Mme Caroline Testout. HT, Joseph Pernet-Ducher 1890. The lady who gave her name to this rose, Caroline Testout, was a very fashionable French modiste. Planning to open a London branch of her business, she decided that what was required was a trademark – and opted for a rose whose elegance, scent and colour would be linked with her name. She persuaded Joseph Pernet-Ducher, the wizard of Lyons, to let her have full rights to one of his new roses, to be called ‘Caroline Testout’. (Language of Roses) The rose became extremely popular in the USA and in 1905 half a million plants were installed along the streets of Portland, Oregan to mark the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The roses parents were:
Lady Mary Fitzwilliam. HT. Henry Bennett pre 1880. A granddaughter of William IV, king of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Hanover. She was a lady-in-waiting to the German court of Saxe-Coburg. She died in 1929 at the age of 83.
AND
Madam de Tartas. Tea. Bernede, France 1859. I cannot find who Madam de Tartas was.
Mme Caroline Testout is in the Heritage Border section He and Lady Mary is in Section Hc
Wal J Mar 17
