Meilland roses for pollinators: The Friendly® collection

These days our environment and nature becomes more and more important and people want to attract wildlife and pollinators in their gardens. Many roses which show their stamen are of course visited by pollinators by nurseries are creating new roses especially for this purpose so roses especially for the natural and ecological garden. These roses nearly always have an abundance of little single blooms with golden stamen and they have a lot of pollens and nectar. They bloom from spring till first frost and are extremely tough and resistant against drought and diseases.

We start with the Friendly® collection of Meilland Richardier. These are short, bushy roses of approximately 50X70 cm or 2X2 feet. They have an abundance of little single blooms in clusters with their stamen clearly exposed. Always in bloom and disease free. At this moment the Friendly® collection has 4 roses:

Pink Meissalu is pink 

Purple Meicosme is purple 

Red Meiariba is red

Sweet Meinatope is white

Of course more will follow the coming years so remember that the Friendly® collection stands for pollinator friendly roses!

Pink Meissalu 

Purple Meicosme 

Red Meiariba 

Clothilde Soupert

Clothilde Soupert, Soupert et Notting 1888

Polyantha 

Caroline X Madame Damaizin (Tea) 

An old favorite to so many people. In America you can still find her at cemeteries because of her rounded, short growth and prolific blooming all summer long. But also as a garden rose she's well loved and there are many reasons why 

Quartered or rosette shaped, very double blooms in flesh pink with darker pink center. They stand in clusters on a dense rounded shrub of 100X100 cm or 3X3 feet. She reminds us of roses such as Félicité Parmentier. But she has Safrano blood so her beauty comes from the best.

She doesn't like wet and damp summers, she likes warm and dry. Good health although maybe some mildew but nothing serious. Zone 5b to 9b. Flushes freely throughout the season. Only left to say she's deliciously fragrant. 

A rose very well worthy to grow 

Quietness

Quietness, Buck 1991

Modern Hybrid 

What do you get if we would cross Myriam with Chandos Beauty or Prince Jardinier? Probably something like this Quietness 

Is there a more beautiful rose than this one? I'm blown away by it and it's all Americana. Mother of pearl pointed buds unfolding in the most beautiful Tea style and ending in very filled, old fashioned Myriam like blooms. Strong sweet fragrance. Stunning! 

180X130 cm or 7X5 feet. Exceptionally healthy and partial shade tolerant. Rain resistant. Zone 5b to 9b. Blooms in flushes throughout the season.

It shows that even I still can get blown away by roses. Look at her! 😍

Star of the republic

Star of the republic, Antique Rose Emporium 1998

Modern Hybrid 

Graham Thomas X R. Abyssinia 

A crazy cross this Star of the republic. Austin's Graham Thomas crossed with the only native African rose R Abyssinia. The result is mind-blowing. These blooms look like a peach or apricot version of Souvenir de la Malmaison or the old climbing Teas like Mme Bérard. Apricot to peach or amber quartered blooms with a strong sweet anise Damask fragrance. First flush is very prolific with later moderate flushes throughout the season. Health is really good and she's quite Hardy too with 5b to 9b. Rather vigorous growth up to 200 cm or 7 feet so can be trained as a small climber or use it with an Obelisk or fence. 

A wonderful rose! 

Mermaid

Mermaid, Paul 1918

Bracteata Hybrid 

R. Bracteata X Tea 

A famous rose for its big, Sulphur yellow Single blooms with golden stamen. They stand in clusters and have a moderate smell. The rose starts blooming a bit late but continues non stop till November. In mild climates she can reach 800 cm or 24 feet and more. Mermaid isn't fully hardy in many areas. Zone 7b to 11b. I've had Mermaid for years at my parents house. She's completely disease resistant and can take frost up to - 12 degrees Celsius but lower will damage her. She usually recovers but we had two severe winters with temp as low as - 18 Celsius and after 7 years being with us she died. In Western Europe and the Southern USA or California she will grow very beautiful and bloom non stop. Just remember that if very severe frost is predicted you should wrap her with an anti frost tube which creates just enough heat to warm the air surrounding her. But with climate change we won't get severe frost that often anymore.

Many say Mermaid is very fragrant but I could always detect only a mild tea fragrance. 

Dainty bess

Dainty bess, Archer 1925

Early Hybrid Tea 

Large, single, light pink with red stamen, flowers in clusters. Very prolific blooming. Nice rounded shrub 100X80 cm or 3X3 feet. Zone 4b to 9b. Reblooms all summer and autumn long. For such an old rose the health is still very good. Moderate fragrance.

Ophelia X Kitchener of Khartoum

Needs protection against late frost due to she's so early to bloom. 

Highly recommended rose! 

The person behind the rose: Mme Isaac Pereire

Mme Isaac Pereire today is regarded as one of the most beautiful old roses with probably the strongest raspberry fragrance regardless of the weather. It's a rose of opulence and Baroque splendor but who was the real Mme Isaac Pereire?

Let me first say that the rose didn't start as Mme Isaac Pereire. It's breeder, Armand Garçon, gave her the name Le Bienheureux de la Salle, a tribute to the catholic Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle who cared for homeless children and who started schools. I myself went to a school that was erected by his Congregation.

Armand Garçon was an amateur rosarian and he asked his friend Margottin to come and see his new rose. Margottin immediately knew this was a golden rose but he told Garçon that the rose was mediocre at best and wouldn't become popular. But I can buy her from you and bring it on the market. Garçon, who didn't have much money agreed with Margottin and sold the rose for a small amount of French Franks. Margottin thought he was clever and changed the name into Mme Isaac Pereire and brought her on the market in 1881. The rose became immensely popular and Margottin rejoiced but news came out that he tricked and misled Garçon. All rosarians turned from Margottin and agreed to always name Garçon as the breeder of the rose and to call her with her first name, the one Garçon gave it: Le Bienheureux de la Salle.

However, people already called her Mme Isaac Pereire for years so the real name didn't become popular but it still is her official other name. So in the end Garçon got credited for his work.

But who was Mme Isaac Pereire? Well she was the wife of Isaac Pereire, a member of the famous French banker family Rodriguez - Pereire. These Sephardic Jews from Portugal came to France in the 18th century and changed their name from Pereira to the more French sounding Pereire. Fanny was Isaac Pereire's second wife as his wife died at an early age. She also was his brother's daughter so she was his full niece and her uncle!

The Pereire couple were philanthropes and they build many schools, hospitals and orphanages especially for young homeless children. Isaac was involved in the railway and building industry so he was a big figure of the industrial revolution in France.

So when you admire your Mme Isaac Pereire rose in summer think of Fanny in her big Sisi sized dresses. 

September morn

September morn, 1915

Sport of Madame Pierre Euler

Hybrid Tea 

According to Rogue Valley roses this early Hybrid Tea surpasses many DA roses with its exquisite, light pink flat rosette shaped blooms and its staggering fragrance. 

We can see its an early HT as it's buds slowly unfold like those from La France and Lady Mary Fitzwilliam. They eventually become flat, very filled light pink rosettes. Deliciously fragrant the blooms last for a long time. 185 cm or 6 feet. For the best results this rose needs warm and sunny summers. Zone 6b to 9b

If you can get hold of her you should buy her