Alister Clark is a man whose name you may recognize less than his floral creations. This is a sad testament to the passage of time, as in his lifetime he was known and loved by many. Rose breeder Sam McGredy has said that Alister Clark was a rose breeder ahead of his time.

Alister Clark's influence as a rosarian is inestimable

Born in 1864 to Scottish immigrant farmers, Alister had the good fortune to have the beautiful property of Glenara, built by his father Walter near Bulla, as his playground. When he was nine years old however his father was killed, and Alister was cared for by various relatives whilst being educated in Hobart, Scotland and Cambridge. Ultimately he graduated with a law degree but never practiced the profession. He did however develop a great fascination with plants and flowers, and although his interests were diverse throughout his life it was this that became his greatest passion.

When Alister returned to Australia he met on the ship a woman named Edith Rhodes who shared his interest in roses. Ultimately they married in 1888 and in 1892 Alister reacquired his childhood home of Glenara. Edith became patroness of the Victorian Rose Society and in 1928 Alister named a rose ‘Edith Clark’ in her honour.

Edith, however, was only one of many women he named roses after, often family or friends of the family. ‘Jessie Clark’ (1915) is named after his niece. The climber 'Gwen Nash' (1920) and 'Peggy Bell' (1929), 'Mary Guthrie' (1929) and Marjory Palmer' (1936) which are bush roses. The wife of the third Earl of Stradbroke and Governor of Victoria in 1920 gave her name to 'Countess of Stradbroke' (1928) while 'Amy Johnson' (1931) was named to commemorate the landing in Australia of the famous English pilot who was first woman to fly solo to Australia. Harold and Maud Alston were Alister and Edith’s neighbours, and in 1940 Alister named two roses after the lucky woman – a polyantha named ‘Maud Alston’ and a hybrid tea named ‘Mrs Harold Alston’. ‘Nancy Hayward’ (1937) was the daughter of Sir William Irvine who every year from 1928 to 1943 had been either Patron or Vice-Patron of the Rose Society.

Although many would likely have been delighted with this honour, here was at least one instance where such was not the case. When rosarian and author Susan Irvine invited Nancy Hayward to lunch, she made sure to buy a large bunch of the roses named after her and arrange them on the table as a “surprise”. Instead it was Susan who got the surprise. When Nancy saw the arrangement she said “I can’t stand that rose! Alister never asked me if he could name it after me. It has too few petals, no scent, and is a perfectly horrible colour!”

Reports vary on the number of roses Alister created – from 122 to 135. However he was never interested in selling them commercially. Instead he donated them to charities, rose societies, or gave them to the people he named them after. For this reason also he didn’t try to produce prize-winning exhibition roses. Rather, his main focus was on developing roses that would thrive in the unique Australian climate and flower all year round. Arguably his most famous success was the second-generation gigantean hybrid, ‘Lorraine Lee’, voted most popular garden rose in a 1937 Argus readers’ poll. It is hardy, beautifully scented, and so prolific that one bush provided bunches of roses for twenty consecutive monthly meetings of the National Rose Society. It has been grown all throughout Australia and received praise in the United States of America.

It was the habit of naming his roses after female friends that has caused a number of the roses to fall through the cracks of time. As those for whom they were named after died and properties were sold the roses themselves were often removed or lost from memory. One of the greatest tragedies for rose historians is that towards the end of his life the log book that Alister recorded his breeds in was left out in the rain one night and destroyed.

Second to his love of roses was Alister’s love of daffodils. Glenara was always plentiful with them and he developed several new species, including possibly the world’s first pink daffodil.

He received many awards in his time, both in Australia and internationally. He was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the American Rose Society in 1931; elected Vice-President of the British Royal Horticultural Society in 1944; was the first recipient of the T. A. Stewart Memorial Award of Australia / New Zealand in 1948; received the Peter Barr Memorial Cup from the Royal Horticultural Society (England) for daffodils in 1948; but most significantly was the first Australian (and only the second one ever) to receive the prestigious Dean Hole Medal of the National Rose Society (England) for service to the Rose in 1936.

Apart from growing, Alister managed to find time for many other activities. He served on his local Council, often as president, and was a Justice of the Peace. The family photo collections contain many of the shots he took as a skilled amateur photographer. His sporting interests included fly-fishing, rabbit ferreting, golf (he was a foundation member of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club) and horses. He himself enjoyed riding horses for pleasure, polo and hunting, and he also owned and bred racehorses. He was founding President of the Moonee Valley Race Club and the Alister Clark Stakes are run there annually in his memory. The first rose he released in 1912, ‘Lady Medallist’, was named after a Caulfield Cup racehorse that came first in 1911 and second in 1912.

