Imagine yourself in Europe at the end of the 17th century. All your roses are pink or white , once blooming with strong canes, little perfume and good foliage. They are not popular, being used for medicinal purposes by beldames and monks.
Then, starting in 1790, four roses arrive from China which will alter the rose world. All four are repeat-flowering, dwarf in nature, with twiggy growth and demonstrably different foliage and perfume. They became known as the “Stud Roses”. Three of the four are hybrids.
Note that it is extremely difficult to pin down dates and places of introduction of these roses to the European scene
First on the scene was Old Blush. (See Redoute’s Roses Pages 32/33)
Classified as a China rose, it’s flowers are pale pink, semi-double, cupped to flat, with twiggy growth. It has at least 19 other names, but we’ll stick with the most common one. It has been a common garden rose in China since at least 1752 when it was claimed to have been brought back to Upsala by a ship’s doctor for his friend, the botanist and father of plant classification, Carolus Linnaeus.
There is some controversy over its first appearance in Europe, as it is also claimed that, in 1792, Sir George Staunton, secretary to Lord Macartney, and enthusiastic gardener, found the rose in a Canton nursery and shipped it back to Sir Joseph Banks who was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. In 1793, a Mr Parsons grew the rose in his garden at Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, presumably from cuttings or seed provided by Banks. This is where it gets its name Parsons’ Pink China.
The French were the main rose breeders at this time and they were quick to use the repeat-flowering attribute of Old Blush in creating the modern roses. It is a parent of the Noisette family through its cross with Old White Musk and a parent of the Bourbon family through its cross with Autumn Damask.
It is in the Heritage Border near the Turnstile.
Next to arrive on the European scene was Slater’s Crimson China. This rose also has more than 20 synonyms. Again, a Chinese garden rose since at least 1658, it is a low growing bush, twiggy growth, with deep red single flowers, which bloom continuously. It has little or no fragrance.
This is the non-hybrid of the four stud roses, being propagated commercially by Gilbert Slater of Knot’s Green, Leytonstone who imported it in 1792. By 1798, the French, who dominated hybridisation at the time, were using it as breeding stock to produce repeat-flowering, true red roses. There are different roses on sale under this name and a fair bit of controversy as to which is the “right” rose.
It is in the Heritage Border, near the first small gate.
Number three on the European scene was Hume’s Blush Tea-Scented China. (See Redoute’s Roses Pages 42/43) This only has a dozen synonyms, but it was originally called r. indica odorata then later r. indica fragrans. It is of interest to compare the rose we have as Hume’s Blush Tea-scented China with the botanical portrait left to us by Redoute back in 1803.
The Fa Tee Nursery of Canton is known to be the source of this rose and it was named for Sir Abraham Hume of Wormleybury, Hertfordshire, but the rose was only his by purchase. It was bought for him in 1810 by an agent of the East India Company who was posted to Canton.
It is said to have survived arduous conditions upon importation, with only 1 in 1000 plants surviving first the voyage from China, exposed on the ship’s open decks, and then in an English blockade of French ports during the Napoleonic Wars.
It is in the Heritage Border, near the double gates.
The last of the Stud Roses was Park’s Yellow Tea-scented China. The original rose is described as “pale sulphur yellow, small shrub that rebloomed, set hips and had only a moderate tea scent”. It is thought that this rose was extinct over 100 years ago. The rose in commerce today as Park’s Yellow Tea-scented China is creamy white, once-flowering, strongly tea-scented and does not set hips.
In 1823, the Royal Horticultural Society sent John Damper Parks out to China, primarily to collect good varieties of chrysanthemums. He returned the next year with the chrysanthemums, but also with the yellow Banksian rose and a bright yellow tea rose, which was named after him.
I often wonder why the original rose is still in the listing of the Stud Roses, as it does not appear to have any progeny.
The rose in commerce as Park’s Yellow Tea-scented China is in the Heritage Border near the double gates.
