Mme Berard

Mme. Berard is a Tea-Noisette (or climbing Tea) bred by Antoine Levet (pere) in France in 1870.  This rose is sometimes sold as Adam, (a climbing Tea bred by Adam in 1838), or President, an example of confusion surrounding identities of many old roses. This confusion stems at least partly from the fact that no reliably named specimen of a given rose with a proven link to its name exists any more and identification is based on circumstantial evidence, e.g. descriptions and paintings. The task is not made any easier by the changeability of bloom color of many Tea roses. Even in my small collection I have a few roses whose identity is nor reliably established, and in my case this mystery factor adds a lot of pleasure to growing these roses.

My Mme. Berard came from Vintage Gardens a few years ago (unfortunately I am not a good record-keeper). I chose it for its smooth canes (but the petioles have prickles as mentioned here) and beautiful blooms in shades of buff, copper, pink and yellow. It has a strong tea fragrance which is always a big selling point for me.

I have placed it where it can grow on a wrought-iron arbor against which its subtle beauty stands out very well.

I love the changes of color in this rose. This spring, the blooms were coppery-pink with a touch of yellow...

They changed to blush in the summer...

And ended with a stronger pink in the fall...

It is delightful to observe such variety of bloom color and shape in one rose. I often wonder at the fact that these very traits which fascinate old rose growers now are the very ones which people who grew these roses originally disliked, and which made Hybrid Teas (which have stable bloom colors and shapes) so popular. I do not prefer one class of rose to another and grow a lot of Hybrid Teas, and merely observe here the changes in fashion and taste. Indeed, tempura mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.