Saturday, February 4, 2023

Lady Jane Hooker

Lady Jane Hooker, Viru & Girija Viraraghavan before 2011

Hybrid Gigantea, species cross 
Seed from R. Longicuspis X R. Gigantea

Large (10+ cm or 3,5 inch) white, single blooms in clusters. Strong, delicious perfume carrying through the air. 

Viru and Girija about this rose:

"When we went to South Africa in 2001 we stayed at ‘Elgin’, the beautiful home and garden of Barbara and Peter Knox Shaw. They had a huge climbing plant of R. longicuspis x R.gigantea. We brought back seeds and sprouted them. One took well and grew, and we planted it in a corner of the garden near some pines, ‘shola’ (indigeneous trees) and erythrina indica trees. In a few years the plant had completely covered the trees which are about 30 feet high and when in bloom, an incredible sight of clusters of white blooms and a lovely fragrance wafting in the air.

In 2018, when it was in full bloom we had a visit by Lady Jane nee Hooker ( married name Lady Jane Barran ) ( she is a great niece of Sir J.D.Hooker, the very well known 19th century plant botanist and explorer) who had brought a group of 12 plant lovers to visit gardens in south India. Lady Jane fell in love with this plant, so we decided to name it for her."

Height: Up to 800 cm or 24 feet, vigorous but few red thorns. Large glossy dark green foliage 
Pictures are from Helpmefind and are from Viru and Girija themselves 




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