CHAPTER VIII
HYBRID PERPETUALS
Mr. Thomas Rivers, that father of scientific rose culture in England, gives a most interesting account in his famous book, The Rose Amateur's Guide, 1840, of the origin of the Hybrid Perpetual rose.
"The Crimson Perpetual, Rose du Roi, or Lee's Crimson Perpetual,[5] ... was raised from seed, in 1812, in the gardens of the Palace of St. Cloud, then under the direction of Le Comte Lelieur, and named by him Rose du Roi.... It is asserted it was raised from the Rosa Portlandica, a semi-double bright-coloured rose, much like the rose known in this country as the Scarlet Four-seasons or Rosa Pæstana.
"Every gentleman's garden ought to have a large bed of Crimson Perpetual Roses, to furnish bouquets during August, September, and October; their fragrance is so delightful, their colour so rich, and their form so perfect."
What would that great pioneer say to our Crimson Perpetuals of to-day?
But though this rose was the first, and probably the parent of many of the earlier Hybrid Perpetuals, the true development of this glorious race took place by other means. The Hybrid Chinas,[6] such as Blairii No. 2, Chenédolé, Brennus, and many others, now, as I have said, most unjustly neglected, were the offspring of the China rose, R. Indica, crossed with the Provence and other hardy summer flowering roses. These were not perpetual, with the notable exception of Gloire de Rosamènes. But several of them bore seed freely. These fertile varieties were again crossed with different kinds of China and Bourbon roses. And their seed produced the new race of strong, hardy roses, the Hybrid Perpetuals, flowering through the whole summer and autumn.
Of those early parents of this fine race but very few are known now. Gloire de Rosamènes (Vibert, 1823) is still in cultivation. But in vain I search English and French catalogues for those marked by my father in 1844 in Mr. Rivers' book. Where is Mme. Laffay, 1839, with its fine foliage and rosy-crimson, highly fragrant flowers; or Fulgorie; or Rivers, with its large red flowers "produced in clusters of great beauty"; or La Reine, 1843; or William Jesse? Probably they still exist as "old and nameless roses" in my own and many other gardens. Yet one would like to give them back the names and honourable places they possessed in one's childhood, and compare them with their splendid descendants. In fragrance they would certainly hold their own; for the fragrance of their Damask grandparent was stronger in them than in too many of the modern Hybrid Perpetuals.
The great development in the race began in the fifties, and was at its height in the sixties and seventies: but for the last fifteen years and more the tide has turned in favour of the Hybrid Teas; and comparatively few new Hybrid Perpetuals are raised each year. In 1853, Margottin gave the enchanted rose-world Jules Margottin, parent of many most excellent roses. And in the same year the delightful General Jacqueminot was raised by Roussel, and became the parent of many of our finest deep reds. Then in 1859 came Lacharme's famous Victor Verdier, a rose still in favour, and one to which the class owes, perhaps, more than any other as a parent. And in 1861 came Charles Lefebvre; also raised by Lacharme.