Alister Clark died in 1949 just 6 days short of his 85^th birthday and was survived by his wife Edith. They had never had children. He was buried at the Bulla cemetery.

Roses by Alister Clark:

Amy Johnson: 1931 Hybrid Tea Pillar. (Souvenir de Gustav Prost x.) Semi-double pink blooms. Recurrent. Named after the first aviatrix to fly solo from England to Australia.

Baxter Beauty: Hybrid Gigantea. Semi-double, apricot yellow sport of Lorraine Lee. Fragrant and recurrent. A strong grower.

Blackboy: 1919 Climber. (Etoile de France x Bardou Job.) Darkest red double flowers with strong fragrance. A moderate climber that will repeat. Voted the most popular climbing rose by the readership of “The Argus” in 1937.

Borderer: 1918 Polyantha. (Jersey Beauty x.) Double pale pink and apricot blooms on a free-flowering bush. Fragrant and very striking.

Broadway: Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Apricot yellow blooms on a very vigorous plant. Discovered recently on a property of the same name and believed to be a Clark variety.

Cherub: 1923 Rambler. (Claire Jacquier x.) Salmon pink semi-double clusters on a vigorous multiflora-type in spring. Rich glossy green foliage. Ideal for screening.

Cicely Lascelles: 1932 Hybrid Tea Pillar. (Frau Oberhofgaertner Singer x Scorcher.) Semi-double pink blooms with a slight fragrance on a moderate grower to 3m. Recurrent.

Countess Of Stradbroke: 1928 Hybrid Tea Climber. (Walter C. Clark x.) Double red recurrent blooms. Described by the 1939 “American Rose Annual” as “probably the finest climbing rose in the world”. The 1927 catalogue of Rose and Tree Specialists, Epping, NSW said, “Last year we mentioned that it was hoped to introduce a very fine seedling of Mr. Alister Clark’s, named in honor of the Countess of Stradbroke. Unfortunately, however, owing to the drought and water restrictions through the spring, there were considerable losses in the young planted stock, and we were unable to bud our full number of plants in many lines, and are, therefore, compelled to postpone dissemination of this variety until 1928.”

Courier: 1930 Gigantea Climber. Light pink with white. Very vigorous, reaching 8m.

Daydream: 1924 Pillar. Semi-double waterlily blush pink blooms. Free-flowering to 3m.

Diana Allen: 1939 Hybrid Tea. (Mrs Aaron Ward x.) Double salmon pink blooms on a moderate bush to 1m. Free-flowering and fragrant.

Dividend: 1931. Hybrid Tea. (Franz. Degen x.) Rich yellow double blooms.

Doris Downes: 1932 Hybrid Tea. Large cupped semi-double blooms of pink to light red. Large bush or pillar. Fragrant.

Editor Stewart: 1939 Pillar. A good recurrent red which may be used as a tall hedge. Named for T.A. Stewart, then editor of “Australian Rose Annual”.

Fairlie Rede: 1937 Hybrid Tea. (Mrs E. Willis x.) Deep pink and fawn blooms on a free-flowering bush. Fragrant.

Flying Colours: 1922 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Large single cerise blooms, slightly fragrant, produced in early abundance. A very vigorous plant with glossy foliage, reaching 7m.

Gladsome: 1937 Climber. Clusters of single pink blooms in spring on a sprawling hedging shrub or climber. Vigorous and well-clothed in light green foliage.

Glenara: 1952 Hybrid Tea. Rich rose pink semi-double blooms, both recurrent and fragrant, on a attractive bush. Listed by T.A. Stewart and named after Clark’s property at Bulla.

Golden Vision: 1922 Gigantea Climber. (Gigantea x Marechal Niel.) Golden yellow blooms on an early flowering, large and vigorous climber to 7m.

Gwen Nash: 1920 Hybrid Tea. (Rosy Morn x.) Cyclamen pink blooms on a large shrub or pillar. Semi-double and free-flowering.

Jessie Clark: 1915 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Large single light pink blooms in spring profusion, on a very large and vigorous plant, well-clothed in dark green leathery foliage. One of Clark’s earliest varieties, released a decade after his importation of its R. gigantea parent from the nursery of William Paul in England (the other parent being Madame Martigner). Named after his niece and released by Law, Somner & Co. of Swanston St. Melbourne @ 3/6 each, with the advice that it “flowers very early, and, like Gigantea, starts to make its growth before winter is over”.

Kitty Kininmonth: 1922 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Carmine rose blooms early in the season. Vigorous. May repeat. Semi-double.

Lady Huntingfield: 1937 Hybrid Tea. (Busybody x Aspirant Marcel Rosyn.) Double golden blooms on a small bush. An outstanding and free-flowering rose.

