Magazine  (1994)  Page(s) 14. No. 8.  
 
David Stone, Reflections From Mottisfont.
I continue to champion that splendid little China hybrid 'Irene Watts'. Can there be a better bedding variety among the old fashioned roses? My records show that it was raised by Guillot in 1896, parentage unknown. But wait! What is this? This summer, a shoot appears which bears a paler, looser sport which, on closer inspection, revealed itself to be 'Gruss an Aachen'!  But 'Gruss' was not introduced until 1909, and has 'Frau Karl Druschki' in its lineage. Is my sport then a reversion? Have I have been championing the cause of an impostor these past ten years? I search, in vain, for any references to sports of 'Gruss an Aachen', but can find none. Who, then is my 'Irene' if she is not whom I think her to be? Can anyone help me to restore a lady's lost honour?

Book  (Nov 1993)  Page(s) 58.  Includes photo(s).

Magazine  (Oct 1993)  Page(s) 14. No. 6.  
 
David Stone.  Reflections From Mottisfont.
....Among the lesser known are names that should be 'household'.  Irene Watts, a china rose hybrid of supreme quality, now, at long last, achieving the recognition she deserves

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 452.  
 
Pink Gruss an Aachen Floribunda, light salmon-pink, 1929, 'Gruss an Aachen' sport; Kluis.

Book  (Feb 1993)  Page(s) 92.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 104.  Includes photo(s).
 
Irene Watts  A very free-flowering China.  Raised by Guillot in France, launched 1896.  Repeat flowers continuously.  Height to 50cm  Good tea scent.  

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 44.  
 
Today I find that well-established China roses need no protection, but even in the south of England I swathe small new plants with dry bracken to protect not only new stems but roots also against long periods of severe weather. ‘Arethusa’ with lovely yellow shades and ‘Irene Watts’, with many tints of pink, are two rewarding Chinas of later introduction and, for impact of their delicate shades, are best planted in groups of three. However, I have still to find one approaching ‘Old Blush’ for providing silvery-pink blooms almost continuously from May to the first frosts. The foliage of these China roses is quite different from leaves of the old roses, being tinged reddish-brown, shining and pointed, on red stems with prominent, curved red prickles, decorative, I think, even before the flowers appear.

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 68.69.  Includes photo(s).
 
 
Page 68: [Photo] Irene Watts
Page 69: A China raised by Guillot in 1896. (description)

Website/Catalog  (1985)  Page(s) 25.  
 

Irene Watts* (China) Double, white tinted pale pink. Fairly dwarf and hardy. 1896. (C) 2 x 2’.

Book  (1985)  Page(s) 74.  Includes photo(s).
 
p74 ….But who was ‘Irene Watts’? Now there’s a name gone around the world, for she grew in a garden in Auckland, New Zealand, to name but one. She (the rose) was one of Monsieur Guillot’s clever projeny introduced in 1896 and labeled a china rose, but there must be a little bit more to it than that. It would be my guess that Fantin-Latour features somewhere, with the sunset flushes of Irene coming in from a real china rose. I shall illustrate her, but admit to having caught her on a dull damp morning when the pink, peach and lemon tints at her heart are not really evident. In hot, dry weather this rose will send up a great bract of blooms in varying stages of undress, and the colour range can be like an opalescent sunset, the sort that would have had Turner whipping out his little pocket watercolour set. ‘Irene Watts’ also has something of ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ about her, so if family likenesses have any bearing on this matter we might look there too. ….. It is the smooth stems of ‘Irene Watts’ that tell most of her china parentage; whereas the bloom is more than a little centifolia in its quartering, and gallica in its folding.
P75 Photo. ‘Irene Watts’.