That is whimsical in both shape and color, Kim! Colors and petal counts can vary a bunch, judging by photos on HMF. And, even more interesting, it's a seedling of an old hybrid perpetual, 'Roger Lambelin', which seems to be a bit of an oddball itself!

@roseseek, what an interesting color pattern and form. Like a Gerber daisy or Camelia!

@catspa_zone9sunset14, I had to look up Roger Lambelin. So interesting… it reminds me of Baron Giraud de l’Ain.

I was reading about the striped patterns of flowers such Chrysanthemum and African Violets and how differential gene expression causes alternating levels of color pigments. Perhaps this is what is happening for Art Nouveau. I’m curious what the mechanism is for RL and BGdlA. Gene expression or Transposable Elements?

Sadly I don't have a picture But I always think of flowers of pearl d'or. To me they resemble Flowers that are made from wood shavings in different colors.

@jjkOC zone 10a/22, SoCal I don't know the "how: but further breeding from Art Nouveau has resulted in some rather bizarre and remarkable results.

https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.75719.0 ,

https://styleroses.co.uk/shop/andrew-rose/

https://styleroses.co.uk/shop/garys-rose/ obvious from the petal shape

https://styleroses.co.uk/shop/my-mum-rose/

https://styleroses.co.uk/shop/rachaels-rose/

Lovely picture, thank you.

Several found roses now lost to Rose Rosette had normal outer petals and the center petals stood upright and curved inwards.

My first different petals happened when I first had roses here in Tennessee, decades ago. One of my pink semi double roses bloomed and two canes were what I expected, and the third cane had roses whose petals were symmetric, but the outer edge had three let's call them teeth and the center tooth was signifcantly longer.

My first reaction was Joy! I have a neat sport. Second bloom cycle and toothy rose cane was still toothy but some of the blooms werer half pink and half white.

Back then I didn't pay much attention to the leaves, etc.

The more toothy ones opened, I started worrying that whatever they had might be contageous.

We dug it up and burned it.

Now I know to say we rogued it out, but back then I was an innocent.

That's quite a collection of offspring that 'Art Noveau' has, Kim. It must have some interesting genes.

@stillanntn6b, I would have loved to have seen those found roses before their demise. Your toothy half pink/half white rose sounds interesting, too -- maybe some "transposable elements" ("jumping genes"), as @jjkOC zone 10a/22, SoCal mentions, in action.

For whatever reason, polyanthas seem to sport like crazy -- look at the Kosters! Or, even better, 'Orange Mothersday', a sport to the 6th degree, including a few Kosters along the way! Regal pelargoniums, in my experience, also tend to have rather unstable genetics, especially with respect to flower color and leaf pattern. It's not uncommon for a variety you've bought to morph into a variety you didn't buy without lifting a finger.

The lineage of 'Alba Odorata' is unknown, nor has it produced any offspring, making it a "one of a kind" sort of rose -- it would be so interesting to know "where" it came from.

'Perle d'Or does have flowers that each seem to do their own thing, @Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley -- I always enjoy seeing it and there's a magnificent one growing in a yard in Berkeley that I always swing by to see when I'm there.

I bought this Delbard rose ’La Bourbonnaise’ on a complete whim, not my usual style at all. You could charitably call it whimsical. It shares a name with a French heritage breed of hen - very apt, since it does remind me of a startled chicken flapping it’s wings/petals about! Interesting colour fade..

All this makes me feel quite staid! Although between you, you folks on this thread have re-awakened my interest in the Poly-Poms, as they've been called: 'Perle d'Or', 'Lady Ann Kidwell', etc. The only one that has survived and, in some case, thrived, in my garden has been 'Spray Cécile Bruenner', but, now that I'm feeling more hopeful about my soil, I might try the others. I've always loved them.

P.S. I don't know if 'Marie Pavié' figures in this lot, but she's been holding her own in thankless conditions in the garden for years now. Very tough, very satisfying rose.

• @NollieSpainZ9 that's quite interesting! Thank you for posting it. It's something unavailable here in the US and I really enjoyed being introduced to it! The coloring and form remind me of the early Pernetianas, the HT X Soliel d'Or hybrids Joseph Pernet Ducher released early in the 20th Century. It also reminds me of some of the permutations of https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.2021 Laughter Lines and https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1059 Champagne Cocktail.

@roseseek, thanks for sgaring the links for Art Nouveau’s offsping. The rose @NollieSpainZ9 shared and those Pernetianas and hybrids you linked cause me to wonder if the same or different mechanism causes colored veining.

@jjkOC zone 10a/22, SoCal you're welcome! I'm delighted with your scientific background you're taking an interest in the subject. You may be able to unlock that answer for the rest of us. Talk about crowd sourcing discoveries! Neat! @Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 perhaps Spray Cecile has been more successful due to her greater vigor and more massive bulk? I've read several times that rose roots often nearly mirror top growth. If the plant wants to be 8' X 8', it should stand to reason its roots may want to be, too. Those would provide significantly more push and momentum than those of a 2' X 2' plant. While Marie may not have the whimsically shaped flowers, she's survived and even thrived in many neglected and even abandoned gardens. She's earned her place simply for refusing to give up. That kind deserves representation and enjoyment.