Lorraine Lee: 1924 Hybrid Gigantea (Jessie Clark x Capitaine Millet.) Apricot pink semi-double blooms with a strong fragrance on a very free-flowering, evergreen bush to 2m. Frequently used as a hedge which, if pruned hard in late summer, will flower well through autumn and into winter. Voted most popular bush rose in “The Argus” plebiscite of 1937 and still very much in demand. Lorraine Lee demonstrates the Clark trait of naming many of his roses after female friends – in this instance a visiting relative of his sister-in-law from Essex. Unfortunately the variety she chose is far too tender for the eastern English climate, the very characteristics which Clark sought for success in Victoria limit many of his varieties in Europe.

Lorraine Lee Cl.: 1932 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Semi-double apricot pink blooms with a strong fragrance. Free-flowering. A climbing sport of the bush variety, reaching 5m. Released by McKay.

Mab Grimwade: 1937 Hybrid Tea. Double yellow orange blooms on a smaller bush.

Margaret Turnbull: 1931 Climber. Salmon yellow fragrant blooms on a vigorous climber with rich foliage. Recurrent.

Marjory Palmer: 1936 Floribunda. (Jersey Beauty x.) Rose pink fragrant blooms, double with prominent stamens on a small free-flowering bush. An outstanding variety.

Mary Guthrie: 1929 Hybrid Tea. (Jersey Beauty x Scorcher.) Deep pink single blooms, adding with age. Fragrant and very free-flowering. Moderate bush to 1.25m.

Milkmaid: 1927 Noisette Climber. Cream to fawn semi-double blooms with prominent stamens. Magnificently scented and often grown for this feature alone. A vigorous climber which owes much to its Crepuscule parentage.

Mrs Alston S Rose: Polyantha. Pink to light red, with some white, in semi-double blooms with a slight fragrance. A small free-flowering bush to 1m. An ideal variety for container growing.

Mrs Fred Danks: 1952 Hybrid Tea. Lilac pink, semi-double blooms, both fragrant and recurrent, on a larger bush. An excellent garden rose.

Mrs Harold Alston: 1940 Hybrid Tea. Semi-double pink blooms with a creamy yellow centre. Tall shrub or pillar. Recurrent.

Mrs Richard Turnbull: 1945 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Early, large blooms of soft yellow fading white. A very vigorous climber to 7m.

Nancy Hayward: 1937 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Single light red blooms in profusion, beginning early spring and repeating. A very popular variety growing vigorously to 6m. A Jessie Clark seedling with which it has much in common.

Pennant: 1941 Climber. Double begonia blooms.

Princeps: 1942 Climber. Deep red, semi-double fragrant blooms. Vigorous, to 5m.

Restless: 1938 Hybrid Tea. Bright red semi-double flowers with prominent stamens. Large shrub to 2.5m. Recurrent.

Ringlet: 1922 Pillar. (Ernest Morel x Betty Berkeley.) Single pale pink blooms with a white centre give this variety its name. Both fragrant and recurrent, well-clothed in light green foliage. Best with support, where it may reach 3.5m. A very distinctive variety.

Scorcher: 1922 Hybrid Tea Pillar. (Mme Abel Chatenay x.) Large semi-double scarlet-crimson blooms with a slight fragrance. Climbing growth to 3.5m.

Squatter’s Dream: 1923 Hybrid Gigantea. Large rich single yellow blooms on a free-flowering bush.

Sunlit: 1937 Hybrid Tea. Semi-double apricot blooms with a strong fragrance, on a medium-sized bush. Recurrent.

Sunny South: 1918 Hybrid Tea. (Gustav Gruenewald x Betty Berkeley.) Loose, semi-double blooms of pale pink. Fragrant and very free-flowering. A very distinctive rose, frequently used as a tall hedge. Makes a very attractive bush to 2.5m.

Tonner’s Fancy: 1929 Hybrid Gigantea Climber. Creamy-pink blooms on a vigorous plant. Fragrant. Large and double.

Traverser: 1928 Climber. Yellow and cream blooms in clusters.

Superpink: Climber. Vivid pink blooms on a vigorous climbing plant to 5m. (Errata: SUPERPINK is believed to be QUEEN OF HEARTS, a 1920 Hybrid Tea (Gustave Gruenerwald x Rosy Morn) seedling with double, cupped fragrant blooms.)

Suitor: Polyantha. Semi-double pink blooms on a small, relatively thornless bush. Recurrent.

Zara Hore Ruthven: 1932 Hybrid Tea. (Mme Abel Chatenay x Scorcher.) Rich pink double blooms with a slight fragrance on a medium-sized recurrent bush.