La France climbing

The climbing sport of La France is superior in every respect. It's a vigorous climbing Hybrid Tea with long vertical shoots. When trained horizontally several lateral shoots appear providing you with much more gorgeous flowers. My specimen came from Martin Weingart and it's a very good, strong specimen. She blooms three times in my garden. Sadly Martin doesn't graft this rose anymore probably because he has retired. It would be an enormous loss for the rose world if this magnificent climber would be lost. At the moment it's rare to find and hopefully this will change in the future. If one rose deserves it then it's La France climbing. You can buy her here:

Loubert roses (France) 

Château de la rose (USA) 

Antique Rose Emporium (USA) 

Rogue valley roses (USA) 

Baronne Henriette Snoy

Baronne Henriette Snoy is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful old heritage roses. She is however not a typical Tea rose. A cross between Gloire de Dijon and Mme Lambard was destined to be glorious and indeed, very few other Teas come close to it's beauty. Growth is strong, arching and with support she can become a little climber of 3 meters but as an arching shrub she gets 150 to 180 cm. New growth is dark red and the foliage is dark green. From the thick buds a majestic flower unfolds. Waxy petals, so many of them, first cup shaped but expanding into a rather big rosette. The bloom color goes from buff and apricot to light pink and even salmon pink. Her only weakness is the lack of a strong fragrance. It is mild at best but the beauty of the flowers makes up for that. Reblooming is swift and Snoy doesn't mind hot and dry summers. She keeps going. My first experience with the Baronne gave me balling flowers during wet summer days but already in her second year I never experienced balling again, not even after a week of rain or showers.

There are some questions about Baronne Henriette Snoy (Snoy as in French moi and not as in English boy) in the USA because her petals look a bit different and the color definitely is more pink and some say she has a strong resemblance to Maman Cochet. Maybe it's a color sport? We don't know but what we do know is that the European and Australian Snoy are the same.

For a more detailed description you can look at Baronne Henriette Snoy in the Tea rose section of this blog or you just type her name in the search tool of the blog.

Where to buy Baronne Henriette Snoy? Here is a list of rose nurseries selling her. Both in the EU and USA

Loubert roses (France)

Angel gardens ( USA) 

Antique Rose Emporium (USA) 

Burlington rose nursery (USA) 

The Gigantea project: Update!

End of April, early May, my husband Yves and I traveled to Helga Brichet in Umbria, Italy, to visit her world famous Giganteas garden. The Gigantea Hybrids Helga grows are extremely rare and some are unique and unknown to the rose world. Helga is 83 and wants to preserve her roses for the future. I suggested to graft her roses so they can be send to three nurseries in the EU. These nurseries can propagate them themselves and start selling them so finally they will be available to the public.

After some brainstorming it was decided that Lens roses from Belgium will graft the roses and when they are ready they will be send to Loubert roses in France and Vivaio Fior di rosa in Italy. So these two nurseries will start selling Helga's roses within two years. Also Lens will start selling some of the varieties. 

The trip to Umbria was to make a selection of the vast collection of Helga. Only the very rare and unique varieties made it to the list. 

Umbria has been subject to extreme drought the past couple of years and last summer Helga was really desperate as her garden was about to perish but thankfully it started to rain in September and not a day too soon. 

Here is the final list of varieties that will be grafted. Not only Giganteas but also very rare China's and Teas:

* Belle Blanche: White sport of Belle Portugaise (Gigantea hybrid) 

* Étoile de Portugal: Marvelous red to fuchsia pink climber. Very rare (Gigantea hybrid) 

* Susan Louise: Seedling of Belle Portugaise. Same flowers as her mother but reblooming! and much smaller. Only known in the USA. (Gigantea hybrid)

* Nessie: Gigantea hybrid bred Kim Rupert. Almost extinct

*  Sénateur Amic: Almost extinct Gigantea hybrid by Nabonnand. Many imposters in commerce

* Flying colors: Seedling of R. Gigantea ex Crépin bred by Alister Clark. Carmine pink to soft pink, big single flowers

* Traverser: Alister Clark Gigantea hybrid. Large, double, soft pink flowers 

* Squatter's dream: Alister Clark Gigantea hybrid. Warm yellow with bronz shading, single flowered

* Lady Mann: Alister Clark Gigantea. Large, bright pink, double flowers

*  Nancy Hayward: Alister Clark Gigantea hybrid. Large, red, single flowers. Very beautiful

* Courier: Alister Clark Gigantea hybrid. Light pink, double, large blooms. Beautiful

* Emanuella de Mouchy: Not Irène Bonnet and not Marie Robert. Probably the real Nabonnand Gigantea hybrid

* Amber Cloud: Viru Viraraghavan Gigantea hybrid. Single, bronze yellow flowers showing their stamen. In great abundance. Big climber. Pollinators rose

* Odorata X: Unknown white China. Climbing. Very exquisite flowers

* Perfumed Butterfly: Outstanding oriental fragrance. Big single flowers

* Archiduc Joseph climbing: Only known climbing sport of the famous Tea Archiduc Joseph. Constant blooming. Magnificent !

* Maebara's dream: Viru Viraraghavan Gigantea hybrid. Magnifique, big HT shaped flowers in a pristine white color with yellow center. Outstanding! Six meters 

* Fluffy Bourbon: Mystery rose. Big, very full, China pink, Bourbon shaped flowers. Big shrub. Very beautiful 

* Maréchal Niel: Not rare but this specimen of the famous climbing Tea is extremely vigorous and strong. Comes from a garden near Helga's home 

It's good to mention again that Gigantea hybrids are Hardy but not below zone 8b. They can take as low as - 12 Celsius. If the roots and base are protected they can survive -16 Celsius. Most regions of The Netherlands, Belgium and France are zone 8b. Some regions in the UK, Germany, Austria, Hungary etc are also 8b. Portugal, Spain and Italy but also Adriatic countries are very suitable to grow Giganteas.

Here are some pics from Helga's garden:

 

Susan Louise 

Belle Blanche 

Odorata X 

Maebara's dream 

Fluffy Bourbon 

Étoile de Portugal 

Amber cloud 

Archiduc Joseph climbing 

Archiduc Joseph climbing 

Top 20 of best Hybrid Musk roses

Top 20 of best Hybrid Musk roses

Still largely overlooked the HM family is unbeatable regarding reblooming power and the amount of flowers. Generally they are very tough, easy maintenance and pollinator friendly. Pemberton created the still best known varieties and they are worldwide available. Lens has created more than 50 and especially in Europe they are widely available. The American members will find the Pemberton creations more rapidly while Europeans, as always, have more choice. Whichever you choose they are always worth it! Felicia is my favorite followed by Cornelia, Lens Flair and Alden Biesen.

Here is the top 20 in random order. For the EU members it's easy to visit the Lens website and look at the varieties. It's in Dutch, English, French and German and they ship to almost all countries except USA

Cornelia

Felicia

Ballerina

Sibelius

Schubert

Moonlight

Danae

Prosperity

Kathleen

Buff Beauty

Darlow's enigma

Sally Holmes

Pax

Trier

Lens Flair

Patricia Beucher

Dinky

Penelope

Francesca

Robin Hood