@NollieSpainZ9, looking at its photos on HMF, ’La Bourbonnaise’ sets a whole new standard for "whimsical". Wow! Those colors!

@Melissa Northern Italy zone 8, those polyanthas are indeed tough. I too can vouch for 'Spray Cecile Brunner'. It is one of the foundlings I have from the greatly-neglected backyard of my daughter's little aparment building on Cole Street in San Francisco. It was growing in the midst of a large 12' tall stand of bamboo (which, by the way, was all that was holding up the battered board fence) and was itself so tall, trying to overtop them, that I thought it was the climbing version, except that it rebloomed. It maintains more normal proportions here. 'Marie Pavie' has at least several times shown up on this forum as an unidentified rose growing under tough conditions at old rural farmhouses in the Pacific Northwest, and manages to look nice here in very so-so conditons. 'Lady Ann Kidwell' is quite vigorous and also does well here, growing in quite a bit of shade from a very large lemon tree (which she occasionally tries to climb). Both large plants of it at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden remain looking good under its less-than-ideal conditions lately, which is more than can be said for the roses in some of the rest of that garden, unfortunately.

@catspa_zone9sunset14 Sequoia Nursery had an enormous Lady Ann Kidwell growing between the sales area and the "wild" area where they planted things to let them explode. I've always marveled at how climbing "Tea-like" her flowers and character are. Edward Marsh (Marashlian) convinced Krebs to permit it to be named for the lady who sponsored Mr. Marsh for citizenship. Daniel, Marsh's grandson attempted back in the nineties to collect all of his grandfather's roses to begin breeding with them, but life got in the way. He's recently contacted me, now in the Boston area, and is once again entering rose breeding. Fun how roses often make full circles, isn't it?

@roseseek, you've nailed it, I think -- 'Lady Ann Kidwell' IS quite tea-like, only with prettier foliage than most of my teas. I would love to let her climb that tree and see how far she goes, except thorny roses in fruit trees just don't work. She can certainly do more than the 6' listed on HMF.

And, yes, roses can make full circles and fascinate over an entire lifetime, even if a few detours do occur along the way. That is interesting to hear, about Marsh's grandson, Daniel.

• @catspa_zone9sunset14 there are a number of thornless climbing roses friends in Santa Barbara are using to slip cover their stone fruit trees in the "off seasons". I've often found it incredible that Lady Ann came from Mlle Cecile Brunner and even sadder that she has no listed descendants. It seems she should be able to be mined for some interesting results.

@roseseek, I have a 'Cornelia' climbing in my fig tree which is glorious -- love looking up into the tree and seeing those fluffy pink panicles hanging down. She has "teeth" on the backs of her leaves, but no thorns.

@roseseek, I noticed too that 'Lady Ann Kidwell' has no listed descendents on HMF. She does set hips, at least.

@catspa_zone9sunset14 "Orastarmag" is a seedling I raised about the time I had to dismantle my Newhall garden. I sent it to Ashdown who sent it to The Netherlands and I lost it. Years later, Cliff Orent imported it to EuroDesert and I obtained it from him. He had no idea what it was but the description intrigued him. The name means "Orangeade X Star Magic" or floribunda X hybrid Bracteata, so it should be prickly as imaginable. It isn't. It's totally thornless, flowers all the time and resembles a bougainvillea when grown large. It's adorning several fruit trees in Santa Barbara now. Kippy the Hippy has a mountain of it in her garden. It's honestly a rather remarkable result from a "what if?" cross. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.39748&tab=1 

That 'Orastarmag' is a a real beauty of a rose, Kim! So vibrant-looking and the flower clusters are like those of a bracteata -- I can easily see it resembling a bougainvillea. That it is thornless is amazing -- 'Alba Odorata' is a hazard to humanity that way, the worst by far in my garden and I've got some doozies. Just taking those two photos at the top of the thread risked life and limb (not much of an exaggeration). But anyway, I do remember Kippy the Hippy's garden and it must look beautiful there in the fruit trees..

Though always interested in lineages, I honestly do not know much at all about rose-breeding and haven't a clue about how the big commercial breeders go about creating their new varieties, but what you call your "what if?" crosses method seems to have yielded some pretty fine results. By the way, I am currently enjoying your 'Joyberry' which I got last summer from RVR. From a band and still a young plant but vigorous and doing great so far, and it blooms all the time.

Kim, La Bourbonnaise is a recent release, but not exclusive in it’s quirky colour combos I see! I enjoyed exploring those that came before, so thank you for the links. I’m not sure I will keep it long term, but I often buy roses unseen out of sheer curiosity. That’s the only way I get to see many roses, since the local offerings are pretty restrictive and rather dull.