What do you know about it? How did it come to your attention?

Well don't know how it came to the author's attention but it came to mine because bourbons and portlands are my favorite so I sniff around vendors' sites to find ones I do not know about.

This one you can read about, no picture, at Beale's the person who credits himself with finding it and offering it to the public ... provided your not living in Canada.

I heard about Mrs Yamada from Mr.Beales himself when he visited Japan a few years ago.
He found one flower without stripes in a Variegata di Bologna shurb in a Japanese garden.
He had to leave Japan soon, so two eyes were sent to his place later.
The two eyes were sent separately.
One reached UK but one didn't.
The garden where Mr. Beales found the flower belongs to the Yamadas.
After the success of propagation, he named it Mrs Yamada
in honor of the mother of the garden owner.
I don't grow it myself but I think it has the same character to Variegata di Bologna.

Sorry for my poor English.
Akira

I don't remember what I was looking for...but I saw the name, and that is was a sport of Variegata di Bologna...and since I love Bourbons....oh, I remember...I was looking for the lineage of Variegata and saw there was a sport...Mrs. Yamada and I have been looking for a picture of the rose ever since.

I started growing this rose late last spring. It has thus far put out four foot long healthy canes that are spilling over onto the garden path with thorns that never fail to grab onto you. I am waiting for the first blooms to come in several weeks. Our weather here is still quite cold, so my roses are only starting to leaf out. I got this rose from Hortico, grafted onto what I believe are multiflora rootstock. I'll post pictures when it blooms. I am praying that this rose was not mislabeled by Hortico. I have a Variegata di Bologna also growing on the same row.

Is there a possibility of getting a cutting from you, please?

I would be happy to, as long as this is not a currently patented rose. Is it?

melva, you can see some pictures of Mrs Yamada.
All pages are written in Japanese, but you can see the pictures.

http://www.bara21.jp/10kai/contest.html
The very bottom and the rightest is a flower arrengement
composed of Mrs Yamada, Mme Hardy and Reine Victoria.
I think you can find it by looking for number 19.
It got a prize on 19th.

http://yanagy.jp/rose/rose-gardens/tateshinabarakura.html

There are so many pictures in this page.
Mrs Yamada was shown after the picture of 6 dishes and one glass.
The left one is Mrs Yamada and the right one is Mrs Yamada taken with Variegata di Bologna.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mrs Yamada with Variegata di Bologna

Thank you very much for the link.

Does (and if so, how does) 'Mrs Yamada' differ from 'Huntington Brocade' (aka 'Variegata di Bologna Rouge'), a VdB sport that's apparently been around since the early '70s?

I've linked to the Vintage Gardens page for 'Huntington Brocade', but there are better photos of the sport at HMF.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Huntington Brocade' @ Vintage

They do appear to be quite similar...and Jeff, I don't think Mrs. Yamada is patented...(maybe this is why)

Jeff...I don't think the rose is patented....

Info at HMF on Huntington Brocade/Variegata di Bologna Rouge is confusing: *Bred by M. Lowe in 1984, introduced by Unknown in 1973.* If taken literally, this rose was introduced 11 years before it first appeared. (How's that for anticipation?)

A probable scenario is that multiple growers have, over time, found (and then successfully propagated) these solid-colored sports. Mr Beales now seems to be at least the third person to have done so -- ergo, Mrs Yamada. Apparently Vintage Gardens and the folks at HMF believe the 1973 and the 1984 roses to be identical; I suppose it remains to be seen whether Mrs Yamada is distinct in any way.

Anyone who grows Variegata di Bologna knows that one of the many charms of this rose is the wild variation of color distribution among its blooms. I've always assumed that blooms approaching being solid red, if propagated, would simply revert to type. I'm glad to know that's not always the case.

Jeff: How long ago did you purchase your Mrs Yamada from Hortico? I'd be interested in a grafted plant, but it isn't listed in Hortico's two most recent catalogs. (Based on Riku's comment above, perhaps the rose was withdrawn from distribution by Canadian vendors? Hmmmm . . .)