From The Garden, December 31, 1887, p.595:
"Neglected Roses" by T. W. Girdlestone.
The question has often been asked whether there are not among old and neglected Roses some which are worth growing, not only for association's sake, but also for their real merits. And there is no doubt that there are a few good varieties which though occasionally seen, remain in a general way in undeserved obscurity.
This arises, perhaps, partly from accident, and partly from the fact that it not infrequently happens that a Rose is raised for which at the moment there is no particular need. Subsequently a purpose for which it would be useful may arise, or altered conditions of culture may render it desirable, but by that time growers probably will be intent upon raising new varieties to fulfil their new wants, instead of looking for what may be of value among existing sorts. Under these circumstances, it is natural that it should be amongst the class, in the extent and conditions of whose cultivation there has been the greatest change of late years, that the majority of neglected varieties of value should be found, namely, amongst the Tea-scented Roses, especially when it is remembered that these include some of the oldest of what are still first-rate Roses, the decade 1844-54 having witnessed the production of half-a-dozen Teas that are still unsurpassed.
Of these elder Teas there are three or four to be mentioned presently, but the more important are some varieties from ten to fifteen years old which appear to have been very generally ignored.
First of all comes Marcelline Roda, a very attractive Rose, sent out by Ducher in 1873. That the Ducher seedlings are worthy of careful consideration and trial is obvious, from the fact that they have included at various times such sterling Roses as Amazone, Anna Ollivier, Bouquet d'Or, Innocente Pirola, Jean Ducher, Jules Finger, Madame Welch, Marie Van Houtte, Perle de Lyon, Rêve d'Or, and William Allen Richardson- a goodly list for a single house. Marcelline Roda is charming, both in the garden and in the cut state, and is also valuable to the exhibitor, its pale yellow flowers somewhat recalling Caroline Kuster in colour, though in form more resembling Innocente Pirola with their pointed centre. They are produced in immense profusion, and being of good size and carried erect upon the plant they are very effective, while from their form they last well in water, and the exhibitor will consequently find them excellent travellers. Why the variety is not more generally grown it is not easy to conceive. Occasionally fine blooms are exhibited, and during the past season a good many handsome examples were seen at various shows, indicating the fact that exhibitors sometimes grow it; but, considering its free-flowering character and habit, Marcelline Roda is deserving of far more extensive cultivation even in gardens where Rose showing is not the main object of the cultivator.
Another handsome Rose but rarely met with is La Princesse Vera (Nabonnand, 1878). Nabonnand has sent out such an enormous number of worthless varieties in his time, that growers in general fight shy of anything with his name attached, and, consequently, when he does distribute a good seedling, its merits fail for some time to obtain recognition. La Princesse Vera, however, although less effective in the garden than Marcelline Roda, owing to its less erect habit, produces a very fine flower, perfect in form, very large and full, and in colour nearly white with a rosy base. That the flowers are not lacking in size or substance, exhibitors will realise when it is stated that during the past season blooms were several times staged in the back row of a winning twenty-four or thirty-six distinct, side by side with such Roses as Her Majesty, Alfred Colomb, Madame Gabriel Luizet, &c., and the plant is of a sturdy branching habit with exceptionally lustrous dark foliage.
A variety sent out at the same time by the same raiser, and called Clement Nabonnand, is very deep-petalled, and has been a good deal admired; but of two distributed the year before, one called Comtesse de Caserta, a somewhat similarly formed flower, is more effective in the garden from its great floriferousness and deeper colour; the other, Abbé Roustan, from the handsomeness of the plant which carries its flowers erect. Comtesse de Caserta produces its very deep, large-petalled blooms in the greatest abundance, and, though not being very full, it is undoubtedly better suited by a cooler season; it was, nevertheless, successfully exhibited last summer, while the number of buds and flowers it furnished for cutting was very large. In colour the flowers are yellowish, shaded at the base with deep coppery rose or red; varying somewhat in tint, but always attractive. Abbé Roustan is very vigorous, and its large blush flowers, borne on stiff stems, are very advantageously displayed above the mass of deep green glossy foliage, in colour and texture almost like that of Portugal Laurel, and very persistent. In this habit of erect flower-stems, this Rose follows a somewhat less vigorous, but good-looking variety sent out by Margottin so long ago as 1859, namely, Duc de Magenta, a Tea which is still very popular in France, though rarely seen in this country, and which produces flowers of good size with a fine petal of great substance, withstanding both heat and wet exceptionally well. In colour it is of a pleasing creamy tint, shaded with salmony yellow, and though the plant is not tall, the growth is sturdy and healthy. This variety has been found a useful addition now that collections of Teas are increasing in extent, and owing to its habit it shows up better in the garden than many larger growers that have pendulous flowers.
A Tea, sent out by Madame Ducher two years after her husband's death, namely Marquis de Sanima (Veuve Ducher, 1876), is a Rose which at its best is extremely beautiful, and during the past season it was very good, being finely shown at South Kensington and elsewhere. It is a handsome, full flower, of those mingled shades of copper and gold and red only to be found among Tea-scented Roses; in colour somewhat after Reine de Portugal, but with a deeper coppery red tint, and opening more easily than that fine, though rather fickle variety.
Another Rose from the same raiser, Comte de Sembui (1874), of the same type of colour, is more pointed in form, and perhaps a little thinner in petal, but in dry weather opens fair and is very pretty. Louis Gigot (Ducher, 1872), though a dwarf grower, has a pretty white flower of good size and softly tinted with pale rose; while the only objection to the older Louise de Savoie (Ducher, 1854), which makes a handsome, vigorous plant, and produces very attractive well-formed pale sulphur-yellow flowers, is a slight tenderness when exposed to great cold.
An old and excellent Rose, of which the recent American novelty The Bride has reminded a good many growers, is Cornelia Koch (Koch, 1855), generally classed as a Noisette, but for all practical purposes a Tea. In colour, the ivory-white flowers with a yellowish base closely resemble those of The Bride, as they sometimes do also in form, and though probably not so constant as the newer Rose, the variety affords a good many superb blooms and is especially valuable in autumn.
Socrate (Robert, 1858) is a Tea that everybody ought to grow who cares about fragrance in Roses. It is without exception the most highly scented of all the Teas, and though somewhat irregular in form, the flowers are freely produced and beautiful in colour, being of mingled yellow and rose with an apricot centre, while the plant is a good grower and autumnal. For cutting, a purpose for which the irregularity of form of the expanded blossoms is no objection, there are few Roses more desirable than Socrate, or more distinct in colour and fragrance, and even though in France it is well known and highly appreciated, and a few growers over here cultivate a considerable number of plants to ensure a good supply of its flowers for the house, yet it is not grown nearly so extensively as it deserves to be, and, in fact, in this country can hardly be said to be otherwise than generally neglected.
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