There is a little group of plants under the sub-genera of Hulthemia which was regarded as “not true roses, just like donkeys are not true horses”. Originally there was only one species in the group, rosa persica. This was found in the area of ancient Persia – between Iran and Afghanistan, a hot dry desert-like area. In its home environment, rosa persica sends out underground runners. It is an unattractive plant (weed-like) with thorny rambling branches and would unnoticed except for its distinctive red blotch at the base of the petals. Its discovery is credited to Andre Michaux in 1784.
Seeds were taken back to France, but it was not until 1836 that a hybrid was bred – rosa berberifolia hardii (aka r x hardii) – by Julien Alexandre Hardy. The success in crossbreeding with a true rose led to the Hulthemia classification being changed to Rosa Persica. Because the early hybrids were infertile and unattractive hybridisation was slow and not very successful. In the 1970s and 1980s, Joe Cocker and Jack Harkness collaborated to try and produce new varieties.
Jack Harkness (UK) bred four, including Tigris and Euphrates. Euphrates was believed to be completely sterile (later found to be incorrect) and Tigris had a low level of fertility. Each had the red centre but the whole breeding line was extremely prone to diseases such as black spot, all were once-blooming and almost all were sterile.
After the death of Joe Cocker, Jack Harkness bundled the whole program up and let it out to open forum. Different breeders using different programs and working independently in the early 2000s produced a number of new hybrids which are commercially available.
In the USA, Ralph Moore produced Persian Autumn, Persian Flame, Persian Light Persian Sunset and Persian Peach. Jim Sproul of California has developed the Eyeconic series of Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, Melon Lemonade and Pomegranate Lemonade. Because of quarantine restrictions, none of these are legally available in Australia.
In the UK, Chris Warner bred Tiggle and Tingle, both of which were released in South Africa as Tiger Eyes. Peter Harkness released Persian Mystery, Alissar, Princess of Phoenicia and The Sun and The Heart.
The German, Jan Diedag Janssen created Persian Butterfly and the Dutch grower, Peter Ilsink, developed the lovely series, Babylon Eyes which were released in Japan.
Peter James of the UK bred Eyes for You and Pejamigo – released in Australia as Bowral’s Rose. Eyes for You has been planted in our Garden in the round bed in Petal A. Make sure that in November you visit the bed and admire the results of more than 200 years of cross-breeding The modern Persica hybrids are comparatively disease resistant and repeat flowering, and are also more fertile so we can expect to see more EYES in the future.
