Pages containing 'Rose'

Although a comparatively recent hybridist, Frank Riethmuller of Sydney, bred a number of fine roses which are very much in the style of some forty years earlier. Whilst perhaps best know for the ever popular Titian, his series of polyanthas bred in the late 1950’s are his most distinctive contribution to Australian rose-breeding. When used together, these make an excellent, informal and multi-coloured hedge of approximately one metre in height. He was rewarded with the T.A. Steward Memorial Award in 1959.

This is a very interesting group of roses for various reasons. One reason being that one of the Damasks is recurrent and is known as Rosa x damascena ‘bifera’ or more commonly as ‘Quatre Saisons’.

Another point of interest is that this rose sported to a white MOSSY rose, named ‘Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux’.

Also known as the ‘Great Holland Rose’,Provence Rose’ ,‘Cabbage Rose’ and the ‘Rose des Peintres’, they have a history of intrigue and mystery. Initially R.centifolia (which botanically should be centipetala)was classified as a species rose and thought to date back to around 300BC because of references from that era to a ‘hundred petalled rose’. It has never been found growing in the wild and recent examination of the chromosomes show it to be a complex hybrid of four species. These species are- R.gallica,R.phoenicia,R.moschata and R.canina.

Species roses are the original wild roses. Rose fossils have been found that are millions of years old, so the rose is a very ancient plant. It is difficult to know how many of the original 200 or so discovered species roses remain in existence because of natural hybridization but there are still many growing in gardens all over the world.