Saturday, January 29, 2011

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.

10 comments:

  1. What beautiful shading of color that rose has, and so many petals!

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  2. Thank you, sweetbay. It is one of my favorite roses.

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  3. BEE - U - Tee - Ful ~ I love this rose and the changing of its colors with the seasons.

    Your wrought iron arbor is really lovely with the roses and the purple flowering plant.

    FlowerLady

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  4. Thank you, FlowerLady. I am glad you liked it.

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  5. Gosh, I love, love, love this rose! The first photo with the arbor is sooo... beautiful. Could be published in a book about roses. Maybe you write one at a certain point in your life.

    Christina

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  6. Thank you, Christina. Maybe I will:-)

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  7. Masha, I have wanted this rose for a long time. Maybe I will have it yet. Thanks for clearing up the confusion about it with Adam and with the coloring. It's helpful for my memory to see all this information in one place. It is a really gorgeous rose. Thanks for sharing it.

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  8. Thank you, Sherry. I am glad I could help. It's a great rose, and I am sure you'll like it if you decide to get it.

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  9. What a gorgeous rose! I love its color.

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I am so glad you have stopped by!