Its colour is clear candy-floss pink from bud stage until almost petal-fall, when it will fade slightly to blush. Blooms are very freely produced on heads of up to a dozen, with the centre flower often pushed out of shape by the surrounding buds. The scent is pure Damask and quite strong. Foliage is plentiful, of average to large size and of a slightly shiny greyish-green colour. In stature, the plant is upright and well furnished with long shoots, which support the big flower heads without drooping. Eventual height will depend on its soil and the method of pruning, but in the best positions it will probably reach eight feet unpruned. Pruning, which this rose will tolerate without detriment, should be carried out in winter. However, like most roses of this stature and type it is better left unhindered in growth to develop its own personality.

(1977)  Page(s) 31-32.  Includes photo(s).
 
1832 Mme Hardy Damask
Probably the best known and loved of all roses in this little book. I place her high among my favourites but confess that at times I find her rather cold, often failing to return the affection bestowed upon her. Perhaps it is her pure white colour, or simply her perfect face, beautifully proportioned but unsmiling and somewhat aloof.
The flowers are produced in medium-sized clusters from roundish buds held together by feathery sepals. As the petals emerge they take on a rather bashful, pale pink colour, changing to pure white as they unfold to about two and a half inches across. The fully opened flowers are flat, with incurved petals eventually forming a high centre around a delightful green eye. Sometimes, especially in the early flowers, there is a hint of lime-green among the petals. In wet weather the blooms sometimes become marked with a hint of pink. Pruning, which should be dome sparingly and only to keep the bush in shape, is best done as soon after flowering as possible.
The scent is good and, some say, reminiscent of lemon. She is a thorny plant, with lovely lime-green foliage of average size. Vigorous to a maximum height of six feet, she can be rather sprawly, without being awkwardly so. A classic example of the wide variation in characteristics among Damask Roses. Very free flowering, but her scent is rather short, about two weeks.
A superior rose taht should be given pride of place in any collection. She would prefer, one feels, to be away from others of her kind, since when in flower she will reign supreme and draw all attention, but after that becomes just another rose.

 

(1977)  Page(s) 27-28.  Includes photo(s).
 
Pre 1848 Mme Legras de St Germain Alba
This distinctive Alba is the only one in present-day cultivation with any sign of yellow in its make-up. Looking through an old book recently, I found one listed under the name of 'Waterers Buff', but I do not think this could be the same rose as the one we are describing, although it would be a most interesting rediscovery if it were found. With the Albas' constitution and reputation for longevity, it is quite possible that in some remote cottage garden a 'Waterers Buff' is flowering away as 'that old rose of Grandad's'.
'Mme Legras de St Germain' has rather more shapely buds, with shorter and broader sepals, than most Albas. It is quite free floweting but produces more individual blooms than heads of blooms; and consequently, the flower stalks are longer.
The flowers are double, a clear pure white, of reasonable size and flushed with primrose-yellow towards the centre. The fragrance is subtle and, whendetected, sweet and pure. Flowering in early summer, it has a delicacy of bloom somewhat incongruous with the vigorous growth of up to seven or eight feet. A healthy rose, with plenty of grey to light green foliage. Thorns are few and far between, but solid and quite vicious - the sort of rose that belongs in the back or centre of a shrubbery, and which could benefit from some support as it ages. Judicious pruning may have to be practised when the shrub is mature, but if this is done in summer, after flowering, its floriferousness will not be impaired.

(1977)  Page(s) 32.  
 
Also present might have been the Apothecary Rose, or Rosa gallica officinalis. This would have been old fashioned by c. 1820, of course, as would its close relative Rosa gallica versicolor or 'Rosa Mundi', reputedly named after Fair Rosamunde, Henry II's mistress. This pink-and-white-striped rose has stimulated much interest through the ages and, in my opinion, has become one of the most overrated roses of all time.